Emma’s
Publications
Uncategorised
September 9, 2024
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The Way In: Representation in the 47th Australian Parliament
By exploring representation broadly through different demographic lenses, Per Capita’s parliamentary analysis series, The Way In, seeks to understand the paths to political power in Australia’s Federal Parliament.
Post Carbon Economy
September 4, 2024
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Charged Up: Strategies for Addressing the Skill Shortage in Electrical Trades for the Clean Energy Transition
The Federal Government’s ambitious plan to transform Australia into a Renewable Energy Superpower requires a corresponding ambition to fix critical shortages in the electrical workforce.
Responsible Technology
April 11, 2024
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Submission to Public Consultation on Doxxing and Privacy Reforms
Doxxing, which includes the deliberate online exposure of an individual’s identity, private information, or personal details with malicious intentions, can bring about dangers for individuals in the physical world, ranging from humiliation to physical stalking.
Work and Workers
March 27, 2024
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A Thousand Hours for Free? Ending Unpaid Placements in Social Work Education
There is a growing body of research highlighting the issues students face in completing degrees in social work.
The requirement to undertake 1000 hours of unpaid field education – equivalent to six months’ full time work – is contributing to a low completion rate despite the demand for social workers increasing.
January 31, 2024
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Per Capita Tax Survey 2023
The 2023 Per Capita Tax Survey provides valuable insights into changing public sentiment towards government’s role in shaping the economy.
Equitable Housing
January 16, 2024
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On Whose Account? Government Spending on Housing
This paper shows the shift away from treating housing policy as a core economic function of the government to a residual element of the welfare system. The absence of a comprehensive federal housing budget means that the distributional impacts of funding allocation and changes in spending on different groups in society remain largely unevaluated.
Equitable Housing
October 31, 2023
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The National Housing and Homelessness Plan: A historic opportunity not to be missed
The development of a new NHHP presents the Federal Government with an historic opportunity to reshape Australia’s broken housing system, to modernise it for the needs of contemporary Australia and to leave a lasting legacy for future generations.
Social Innovation
September 7, 2023
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We have to do more: Examining School Leader Perspectives on Hygiene Poverty within Australian Schools
The benefits of access to hygiene products transcend the notion of hygiene alone, likely conferring significant benefits to reduced absenteeism, reduced presenteeism, improvements in mental health and better engagement with school and civic systems.
Equitable Housing
August 15, 2023
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Regulating Rentals in Australia: what works?
This paper examines the data to establish if there is, indeed, a rental crisis in Australia, and surveys local and international research to determine what would work to improve the experience of renting a home in the Australian market.
Progressive Economics
May 28, 2023
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The Australian Inequality Index
The Australian Inequality Index is a ground-breaking new tool that provides a multidimensional measure of inequality across a range of economic, social, and demographic indicators.
Work and Workers
April 21, 2023
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Sharing the Spoils: A Gender Lens Analysis of the Four Day Week Trial at Our Community
In recent years, calls for shorter working ours without a reduction in pay, in terms of a four-day week (4DW), have become increasingly prominent around the developed world.
Homepage Feature
December 15, 2022
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Full Employment in 21st Century Australia: a lode star policy in an age of uncertainty
A submission to the Employment White Paper Consultation
Progressive Economics
October 31, 2022
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Per Capita Tax Survey 2022
Now in its 12th iteration, the 2022 Survey comes after perhaps some of the most extraordinary years in living memory, during which every aspect of life was disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic and resulting recession.
October 27, 2022
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Exploring the Benefits of Auslan in Early Intervention Approaches for Deaf Children
This commissioned research report seeks to summarise the benefits of Auslan and early intervention strategies to inform policy and support a deeper understanding of the role of Auslan as a language modality and the benefits of early intervention as a developmental strategy.
Gender Equality
October 5, 2022
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A Home of One’s Own: Philanthropic and social sector solutions for women’s housing
Australia is experiencing a housing crisis, and its impact is highly gendered.
Homepage Feature
September 30, 2022
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Submission to the Senate Select Committee Inquiry into Work and Care
Consideration of how we might better balance the demands of paid labour with the needs of our families and loved ones is fundamental to creating a more equitable and just society.
Progressive Economics
August 15, 2022
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Submission to the Inquiry into the Repeal of the Cashless Debit Card
Per Capita welcomes the vision and policy leadership shown by the current government in its prioritisation of the scrapping of this harmful, degrading and disempowering policy.
