Per Capita Australia

Per Capita Australia is an independent, public policy think tank based in Melbourne, Australia.
Per Capita describes itself as a progressive or left leaning think tank, with board members and research fellows who are often associated with the Australian Labor Party or Australian trade unions.
Since its launch in 2007, Per Capita has focused its research on various forms of inequality, including economic and gender inequality, the impacts of climate change, housing, and labour rights.
History
Per Capita was launched on 11 April 2007 at an event at the State Library of Victoria, Melbourne. Its founding executive director was David Hetherington.
The founding Policy Director was former Prime Minister Julia Gillard's speechwriter, Michael Cooney.
Other founding members include Evan Thornley, Joshua Funder, Anthony Kitchener, Jane-Frances Kelly, Dennis Glover, and Emma Dawson.
David Hetherington was succeeded by Emma Dawson in 2017, after Hetherington left to become CEO of the Public Education Foundation. As of 2024, Dawson remains the executive director of Per Capita.
Research
Per Capita's motto is “fighting inequality in Australia”. Per Capita's publications are often centred around some form of inequality, including economic and gender inequality, the impacts of climate change, housing, and labour rights.
Australian Inequality Index
Per Capita's The Australian Inequality Index was launched at the Communities in Control 2023 Conference, on 7 June 2023. The Australian Inequality Index is described as an ”online tool designed to outline and visualize trends in inequality across various dimensions, including gender, age, income and assets, ethnicity, disability, and First Nations indicators,” which Per Capita states is intended for the use of non-for-profits, policy makers, and educators.
Employment and Worker Wellbeing
Per Capita publishes reports and submissions around the topics of employment, jobs training, and worker's rights. This includes reports and submissions into Full Employment, the Four Day Work Week, and the FairWork Legislation Amendment (Closing Loopholes) Inquiry.
In February 2023, Per Capita's Submission to the Inquiry into ParentsNext which was later quoted in the Inquiry Committee's report, Your Future Planning (Interim Report on ParentsNext).
Gender Equality
Per Capita works on gender equality. This includes analysis of homelessness among older women, unpaid labour, and women's superannuation
Tax Survey
Per Capita conducts an annual survey of Australian attitudes towards taxation and government expenditure. The survey has been conducted every year since 2010 except for 2013.
Education
Per Capita has published several reports regarding the Australian Higher Education system, including a submission into the Higher Education Support Amendment Bill 2023 (which was later cited in the October Senate Report into the bill), and a submission into the Abolishing Indexation and Raising the Minimum Repayment Income for Education and Training Loans Bill.
Centre for New Industry Director, Shirley Jackson, was a speaker at the Senate hearing regarding the Education and Training Loans Bill on 17 March 2023.
Evidence Based Policy Project
Since 2018 Per Capita has participated in the Evidence Based Policy Project commissioned by the newDemocracy Foundation, where two ideologically opposed think tanks separately rate 20 recent high-profile state and federal government policies. From 2018 - 2021 the Institute of Public Affairs completed the conservative side analysis, to complement Per Capita's progressive analysis. In 2022 the conservative analysis was completed by the Blueprint Institute
Research Centers
Per Capita has three research centres.
Centre for New Industry
The Centre for New Industry (CNI) was launched in August 2022 with the purpose to “propose policy solutions that support a mission-oriented approach to industrial policy, and advocate for economic diversification, decarbonisation and democratisation.” Its founding Director was former Per Capita Senior Fellow for Industry Policy, Shirley Jackson, who remained director until mid 2023.
Centre for Equitable Housing
Per Capita's Centre for Equitable Housing (CEH) was established in partnership with V&F Housing Enterprise Foundation in 2023. In the same year CEH launched the inaugural Australian Housing Monitor- an annual survey of Australian's attitudes towards and experiences of housing.
CEH's research covers the impact of short term rentals, rental regulations, gendered housing inequity, generational housing inequity, and housing affordability in Australia.
CEH's made a submission to the Inquiry into the Rental and Housing Affordability Crisis in Victoria in 2023, which was later cited in the committee's final report.
CEH's founding Director is Matthew Lloyd-Cape, who was the former Research Economist in Per Capita's Progressive Economics program. In October 2023 Lloyd-Cape spoke at hearings for the Inquiry into the Rental and Housing Affordability Crisis in Victoria and the Federal Rental Crisis Inquiry Hearing.
