Ben Spies-Butcher

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The Australian Federal Police will receive $321.4 million over four years for a range of measures. AAP/Lukas Coch

Budget 2017‑18 brings welfare crackdown and increased defence and security funding: experts respond

Ben Spies-Butcher, Macquarie University; Andrew Carr, Australian National University; Andrew Dodd, Swinburne University of Technology; John Rice, University of Adelaide; Les Field, UNSW , and Robin Davies, Australian National University

The Conversation’s political experts react to the 2017-18 budget’s key measures in the areas of welfare, foreign aid, defence spending and more.
Three more years for Malcolm Turnbull and the Coalition. AAP/David Moir

Election 2016: what will a re‑elected Coalition government mean for key policy areas?

Jeff Borland, The University of Melbourne; Ben Spies-Butcher, Macquarie University; Deborah Ralston, Monash University; Diana Perche, Macquarie University; Emmaline Bexley, The University of Melbourne; Glenn Savage, The University of Melbourne; Helen Dickinson, The University of Melbourne; Jago Dodson, RMIT University; Jim Gillespie, University of Sydney; Joanna Mendelssohn, UNSW ; John Wanna, Australian National University; Mary Anne Kenny, Murdoch University; Merlin Crossley AM, UNSW ; Nicole Gurran, University of Sydney; Robyn Eckersley, The University of Melbourne; Susan Irvine, Queensland University of Technology, and Thas Ampalavanapillai Nirmalathas, The University of Melbourne

What’s in store for key policy areas, from health to education to infrastructure to asylum seekers, under a returned Coalition government?
Labor’s Chris Bowen and Bill Shorten announced plans for new tax rules, and the government, even as it attacked their plan, has also opened the door to changes to negative gearing. AAP/Gemma Najen

A first step on negative gearing, but not much more

Ben Spies-Butcher, Macquarie University

The problem is there are already too many buyers willing to pay high prices, and negative gearing is designed to create more buyers willing to pay more.
A basic income proposal directly addresses the problem of people falling through the cracks of a complex welfare system. AAP/Julian Smith

Could a new ‘basic income’ protect Australia’s most vulnerable?

Ben Spies-Butcher, Macquarie University

Might the lessons of Australia’s super-efficient welfare system offer a potential way forward for the development of a basic income – a universal, low but adequate payment?
A closer analysis of ‘generation war’ debates reveals that inequalities within generations remain far more significant than those between them. shutterstock

Generational war: a monster of our own making

Ben Spies-Butcher, Macquarie University

The political debate over generational equity, which has been rekindled in the past week, now dominates discussions over wealth, government spending and fiscal sustainability. But a closer look at some…
Treasurer Joe Hockey and finance minister Mathias Cormann face a difficult sell for the Abbott government’s tough first budget. AAP/Alan Porritt

Federal budget 2014: political experts react

Clive Bean, Queensland University of Technology; Andrew Dodd, Swinburne University of Technology; Ben Spies-Butcher, Macquarie University; Carol Johnson, University of Adelaide; Frank Jotzo, Australian National University; Helen Dickinson, The University of Melbourne; Janine O'Flynn, The University of Melbourne; Megan Clark, CSIRO; Peter J. Dean, Australian National University; Rod Lamberts, Australian National University; Susan Harris Rimmer, Australian National University, and Veronica Sheen, Monash University

The Abbott government is hoping an A$11.6 billion infrastructure spending package, combined with a $20 billion medical research fund, will help soften the blow of widespread tightening of health and welfare…
When Tony Abbott and Joe Hockey present policies as if they are not choices, we should be sceptical. What choices has the government rejected? Daniel Munoz/AAP

A fiscal crisis? It’s about political priorities and neglected choices

Ben Spies-Butcher, Macquarie University

As the 2014-15 budget nears, Australians are hearing that the government must mount an urgent repair job to address the looming structural crisis that will see the budget in deficit for decades to come…
The Commission of Audit report has recommended sweeping spending cuts for the government to consider for its May 13 budget. AAP/Alan Porritt

Commission of Audit report released: experts respond

Veronica Sheen, Monash University; Andrew Dodd, Swinburne University of Technology; Ben Phillips, University of Canberra; Ben Spies-Butcher, Macquarie University; Geoff Sharrock, The University of Melbourne; Glenn Savage, The University of Melbourne; Gwilym Croucher, The University of Melbourne; Helen Dickinson, The University of Melbourne; Janine O'Flynn, The University of Melbourne; Roy Green, University of Technology Sydney, and Sinclair Davidson, RMIT University

The National Commission of Audit has made 86 recommendations with a focus on the federal government’s 15 biggest and fastest-growing areas of spending. The result is proposals for sweeping spending cuts…
Federal treasurer Wayne Swan’s election year budget has to reconcile huge revenue writedowns with spending promises for schools and the disability insurance scheme. AAP Image/Lukas Coch

Federal budget 2013: expert reactions

Stephen Howes, Australian National University; Arusha Cooray, University of Wollongong; Ben Spies-Butcher, Macquarie University; Cameron Gordon, University of Canberra; Carol Johnson, University of Adelaide; Clive Bean, Queensland University of Technology; David Willis, Queensland University of Technology; Hal Swerissen, La Trobe University; John Quiggin, The University of Queensland; Lin Crase, La Trobe University; Matthew Bailes, Swinburne University of Technology; Paul Burke, Australian National University; Simon Marginson, The University of Melbourne; Stephen Duckett, Grattan Institute, and Zareh Ghazarian, Monash University

Australian Federal Treasurer Wayne Swan has handed down his sixth budget, facing an almost impossible task: how to reconcile an enormous revenue shortfall with big spending promises, all while keeping…
People focus very narrowly on their short term needs when resources are scarce, the study found. http://www.flickr.com/photos/68593573@N00

Study links poverty and poor decision‑making

Sunanda Creagh, The Conversation

Poverty may cause people to focus too narrowly on short term needs at the expense of their long term well-being, a US study has found. The study, titled Some consequences of having too little and published…
Swan would have an easier time if he were more honest with voters about what Labor is trying to achieve. AAP/Lukas Coch

Swan struggles to help the poor in a straitjacket of his own making

Ben Spies-Butcher, Macquarie University

Labor’s budget continues a path set since 2007. It shows the technocratic skill of a government clever at policy detail; but also one unable, or perhaps unwilling, to challenge the economic straitjacket…
Financial measures to address ageing promote inequality and weaken the budget. Patrick Doheny/Flickr

The myth of the ageing ‘crisis’

Ben Spies-Butcher, Macquarie University

So far there have been three Intergenerational Reports by Treasury examining the challenges of an ageing population which have consistently been used to justify new policies to address a potential ageing…

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