1,722,729 research outputs found
Workplace relations framework: Productivity Commission draft report
No full textThe Productivity Commission invites examination of the draft report, and written submissions by Friday 18 September 2015.
The draft report is a broad-ranging assessment of Australia\u27s workplace relations framework, considering current laws, institutions and practices. It uses an economy-wide approach, looking at possible reforms that, where merited, are likely to enhance the welfare of Australians as a whole.
See Related Content below for Australian Productivity Commission Chairman Peter Harris\u27 video presentation about the draft recommendations
Workplace Relations Framework draft recommendations
No full textAustralian Productivity Commission Chairman Peter Harris presents a talk about the draft recommendations from the Workplace Relations Framework public inquiry
Indigenous disadvantage: are we making progress?
No full textGary Banks, chair of the Productivity Commission, spoke on this topic at a CEDA gathering in Adelaide and at a HEROC workshop in Sydney.
Released 21 September 200
How to find what you need in RoGS
No full textThis guide has been developed to assist with navigating the Report on Government Services web pages published by the Productivity Commission
Barriers to growth in service exports: draft report
Full text linkKey points
The total value of Australian service exports was $57 billion in 2013-14 and about 17 per cent of total exports. The six services sectors covered in this study — tourism, education, financial services, professional services, information technology and health services — accounted for around 85 per cent of the total value of service exports.
The total value of service exports from all sectors has doubled (in real terms) over the past two decades.
Rising household incomes, particularly in some countries in Asia, have been an important driver of increasing global demand for services. Visitors from Asia account for much of the growth in Australian tourism and education exports over the past decade.
The costs of exporting services have fallen due, in part, to lower airfares and the development of internet tools including email, online video and audio calls, and electronic payment systems.
The priority for the Australian Government should be policy reform that promotes competition and provides incentives for domestic firms, including in services sectors, to innovate and lift their productivity. Specific reforms to reduce domestic barriers to service exports include:
implementing visa processing arrangements for short-term visitors and international students that are no more onerous than is necessary to meet a single policy objective of immigration integrity
liberalising air services arrangements for the major gateway cities of Brisbane, Melbourne and Perth and, following this, Sydney — unless a published assessment shows the costs of liberalising access to Sydney Kingsford Smith Airport would outweigh the benefits to the community
simplifying Australia\u27s regime of withholding taxes through greater uniformity in the rate applied to different types of investment and reducing the range of exemptions
implementing consistent screening thresholds for Foreign Investment Review Board examination of foreign investment proposals across investors from different countries.
International barriers to services trade can be costly.
Restrictions on setting up a commercial presence abroad affect the education, health and professional service sectors, but are particularly costly for exports of financial services in key markets in Asia such as China, India and Indonesia.
Licensing requirements and regulation are used to maintain standards of quality, consumer protection and safety but can impose unnecessary restrictions on services trade, particularly for professional services.
All services providers seeking to export rely on the ability to move data across borders, making data restrictions costly. The financial services sector can be especially affected by restrictions on data flows, as are exporters who rely on cloud computing services.
Realising benefits from trade depends on governments committing to further reducing barriers at and behind the border. No one mechanism will be sufficient to address international barriers to services trade.
Trade agreements can be a precursor to market access, including establishing a commercial presence abroad, but realised benefits may be limited without supplementary measures, such as mutual recognition. The Australian Government can help by putting in place a framework in trade agreements for developing mutual recognition agreements.
The Australian Government is well-placed to help facilitate cross-border data flows through trade negotiations and other international forums, and as leader of a project on harmonising standards for the movement of data across APEC economies.
You are invited to examine this draft report and comment on it by written submission to the Productivity Commission, preferably in electronic format, by Friday 18 September 2015
Review of national competition policy reforms
No full textThis report contains the findings of the Productivity Commission\u27s public inquiry into national competition policy. Released with the report was the supplement, Modelling Impacts of Infrastructure Industry Change over the 1990s.
Released 14 April 200
Telecommunications Universal Service Obligation: issues paper
No full textThe Productivity Commission has called on those interested in the future direction of telecommunications in Australia to contribute to its new public inquiry on the Telecommunications Universal Service Obligation.
The Productivity Commission released today an issues paper to help people prepare their submissions or provide brief comments through the website. The deadline for submissions is 21 July 2016.
\u27Currently we have in place a Universal Service Obligation that means the government guarantees a minimum level of fixed line voice telephone services and pay phones across Australia,\u27 said Commissioner Paul Lindwall.
\u27Our inquiry is looking at whether government intervention is still needed to support universal access to a minimum level of telecommunications services, given market, technological and policy developments over the past decade, not least of which is the widespread use of mobile phones and the rollout of the NBN\u27 he said
Regulation for Australia's federation in the 21st century
No full textThis is the text of a speech by the chair of the Productivity Commission, who also chairs the Regulation Taskforce, at the 2006 Australian Social and Economic Outlook Conference. He argues that there is considerable scope for regulation within Australia\u27s federal system to work better in the national interest.
Australia’s international tourism industry
Full text linkExamines the trends and drivers of growth in Australian international tourism with a view to understanding their implications for government policy.
Overview
Tourism is a significant contributor to the Australian economy
Tourism is important to Australia’s economy — people are travelling further, and more frequently for a range of reasons including leisure, business and education.1 In 2014, total tourism spending contributed almost 3 per cent of Australia’s GDP — about one-third of this ($11 billion) was by international visitors. International tourism’s share of total service exports was just over 60 per cent in 2014.
The number of international visitors to Australia has more than doubled over the past two decades
Demand for international tourism in Australia has grown strongly over the past two decades — the number of international visitors has increased from 2.5 million in 1992 to almost 6.7 million in 2014. Tourism is expected to continue to be important to the Australian economy, with strong growth projected in the number of international visitors travelling to Australia over the next decade.
Important drivers of demand for international tourism include foreign household incomes, the cost of travel and the relative price of tourism in Australia compared with other destinations. For example, rising real incomes, particularly in emerging countries in Asia, have given many more people the opportunity to travel for the first time. Globally, airfares have fallen significantly (by about 60 per cent in real terms) over the past four decades, which has contributed to an increase in demand for international air services
Report on government services 2016 volume A: approach to performance reporting
No full textThe annual Report on Government Services (RoGS) provides information on the equity, effectiveness and efficiency of government services in Australia. This report was progressively released between 27 January and 4 February 2016. This year marks the twenty-first edition of the Report on Government Services. The Report is produced by the Productivity Commission for an inter-governmental Steering Committee.
This volume provides statistical context for the service-specific volumes B to G
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