Close search

Search site and publications

Contact Us
Careers
Cart

Search site and publications

Productivity Commission

Inquiries
Research
Ongoing reporting
Media and speeches
About

Home
Inquiries
- Current inquiries
  - Opportunities in the circular economy
  - National Competition Policy analysis
- Completed inquiries
Research
Ongoing reporting
Media and speeches
About

Home

Media and speeches

Speeches and presentations

The fraying generational bargain

Higher education and productivity

Future Made in Australia legislation

Inequality in Australia – what role does government policy play?

Future foundations for giving

Advancing Tasmania’s prosperity

Commonwealth bilateral air service agreements

Competition, dynamism and productivity

Future critical: meeting the minerals investment challenge

Optimal industry policy

Reflections on productivity, public policy, and challenges associated with Closing the Gap

Organisational Economics Workshop in Australia

Australia's cost of living challenge

Economic regulation of airports

Australia's health workforce — a future looking perspective

Is there madness in our method?

Productivity: The key to prosperity

The case for measured optimism

Productivity, migration and skills

Supply chain vulnerabilities

Future ready? Australia and international trade in the post-pandemic global economy

Vocational education research

Economics of working from home

Future productivity

The working from home evolution

Reform and sustainable funding of healthcare

Right to repair draft report

Productivity priorities post-pandemic

Recession, recovery and reform

A brief overview of the mental health inquiry report

Services sector productivity

Future of the global trading system

Rise of digital technology

Healthcare – why quality matters

Productivity reform in Australia and New Zealand: Barriers and opportunities

The COVID-19 recovery: A view from the supply side

Private health insurance

2019 Grace Groom Memorial Oration

Economic knowledge and the state

Human services: The next wave of productivity reform

Healthcare: A wide-angled view

Productivity, growth and progress

Future of markets and TAFE

Healthcare: Why we need to do things differently

Reaping broader economic benefits from an effective healthcare system: A visual lens

How can economics contribute to better policy-making in future?

A whole of government Indigenous Evaluation Strategy

Economic regulation of airports - the Commission's draft report

Regulating in the digital economy

Fitness and the future of work: Time to swap out the marathon for F45

Trends in economic inequality over 27 Years of economic growth

Growth's running mate

Seven stories from 'Rising inequality? A stocktake of the evidence'

Have 'Big tech' platforms got too much power?

The future of work: Is it something completely different?

Data, the European Union General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and Australia's New Consumer Right

Will reformed human services markets be a good thing for older Australians?

Superannuation: Performing for all members?

Infrastructure

Pursuit of transparency and accountability

Challenges, threats and opportunities for Australian international trade

Competition in the financial system

Productivity and policy challenges in an environment of pervasive uncertainty

Data - The thing that ties it all together

What is fair?

Five-year Productivity Review

Public policy and what's missing in action?

Productivity, innovation and Review of the Workplace Relations Regulatory Framework

Reconsidering the sacred cow of housing: Policies for an ageing Australia

Older Australians and the bucket list

Making a difference

Public housing and employment

Reviving Harper

CEDA: Workplace relations

The case for infrastructure pricing reform - What water can teach roads

Free Trade Agreements

Remarks at the 2015 Australian Domestic Gas Outlook Conference

An Economist and a Lawyer went to lunch... some reflections on the Productivity Commission's access to civil justice inquiry

The Industry Commission's report on private health insurance in Australia

Chairman's speech to the Australian Coalition of Service Industries

Why have a Productivity Commission?

Human capital, the universities and microeconomic reform

Towards best practice regulation: The National 'Standard'

Policy implications of the ageing of Australia's population

Microeconomic reform: beauty or the beast?

