2007 Big Issues Survey Results - Top 100 issues

1

Water

National Resources

Water - including rainfall, run-off, location, impact of El Nino, pollution, storage of water resources, usage (e.g. agriculture, industry, households)

2

Economy

World

Economy - including size and growth prospects in global, regional and national economies, inflationary pressures, savings levels

3

People

World

People - including population growth, ageing, poverty, income & wealth polarisation, emigration/immigration patterns

4

Ecology

World

Ecology - including environmentalism, global warming, water resources, carbon trading, ocean resources & depletion, forests & deforestation

5

World Trade

World

Trade - including trade liberalisation, WTO, export growth, type of trade in goods & services, booms & busts (esp. commodities)

6

Labour Skills

National Resources

Labour Skills - including educational attainment levels, continuous training, workforce flexibility, industrial relations

7

Energy

National Resources

Energy - including quantity, type & cleanness of energy mix, peak power usage capability, competition & pricing

8

Productivity

Economy

Productivity - including overall, by industry, lagging industries, methods of improvement

9

Workforce

Labour

Workforce - including size, growth, distribution, participation rate, shortages

10

Priorities

Government

Priorities - including long range priorities such as ageing, health, education, defence, workplace relations

11

Health

Government

Health - including cost of healthcare and distribution of payment responsibilities, PBS scheme

12

Growth

Industry

Growth - including development of new age & emerging industries (e.g. biotech, nanotechnology, service industries)

13

Minerals

National Resources

Minerals - including fuel reserves (e.g. oil, gas, coal, uranium), ore reserves (e.g. iron, bauxite, nickel), native rights

14

Our Region

World

Our Region - including Asia Pacific & sub-regions (e.g. South-East Asia), size & growth of region's nations, trade, capital flows, alliances & pacts

15

Labour

World

Labour - including employment & unemployment levels, comparative wage rates & conditions, trends to contractualism

16

Transport

National Resources

Transport - including state of road, rail, air and water infrastructure, type of ownership, competition, productivity & safety

17

Investment

Economy

Investment - including capital expenditure growth & disposition, by type & ownership

18

Governance

Enterprise

Governance - including ethical behaviour of directors, executives & employees, triple bottom line type assessments

19

Communications

National Resources

Communications - including broadband connectivity, speed, mobile phone density, industry competition

20

Agriculture

National Resources

Agriculture - including arable land (with water certainty), salination & degradation issues, crop suitability for land

21

Export

Markets

Export - including mix of exports (growth & non growth), destination (e.g. regions, countries), terms of trade

22

Ecology Issues

National Resources

Ecology - including environmental protection & integrity (e.g. air, water, land, flora, fauna), remediation (e.g. salination, water pollution)

23

Finance

World

Finance - including global equity & debt flows, derivatives (e.g. hedge funds), stock markets, private funds, interest rates, exchange rates

24

Key Industries

Industry

Key industries - identification of key industries, which change over time, for analysis & policy making

25

Australian Trade

Economy

Australian trade - including exports & imports by trade, destination, source

26

GDP

Economy

GDP - including size, growth, components, contribution by region

27

WBP

Industry

World's Best Practice - including knowledge & emulation of world's best practice across industry divisions

28

Interest Rates

Finance

Interest rates - including interest rates across various capital instruments

29

Accountability

Government

Accountability - including governments', ministers', public servants' responsibility for their actions, transparency

30

Profitability

Enterprise

Profitability - including meeting world's best practice of 4 times the bond rate as a return on shareholders funds

31

Industry mix

Economy

Industry mix - including industry importance, growth & non-growth industries, future structure

32

Strategic Goods

Markets

Strategic goods - including all pervasive materials (e.g. crude oil) availability, price movements

33

Health

Community

Health - including consciousness, fitness levels, obesity issues, diet regimes

34

Taxation

Government

Taxation - including level, mix, trends, world comparisons

35

Government

World

Government - including political ideologies, progress of democracy, emergence of regional & world governments, taxation levels

36

Inflation

Economy

Inflation - including overall inflation, CPI (and components)

37

Population

Community

Population - including size, growth & composition of population, geographic concentration (city vs. rural vs. coastal)

38

Intellectual Property

National Resources

Intellectual Property - including innovation (e.g. business, government, universities), R&D spending, IP protection mechanisms

39

Availability

Finance

Availability - including equity & debt, capital sources (e.g. banks, share markets, venture capital)

40

Government

Markets

Government - including government spending at federal, state & local level, type of spending by function

41

National Savings

Economy

National savings - including levels of distribution (e.g. household, business, government)

42

WBP

Enterprise

World's Best Practice - including world's best practice at functional level of enterprises (e.g. HR, governance, R&D)

43

Age Structure

Community

Age structure - including cohorts, generations, ageing issues & challenges

44

Exchange Rates

Finance

Exchange rates - including changes in exchange rates between countries, key trading & investment nations

