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Australia is at a pivotal moment. Cost-of-living pressures are biting, housing affordability is worsening, and productivity growth is stalling. These challenges shape everyday life and the nation’s future prosperity. In this context, the need for robust, evidence-informed economic policy has never been greater. Sound economic decision-making can ease immediate pressures, unlock opportunity, and lay the foundations for long-term, inclusive growth.
McKinnon’s flagship initiative in economic policy is its founding support for the e61 Institute—a non-partisan research organisation that harnesses cutting-edge data, economics, and statistical methods to tackle Australia’s most pressing economic challenges.
key focus areas
Australia has no shortage of tax ideas. What we lack is a way of landing reform.
25 Years of False Starts examines the recurring patterns that have made tax reform in Australia more likely to fail than succeed.
The cost of this repeated failure is no longer abstract. As demographic pressures intensify, productivity growth slows and demand for government services rises, the weaknesses of the tax system are compounding rather than stabilising.
By identifying the forces that have consistently undermined past efforts, the report considers whether a different approach could help Australia move beyond repeated false starts and establish a credible pathway for change.
McKinnon is working to re-anchor Australia’s tax debate and build a better reform environment — one in which proposals are given a fair hearing, research is considered on its merits, the public is meaningfully engaged, and reform is more likely to succeed.
To support this, McKinnon is proposing the development of a National Tax Reform Roadmap.
Rather than prescribing outcomes or policy positions, the Roadmap will provide a lasting framework through which organisations across business, civil society, unions and academia can engage constructively, test ideas openly, and discuss reform as it develops.
McKinnon has partnered with e61 to clarify the key future pressures on government spending, how states and the Commonwealth are choosing to spend today and the likely outcomes if we don't address these challenges. They find that spending at the state level is a key growth area, and that without change, Australia is more open to risk and may face more inequity.
In 2020 McKinnon provided seed funding that helped establish e61. The work of e61 strongly complements McKinnon’s focus on improving the quality of evidence and ideas that feed into policymaking.
As McKinnon continues to expand into other policy areas, e61’s rigorous, data-led work will provide a robust foundation for developing solutions and recommendations.
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