Progressive Economics
July 28, 2022
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Our Culture, Our Value: The Social and Economic Benefits of Auslan
The value of language is often taken for granted in both research and policy.
Homepage Feature
May 15, 2022
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The Way In – Representation in the 46th Australian Parliament
This report explores the path to parliament taken by our current representative members of federal parliament, and considers a wide variety of identity, vocational and experiential factors, building on the previous Per Capita report looking at the 45th Federal Parliament, and published in 2019.
Progressive Economics
April 30, 2022
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Our Culture, Our Value: The Costs of Hearing Loss in Australia
Solutions to improve the engagement of Deaf people with gainful employment and service access, will improve both economic and wellbeing outcomes.
Emma’s
Media
Our Media
September 20, 2024
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By siding with the right the Greens are in a race to the bottom – Emma Dawson
By siding this week with the Coalition and One Nation to delay a vote on the government’s Help To Buy legislation, the Greens have joined the right-wing parties in a populist race to the bottom, abusing Senate processes in pursuit of their own electoral fortune.
June 18, 2024
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Coalition Wrecking Australia’s Climate Change Progress
Afternoons Show on ABC Radio Melbourne - 18 June 2024
Our Media
March 9, 2024
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Greens’ housing plan is a joke – Emma Dawson
So when, on Wednesday, the Greens announced their first election policy would be the creation of a ‘‘public developer'' under the control of a dedicated federal department to build hundreds of thousands of new homes across the country, I was optimistic that some of the evidence they had considered through the inquiry process had made its way into a meaningful policy.
Our Media
March 8, 2024
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Australian women are chalking up some wins in the workplace – yet our male leaders remain out of touch Emma Dawson
Do the men running most businesses even understand the contribution women make to the economy?
Our Media
January 16, 2024
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Renters know they are the losers in Australia’s housing system – and as their anger rises, so will their protest vote
The lack of affordable housing, along with decades of inaction on climate change and the collapse of wages and job security since the global financial crisis, is the big driver of millennial and gen Z voters staying left of centre as they age. After all, there’s no incentive to become conservative if you’ve nothing much to conserve.
Our Media
January 10, 2024
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The stage-three tax cuts are politics over policy – and no way to save our struggling economy – Emma Dawson
You’d be hard-pressed to find an economist who thinks the tax cuts as designed by Morrison should go ahead in their entirety, and the most recent annual Per Capita tax survey shows that only 13.2% of Australian voters think stage three should remain as is.
Our Media
November 2, 2023
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Emma Dawson on The Drum – 2/11/23
Ellen Fanning is joined by David Blunt, Caitlin Figueiredo, Peter Martin and Emma Dawson to discuss growing fears of a Melbourne Cup Day interest rate hike, plus are we living under ‘technofeudalism’? https://www.facebook.com/abcthedrum/videos/292968000310042
Our Media
July 28, 2023
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Solving Homelessness Will Save Australia Billions – So What’s the Big Delay? – Emma Dawson
Winter 2020 wasn’t a happy time for most Melbournians. The rapid spread of COVID-19 saw our city locked down as people adjusted to working from home, juggling the needs of fractious kids who were struggling with online learning and playground closures while rationing toilet paper and torturing ourselves trying to master a sourdough starter.
But for Melbourne’s population of rough sleepers, that winter was not one of discontent. Almost overnight, people sleeping rough on our streets were given shelter, as the State Government acquired hotel rooms for emergency accommodation. This measure ensured that people without a roof over their heads could be protected – as were the rest of us – from the virus rampaging through our city.
Our Media
June 19, 2023
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Beat inflation without raising interest rates? We can do it, but it’s slow, hard and politically risky
Interest rates have risen at the steepest rate ever, as the Reserve Bank hikes the cost of mortgages and lending to try to stomp down inflation. Is there a better way?
Our Media
June 8, 2023
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Tasmania among most unequal places in Australia – ABC Hobart
Emma Dawson from Per Capita says they created the Inequality Index to help Australians see how much less fair the country is becoming. The index shows it is becoming harder to move up through society than it was in the past.
Our Media
May 16, 2023
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Happy Mother’s Day! A women-friendly budget
Emma Dawson give a very personal reflection on the Federal Budget in Broad Agenda.
Our Media
April 26, 2023
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Overcome NIMBYs and build where people want to live: The tough, but necessary housing solutions
Emma Dawson commented in The Age/SMH/Brisbane Times/WA Today on the need to rethink the tax system and the capital gains treatment of property
Our Media
December 16, 2022
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Time for a four day working week?
