Pitch Engine

Our states are crying poor. They wouldn't if they charged for rezoning like the ACT

Google MapsThroughout Australia, when land is rezoned from industrial to high-rise residential, a charge is levied to help fund the required infrastructure.In NSW it is called an infrastruct...

Australia won't recover unless Victoria does too. The federal government must step up

The announcement of stage 4 restrictions in Victoria marks a new, and depressing, stage in Australia’s response to COVID-19. The new measures will close non-essential retailers and mos...

Victoria's child-care shutdown is a hard blow for working mothers

ShutterstockHow do you occupy a child for long enough to get any work done?This will be the question confronting more than 150,000 Melbourne families for at least the next six weeks.The Stag...

Creative destruction: the COVID-19 economic crisis is accelerating the demise of fossil fuels

ShutterstockCreative destruction “is the essential fact about capitalism”, wrote the great Austrian economist Joseph Schumpeter in 1942. New technologies and processes continuous...

If you're thinking of leaving a violent partner, you need a financial plan. This toolkit can help

ShutterstockThe COVID-19 pandemic has driven a surge of calls to domestic violence support services, as survivors of violence spend more time at home with their abusers due to lockdowns and ...

Post-COVID, there'll be less of a reason to cut company tax than before

ShutterstockThey’re at it again, pushing lower company tax as a way to resuscitate the economy.The arguments were well ventilated at the time the government pushed for company tax cuts...

Forget a capital gains tax – what New Zealand needs is a tax on inherited wealth

www.shutterstock.comThe world’s wealthiest people will transfer US$15.4 trillion in assets to their heirs in the next decade, according to a recent report. Published by specialist data...

Why NSW is skewing its tax system toward build-to-rent apartments and away from mum and pop landlords

In an apparent about face, the NSW government has halved land tax for developers of build-to-rent housing.It came weeks after the the Treasurer Dominic Perrottet launched a report that cal...

Vital Signs: the COVID-19 crisis in aged care shows elimination is the only effective strategy

ShutterstockAs Victoria struggles to get its hotel-quarantine-debacle-driven COVID-19 outbreak under control, there has been renewed focus on the plight of those in aged-care facilities.The ...

Data privacy: stricter European rules will have repercussions in Australia as global divisions grow

shutterstockA big year for privacy just got bigger. On July 16, Europe’s top court ruled on the legality of two mechanisms for cross-border transfers of personal data. The Court of Jus...

What to do with anti-maskers? Punishment has its place, but can also entrench resistance

What’s driving “Bunnings Karen” and others to film themselves arguing with shop assistants about face masks and human rights? And how should we respond?Victorian premier Da...