The Centre of the Public Square
In late 2023 Per Capita announced the launch of the Centre of the Public Square, “dedicated to building better models of citizen engagement and civic collaboration” with Peter Lewis of Essential Media Communications. Digital Strategist, Jordan Guiao, joined the centre as its Director. Both Lewis and Guiao worked for the "Centre of Responsible Technology" at The Australia Institute before moving to Per Capita.
Research Fellows
* Osmond Chiu - Senior Policy and Research Officer at the Community and Public Sector Union (CPSU Group) and public policy professional.
* Tanja Kovac - writer, lawyer, former director/national co-convenor of EMILY's List Australia and a member of the Victorian Women's Trust.
* Shireen Morris - constitutional lawyer and a McKenzie Postdoctoral Fellow at Melbourne Law School and Senior Lecturer at Macquarie Law School.
* David Hetherington - Executive Director of the Public Education Foundation and a Senior Fellow at Per Capita, where he was also the founding executive director.
Board
* Jacob Varghese - CEO of social justice law firm Maurice Blackburn.
* Nareen Young - Professor for Indigenous Policy at the UTS Jumbunna Institute for Indigenous Education and Research.
* Dee Madigan - Executive Creative Director and a founding partner of Campaign Edge. She was also the Creative Director for Labor's 2022 Federal election win, as well as the Creative Director on Labor's wins in Queensland State Elections in 2015, 2017 and 2022, ACT elections in 2016 and 2020, and the Northern Territory elections in 2016 and 2020. She is also a panellist on Gruen, The Drum, and .
* David Hetherington - Executive Director of the Public Education Foundation and a Senior Fellow at Per Capita, where he was also the founding executive director. and regular columnist with Guardian Australia.
Funding and Resourcing
Per Capita receives revenue from donations, commissioned research from unions and non-government organisations, and government grants.
In 2023 Per Capita reported that it received its core funding from Maurice Blackburn Lawyers, the ACTU, CPSU, and CEPU.
The Centre for New Industry receives funding from the ETU while the Centre for Equitable Housing receives funding from V&F Housing Enterprise Foundation.
Per Capita's Australian Inequality Index was funded by Our Community. Per Capita regularly collaborates with Our Community, and its “Communities in Control” conferences, having done so since 2010.
Per Capita's Annual Tax Survey is funded by the David Morawetz Social Justice Fund, a sub fund of the Australian Communities Foundation.
Fellowships
Andrew Herington Fellowship in Public Policy and Planning
The fellowship is named after Andrew Herington was a founding director of the John Cain Foundation.
Media
In 2012 Per Capita launched a series of podcasts called “Ideas for your Ears: Per Capita Podcast”. The podcast predominately featured speeches from Per Capita events, such as their “Reform Agenda Series“, and featured guests such as former Prime Ministers Paul Keating, and Labor MPs such as Bill Shorten, Dr Andrew Leigh, and Anthony Albanese. Only twenty-four episodes of Ideas for your Ears were published before the podcast went dark. The series ran from 2013 to 2017.
In 2023 Per Capita relaunched its podcast series, this time under the new Per Capita Podcasts banner, and included shows such as Re:CAP, a talk show covering the think tank's research and publications, and the JCL Series, which packaged speeches from Per Capita's monthly John Cain Lunch (named after the former Victorian Labor Premier, John Cain, and the foundation named after him, The John Cain Foundation, which was merged with Per Capita in 2020) in audio format. Per Capita's webinars are also released as podcasts.
In December 2023 Per Capita adopted the Burning Platforms podcast, which formally belonged to the Australia Institute’s Centre for Responsible Technology. The show transferred ownership to Per Capita after the launch of the Centre of the Public Square. The show features hosts Peter Lewis, Lizzie O’Shea from Digital Rights Watch and Dan Stinton, former managing director of Guardian Australia, and covers topics around the politics of big tech.
Outside of their self-published material, various members of Per Capita have appeared in Australian media, often to provide commentary on current policy debate or to share research findings on issues. Emma Dawson is a regular guest on Afternoons on ABC Radio Melbourne and was a guest on The Drum (a news talk show on the ABC which ended in 2023), and also writes for Guardian Australia, and The Age.
Other staff members, such as CEH's Matt Lloyd-Cape, CNI's Shirley Jackson, and Research Fellows such as Shireen Morris, have written numerous opinion pieces for Guardian Australia and other local publications, such as the Conversation, while Senior Fellow, John Falzon writes for Eureka Street and the Guardian Australia, and Research Fellow, Osmond Chiu writes for The Sydney Morning Herald, is often cited in SBS, and is a member of Member Diversity Australia

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