Blog

Welcome to the Per Capita blog! Here you'll find all the thoughts and ideas we just had to get out there immediately, as well as the winning entries of our Young Writers Competition and other bits and pieces.

Blog
June 19, 2023

Aus/US partnership for an energy revolution

When I arrived in the US a few weeks ago to begin a study tour on the opportunities that Australia has to build our industrial profile within the American renewable supply chain, I was filled with optimism and excitement. Not only because this was my first international trip in nearly a decade but also because ... Read more
Blog
October 25, 2022

Radical IR agenda? Not really…

Attaining bipartisan approval on reforms to Australia’s industrial relations system has proved a colossal feat, marred by a tortuous parliamentary history. The passage of the Conciliation and Arbitration Act, which established Australia’s first industrial relations system, was a great destroyer of governments. The bill took three years to make its way through parliament, precipitated the ... Read more
Blog
August 29, 2022

Our skills shortage has been years in the making

As Australia emerges from the long tail of the COVID-19 pandemic and its associated economic crisis, the fault lines in our economy resulting from a decade of mismanagement and neglect have been exposed. However, long after the lockdown ended and the economy ‘snapped back’ to life, the enduring scarring effects of the labour market contraction ... Read more
Blog
January 21, 2022

Kids in forklifts? How about some actual solutions to labour shortages

As someone who spent many years working in warehouses across Melbourne, I was truly baffled to see the Prime Minister’s announcement that he was attempting to address labour shortages across the logistics industry by encouraging the states to allow under 18s to drive forklifts. This was baffling for a number of reasons. Firstly, and most ... Read more
Blog
January 17, 2022

Boundless benefits of smart industry policy

We live in uncertain times. Our economy is slowing, our planet is warming, and our trust in our political system is at an all time low. Political trust is a difficult thing to pin down, but at its core, there is a belief that in uncertain times political institutions will provide certainty. It’s no accident that when we ... Read more