Meeting the challenge of change in regional Australia

Competition: The best price regulator

Productive R&D Assistance

Challenges for Australia in regulatory reform

Competition and the public interest

The Role of ICT in Australia's economic performance

Article on microreform's productivity payoff

Reviewing the service performance of Australian governments

The drivers of Australia's productivity surge

Competition regulation of infrastructure: Getting the balance right

The Productivity Commission's automotive inquiry

Australia's interests in the WTO

The 'Baby and the bath water': Avoiding efficiency mishaps in regulating monopoly infrastructure

Regulating Australia's infrastructure: Looking forward

Getting the most out of the WTO and the Doha round

The contribution to public policy of Professor Richard Hal Snape (1936-2002)

Inter-state bidding wars: Calling a truce

The Productivity Commission's gambling inquiry: 3 years on

Reducing the business costs of regulation

'Minimum effective regulation' and the mining industry

Gaining from trade liberalisation: Some reflections on Australia's experience

Australia's economic 'miracle'

The good, the bad and the ugly: Economic perspectives on regulation in Australia

Indigenous disadvantage: Assessing policy impacts

A welcome to the Commission's 30th Anniversary celebration

An ageing Australia: Small beer or big bucks?

NCP and beyond: An agenda for national reform

Structural reform Australian-style: Lessons for others?

Regulation-making in Australia: Is it broke? How do we fix it?

Indigenous disadvantage: Are we making progress?

Policy implications of an ageing Australia: An illustrated guide

Comparing school systems across Australia

Road and rail pricing: Some early observations... and more questions

Reducing the regulatory burden: The way forward

Explaining the housing market puzzle

Tackling the underlying causes of over-regulation: An update

Regulation for Australia's federation in the 21st century

Great expectations: Management (and other) lessons from the Regulation Taskforce

Overcoming Indigenous Disadvantage in Australia

Domestic transparency in Australia's economic and trade reforms: The role of 'The Commission'

Gambling in Australia: Are we balancing the equation?

Public inquiries in policy formulation: Australia's Productivity Commission

Riding the third wave: Some challenges in national reform

Health costs and policy in an ageing Australia

Industry policy for a productive Australia

Evidence-based policy-making: What is it? How do we get it?

The Productivity Commission's executive pay inquiry: An update on the issues

Are we overcoming Indigenous disadvantage?

Executive pay: Economic issues from the Commission's report

Back to the future: Restoring Australia's productivity growth

Markets: How free?

Statistics, productivity and reform

An economy-wide view: Speeches on structural reform

Advancing Australia's 'Human Capital Agenda'

Successful reform: Past lessons, future challenges

Comparing carbon policies internationally: The 'challenges'

Evidence and social policy: The case of gambling

Australia's mining boom: What's the problem?

Economics, economists and public policy in Australia

Independent policy advice and the Productivity Commission

Industry assistance in a 'Patchwork economy'

Whither trans-Tasman economic relations? Some emerging themes

Competition policy's regulatory innovations: Quo vadis?

Productivity policies: The 'to do' list

Advancing the reform agenda: Selected speeches

From measuring production to measuring wellbeing

The Asian Financial Crisis

The productivity reform outlook

Productivity and the national income outlook

Observations on productivity, national income and the demographic outlook

Productivity in government

Competition policy and deregulation: Challenges and choices

Address to the Australian Automobile Association

Infrastructure for an ageing Australia

Address to the 2014 Annual Stockbrokers Conference

Infrastructure reform

Advancing Australia's 'Human Capital Agenda'

Chairman's speech

Gary Banks gave the fourth Ian Little Lecture in Melbourne on 13 April 2010. The Lecture series is sponsored by the Victorian Government and Monash University.

Download the speech

Advancing Australia's 'Human Capital Agenda' (PDF - 82 Kb)
Advancing Australia's 'Human Capital Agenda' (Word - 101 Kb)

Contents

Introduction

What is 'human capital' and why is it important?

How is Australia performing?
A mixed international report card
Going backwards in 'foundation skills'?

COAG's Human Capital Reform Agenda
The Commission projected significant (qualified) benefits
What social rate of return?

The fundamental drivers: teachers and governance
Restoring quality teaching
Remuneration issues
Governance is fundamental

Learning about what works best
The COAG framework holds promise
Priorities for evaluation and review

A final comment

References

Follow On

X Facebook

Mail RSS

Accessibility
Privacy
Disclaimer
Copyright
Social media
Feedback
Vulnerability disclosure
Sitemap

The Productivity Commission acknowledges the Traditional Owners of Country throughout Australia and their continuing connection to land, waters and community. We pay our respects to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Cultures, Country and Elders past and present.