Is the weekend family time at your place or a work day like any other? In theory , the norm is five days and forty hours but in our 24/7 world work extends around the clock. So is it time for a reset to reduce standard working hours to a four day thirty two hour week?
Our Media
November 25, 2022
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Socially Democratic – Ep.169: Post Victorian State Election Review with Emma Dawson (Podcast)
Dunn Street founder and Community Organiser Stephen Donnelly was joined once again by Executive Director for Per Capita, Emma Dawson, and former Federal Member for Batman, David Feeney, for Socially Democratic’s Post 2022 VIC ELECTION review!
Our Media
November 22, 2022
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The Drum – 22 November 2022
Kathryn Robinson was joined by Craig Chung, Antoinette Lattouf, Madonna King and Emma Dawson to discuss the findings of an inquiry into the Queensland Police Service’s responses to domestic and family violence, whether it is time to ditch ‘cooking with gas’ and whether NZ will lower the voting age to 16.
Our Media
November 18, 2022
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Socially Democratic Ep.168: 2022 VIC ELECTION ELECTION EVE PREVIEW with Emma Dawson (Podcast)
Dunn Street founder and Community Organiser Stephen Donnelly was joined again by Executive Director for Per Capita, Emma Dawson, and former Federal Member for Batman, David Feeney, for Socially Democratic’s 2022 VIC ELECTION ELECTION EVE WRAP!
Our Media
November 11, 2022
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Socially Democratic Ep.165: 2022 VIC ELECTION WEEKLY WRAP #1 (Podcast)
Dunn Street founder and Community Organiser Stephen Donnelly was joined by Executive Director for Per Capita, Emma Dawson, and former Federal Member for Batman, David Feeney, for Socially Democratic’s first weekly recap of the 2022 Victorian State election campaign.
Our Media
October 27, 2022
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‘The first step’: What the Women’s Budget Statement and a majority female government means in practice
Parliament House’s main committee room was packed yesterday for a celebration of the official Women’s Budget Statement and a government comprised, for the first time, of a majority 52 per cent women.
Our Media
October 26, 2022
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More than half of NSW politicians own multiple properties
More than half of NSW MPs own two properties or more, parliamentary documents reveal, and one member owns 12.
October 7, 2022
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Without meaningful intervention, the number of older homeless women will double
Emma Dawson quoted in Women's Agenda
Emma’s
Blog Posts
Blog
March 25, 2020
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Capitalism is broken. This crisis is our chance to fix it
To the followers of Per Capita and the readers of our work, This letter is being written at my dining room table, as I and the rest of the Per Capita team are in our second week of working from home to avoid spreading the terrible virus that has upended our world. The devastation to ... Read more
Blog
June 17, 2019
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Speech: The Economic Impacts of Ageism
Speech to the COTA Australia National Policy Forum National Press Club, Canberra, 13 June 2019 Emma Dawson, Executive Director, Per Capita I begin by acknowledging that we meet today on the land of the Ngunnawal people, and pay respects to their elders past, present and emerging. This is, and always will be, Aboriginal land, land ... Read more
Blog
June 11, 2019
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Per Capita calls on Opposition and Senate cross bench to #StopStage3
MEDIA RELEASE: Per Capita calls on Opposition and Senate cross bench to #StopStage3 Having won the election, the Coalition government will be pushing hard to legislate its tax plan when Parliament sits again in July. That tax plan comprises three stages: Stage 1 increases the low and middle income tax offset (LMITO) from $530 to ... Read more
Blog
April 2, 2019
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Per Capita’s 2019 Budget Response
Federal Budget 2019: A Missed Opportunity to Address Inequality in Australia by Emma Dawson, Executive Director Treasurer Josh Frydenberg’s first budget fails to grapple with the big challenges facing our nation. The centrepiece of the Government’s pre-election budget is personal income tax cuts aimed at middle-income earners, but real measures to address the growing inequality ... Read more
Blog
July 19, 2018
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Emma Dawson’s address to the 2018 ACTU Congress
Address to the 2018 ACTU Congress Panel Discussion: Ending Trickle Down Economics John Kenneth Galbraith once described trickle-down economics as the theory that “if you feed enough oats to the horse, some will pass through to feed the sparrows”. In Australia today, as in so many other developed nations where trickle-down economics has been ascendant ... Read more
