A series from The Australian Commons
The Commonwealth Papers examine the institutions, rules and assumptions that shape Australian government.
Each paper begins with a proposition about how Australia is governed and asks whether our existing arrangements remain the best way of achieving their purpose. The aim is not to produce a complete political program, but to examine individual reforms carefully, consider their consequences and invite serious discussion about alternatives.
The first series considers Australia’s fiscal system: how governments spend, borrow, save and account for the obligations they leave to future generations.
At its centre is a simple question:
What rules would we design if we wanted Australian governments to remain both democratic and financially responsible over the long term?
- Before You Raise the GST, Try Spending Less
- A Nation Without a Destination
- Paper No. 10 – Who Guards the Rules?
- Paper No. 9 – The Price of Government
- Paper No. 8 – Should Infrastructure Be Different?
- Paper No. 7 – What Is Sustainable Revenue?
- In the Land of the Aimless, the Redhead with half a plan Is Queen
- If the Budget Had a Hard Limit, Would 59 Advisers Make the Cut?
- Paper No. 6 – When Should Government Borrow?
- Five Papers in One: The Idea in Plain English
- Paper No. 5 – A One Commonwealth, Many Borrowers
- Paper No. 4 – Debt, Saving and the Duty to the Future
- Paper No. 3 – The Referee and the Players
- Paper No. 2 – The Freedom of Limits
- Paper No. 1 – A Fiscal Constitution for Australia
