22 April 2025
Major reform to the Commonwealth Parliament and government is needed to enable brave policy making, according to a landmark report prepared for McKinnon by two of Australia’s leading public policy thinkers.
The Institutional Reform Stocktake report – authored by founding Chief Executive of the Grattan Institute, John Daley, and Rachel Krust, says many Commonwealth institutions have fossilised, and are not promoting the tough policy reforms needed for challenges like slowing productivity growth, intergenerational unfairness, and climate change.
Releasing the report, Mr Daley said that to make the difficult policy decisions, Australia needs strong institutions with a mandate and incentives to think long-term.
“That means a stronger parliament, a more independent public service, more independent advisory bodies and a competitive electoral system that rewards deep engagement with the whole community and pushes incumbents to do better,” he said.
Out of a pool of 34 potential ideas, the report identifies seven areas ripe for reform that will make the most difference to improving government in Australia. The big-ticket items include:
- Limiting political donations.
- More rigorous processes for appointing and terminating Secretaries of Commonwealth Departments.
- Fixing parliamentary terms, preferably for four years.
The report also argues that the reality of rising voter support and numbers of cross-bench MPs should be reflected, as a matter of democratic principle, in more staff to support them, proportionate opportunities as chairs and members of parliamentary committees, and more time to ensure that important private members bills are debated and voted on.
It goes on to call for a boost to the number of classroom hours dedicated to teaching civics in secondary school.