Blog
March 22, 2018
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On company tax cuts, business actions speak louder than words
As the Turnbull Government pushes hard to secure the votes needed to pass its company tax cut for large corporations, minor party senators would do well to heed the actions of big business when it comes to local investment and wage increases for workers, rather than listening to their well-crafted words. On Tuesday, Pauline Hanson ... Read more
Emma’s
Podcasts
JCL series
November 28, 2023
JCL Series: Small steps and giant leaps: Per Capita’s reform agenda
Per Capita works to build a new vision for Australia based on fairness, shared prosperity, and social justice. From housing to tax, employment services to industrial relations, poverty to evidence-based policy, these issues all have the potential to influence the lives of Australians either by distributing resources more equitably or by allocating them to the ... Read more
Podcast
November 14, 2023
Webinar Series: Courting Power – Law, Democracy and the Public Interest in Australia, with Isabelle Reinecke
A healthy legal system is fundamental to democracy. All Australians should be able to rely on the courts to keep the powers that be accountable, but what pernicious forces seek to undermine this? In Courting Power, Isabelle Reinecke, founder of Grata Fund, Australia’s first strategic litigation funder and incubator, takes us through the trials and ... Read more
Podcast
September 5, 2023
Re:CAP – Glass Ceilings: Gendered Inequality in the Housing System
Welcome back to Re:CAP – Per Capita’s premier podcast where we unpack our latest research and examine the inequalities in Australian society. This week, Emma Dawson is joined by Per Capita’s Andrew Herington Fellow, Lucy Tonkin, to chat about the Centre for Equitable Housing’s second paper from their Australian Housing Monitor – Glass Ceilings: Gendered ... Read more
Podcast
August 16, 2023
Re:CAP – Reforming Casual Employment in Australia
Welcome back to Re:CAP – Per Capita’s premier podcast where we unpack our latest research and examine the inequalities in Australian society. This week, Emma Dawson is joined by Research Associate for the Centre for New Industry, Sarah Mackenzie to discuss their latest report: Towards Fairness and Security – Reforming Casual Employment in Australia Read ... Read more
Podcast
July 18, 2023
Re:CAP – Four Day Working Week
Welcome to Re:CAP – Per Capita’s premier podcast where we unpack our latest research and examine the inequalities in Australian society. This week, Emma Dawson is joined by Research Economist, Sam Ibrahim, to discuss their report on the Four Day Work trial: Sharing the Spoils: A Gender Lens Analysis of the Four Day Week ... Read more
Podcast
July 5, 2023
Re:CAP – Australian Inequality Index
Welcome back to Re:CAP – Per Capita’s premier podcast where we unpack our latest research and examine the inequalities in Australian society. This week, Matthew Lloyd-Cape is joined by Emma Dawson and Sam Ibrahim, to discuss the launch of Per Capita’s latest initiative: The Australian Inequality Index. Together they will detail what the index is, ... Read more
Podcast
June 6, 2023
Re:CAP – Workforce Australia Submission
Welcome to Re:CAP – Per Capita’s premier podcast where we unpack our latest research and examine the inequalities in Australian society. This week, Emma Dawson is joined by Senior Research Fellow, May Lam, to discuss their latest submission for Per Capita: Submission to the Workforce Australia Inquiry Read the full report here: https://percapita.org.au/our_work/submission-to-the-workforce-australia-inquiry/ https://mcdn.podbean.com/mf/web/t27u72/ReCAP_Ep5_Workforce_Sub6hs5r.mp3 ... Read more
Podcast
May 11, 2023
Re:CAP Ep.04: 2023 Federal Budget Post Mortem
Welcome to Re:CAP – Per Capita’s premier podcast where we unpack our latest research and examine the inequalities in Australian society. This week, Emma Dawson is joined by Shirley Jackson, Matthew Lloyd-Cape, and Senior Research Fellow, Margaret MacKenzie, to give our 2023 Federal Budget Postmortem.
Podcast
May 3, 2023
Re:CAP – 2023 Federal Budget Expectations
Welcome to Re:CAP – Per Capita’s premier podcast where we unpack our latest research and examine the inequalities in Australian society. This week, Executive Director, Emma Dawson, is joined by CNI Director, Shirley Jackson, and Senior Research Fellow, May Lam, to share their expectations for the 2023 Federal Budget. Published May 2023.
Podcast
April 10, 2023
Re:CAP – Centre For Equitable Housing
Welcome to Re:CAP – Per Capita’s premier podcast where we unpack our latest research and examine the inequalities in Australian society. In this episode, Per Capita Director Emma Dawson joins Director for the Centre for Equitable Housing, Matthew Lloyd-Cape, to discuss their latest report which outlines Australian experience within the housing market. Read full report ... Read more