Pushing for rental reform; advocating for sovereign capability; realising the jobs opportunity of AUKUS; identifying best-practice policy on energy; and bringing people together on worker rights. Here’s how the McKell Institute has kicked off 2025.
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Our team right across Australia has begun the new year focused on advocating for a suite of policy proposals ahead of the 2025 election.
We started the year by releasing our Rewarding Renters plan
Renters are doing it tough. That’s why government should do all it can to make renting easier for every Australian.
Our Rewarding Renters plan outlined four options to make renting fairer, including proposing a national portable bond scheme, which returns interest to renters and give renters thousands by the time they exit the rental market.
The plan was covered by News.com.au and 9 News, and Ed sat down with Listnr’s The Briefing Podcast to detail our proposals:
We pitched our ideas on essential worker housing to the NSW Parliament
Housing policy will remain front and center in 2025, especially in New South Wales.
Early in February, McKell’s Max Douglass appeared in front of a NSW Parliamentary inquiry into essential worker housing, where he argued for reforms to essential worker housing in Sydney.
Our research has identified 7 new ideas to expand access to housing for the workers that keep our cities and communities running.
Max Douglass testifying to the New South Wales Parliament.
In Adelaide, we hosted the Treasurer of South Australia
McKell kicked off our 2025 events with an intimate discussion with South Australian Treasurer, Stephen Mullighan, kindly hosted by Deloitte’s South Australian team.
Deloitte’s Hendri Mentz (Left), SA Treasurer Stephen Mullighan, and McKell CEO Ed Cavanough (right).
…and made the case for intervention as the Whyalla steelworks stood on the brink
In the wake of the South Australian Government’s extraordinary intervention in the Whyalla Steelworks, we spoke to the media explaining what had happened and why it mattered.
Our policy briefing, A Future Made in Whyalla, described the case for intervention and was reported on nation-wide when news of the Whyalla intervention broke.
Ed did a media blitz on the intervention, speaking with ABC’s Radio National, 9’s The Money, and more, as well as a sit down with ABC’s Patricia Karvelas.
Bringing stakeholders together on energy, AUKUS, and worker rights
McKell is committed to finding ways to forge new partnerships to solve common problems. So far this year, our research agenda has demonstrated just that:
- We partnered with the Susan McKinnon Foundation and the Blueprint Institute to identify best–practice policy design on energy.
- We collaborated with the US Studies Center to outline how New South Wales can capitalize on AUKUS to create job opportunities in the state.
- And we brought Woolworths and Unions together to detail how to best protect horticulture workers, with our research on Labour Hire Licensing.
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Turning our attention to the election
Meanwhile, the country has shifted into election mode, with the Albanese Government and the Coalition starting to outline their competing visions for Australia’s future.
Over the coming months, we will be closely monitoring the policy debate, and contributing new ideas into the national debate designed to make Australia a fairer and more prosperous nation.
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