The Melbourne Newsroom

Gareth Evans, a former Australian Minister for Foreign Affairs, who is now Honorary Professorial Fellow in the School of Social and Political Sciences in the Faculty of Arts as well as Chancellor of ANU, discusses the suitability of appointing Bob Carr as the new Foreign Affairs Minister and highlights a range of issues that the former NSW Premier will face.

Subsidies and regulations could seriously reduce the effectiveness of Australia’s forthcoming carbon price scheme, according to a piece in the latest Australian Economic Review.

School expenditures have increased by 17 per cent from 2001 to 2009, while student performance has declined by 2.5 per cent - equivalent to about one third of a year of schooling – according to a report in September’s Australian Economic Review.

Below is a list of experts available to comment on the State and Federal budgets.

Leading construction expert Professor Paolo Tombesi will examine the dynamics of technical progress in construction, and consider the steering role public planning can play in a public lecture at the University of Melbourne on Tuesday.

The announcement of a $57 billion deficit by the Federal Government on Tuesday did not surprise Associate Professor Mark Crosby; but the decisions to delay policies such as maternity leave and a pension increase have.

“It seems strange that the Government has decided to delay certain policies because if it’s a good idea why not start now?” he says.

“The effect of delaying these policy delays will have a minimal effect on revenue and taxes, as while some changes will cost the government, some are revenue raising.”