45

Returns

Finance

Returns - comparative investment performance, share market, property, industry trusts, cash, gold, housing, overseas share market

46

Wages

Labour

Wages - including growth, by industry, by gender, by occupation

47

Forests

National Resources

Forests - including stock (native, plantation), reforestation, tropical rainforests & protection, logging

48

Regulation

Government

Regulation - including trends in business regulation at the state & federal level, impact

49

Personal Savings

Community

Personal savings - including total, compulsory (superannuation levy), voluntary

50

Communications

World

Communications - freedom of speech, changing media mix, media ownership & concentration, Internet, broadband connectivity & speed

51

Current Account

Economy

Current account - including deficit (% of GDP), components (e.g. trade, income), foreign debt

52

Debt

Community

Debt - including total household debt, mortgage debt, other debt (e.g. loans, credit cards)

53

Investment Flows

Finance

Investment flows - including foreign & domestic capital flows

54

Incomes

Community

Incomes - including income levels, growth components, distribution (polarisation)

55

Budget

Government

Budget - including budgets & performance to budget across federal & state

56

Immigration

Community

Immigration - including growth, origin by country/region, impact, existing & future ethnicity

57

Federalism

Government

Federalism - the changing role of national & state governments

58

Unemployment

Labour

Unemployment - including level, change, location (states), age structure, youth unemployment, length of employment

59

Performance

Finance

Performance - including liquidity, interest cover, EVA, ROSF

60

Industrial

Markets

Industrial - including distribution trends, logistics

61

Wealth

Community

Wealth - including total, growth, gross vs. net wealth, components of wealth by asset (category), polarisation

62

Consumption

Economy

Consumption - including household & government consumption components

63

Tourism

National Resources

Tourism - including topographic resources for tourism (e.g. beaches, tropical forests, the outback, eco-tourism)

64

Working Conditions

Labour

Working conditions - including OH&S issues, working from home (part or full-time), wage-related conditions (e.g. leave, holidays)

65

Housing

Economy

Housing - including investment by type (e.g. housing, apartments, alterations & additions), by purpose (e.g. owner-occupier, investor)

66

Expenditure

Community

Expenditure - including distribution of household expenditure, health expenditure, gambling

67

Security

World

Security - including regional & global pacts, role of UN, role of US, Australian pacts & treaties, contribution to regional defence & safety

68

Fishing

National Resources

Fishing - including stocks (e.g. ocean), aquaculture, pearling, over-fishing (domestic or international operators), pollution

69

Generations

Labour

Generations - including workforce by generation, & their attitudes & behaviors towards work

70

Hours of Work

Labour

Hours of work - including full time, casual, part-time, etc.

71

Consumer

Markets

Consumer - including household spending, locations (e.g. retail, online), composition, etc.

72

Mix

Enterprise

Mix - including the changing importance & role of large, medium & small enterprises, etc.

73

War/Terrorism

World

War/Terrorism - including civil wars, ethnic conflicts, terrorism, nuclear capabilities, war, rogue states, international judicial apparatus

74

Auditing

Finance

Auditing - including good governance, internal & external auditing, etc.

75

Disease

World

Disease - including human & animal-originated pandemics (e.g. SARS, Bird Flu, BSE), malaria & other eradicable diseases

76

Crime

Community

Crime - including incidence of crime, world comparisons, prison population, efficacy of judicial system, rehabilitation

77

Drugs

Community

Drugs - including drug use, availability, addiction, rehabilitation

78

Old Sectors

Industry

Old sectors - including future of agriculture (<3% of GDP), manufacturing (heading for just 7% of GDP from 30% in 1960)

79

Imports

Markets

Imports - including mix, availability, price movements of imported materials & finished goods, equipment, machinery, etc.

80

Government

Enterprise

Government - including the future role (if any) of GBEs (Government Business Enterprises), etc.

81

Use of Time

Community

Use of time - including changing use of time (e.g. work, leisure), leisure activities, etc.

82

Defence

Government

Defence - including funding, manpower, equipping, structure, alliances, effectiveness, flexibility, etc.

83

Contractualism

Labour

Contractualism - employee concept to contracted services (i.e. turning the employer-employee relationship into a b2b relationship)

84

Local

Markets

Local - including mix, availability, price movements of locally sourced inputs, etc.

85

Subsidies

Government

Subsidies - including efficient use of subsidies, welfare & relief to business & individuals, etc.

86

Outsourcing

Services

Outsourcing - outsourced functions & activities, supply arrangements, pricing issues, documentation & negotiation issues

87

Disasters

World

Disasters - natural disasters, nuclear plant meltdowns, major chemical disasters, water source contamination

88

Derivatives

Finance

Derivatives - including hedge funds, futures markets, company risk, national risks, etc.

89

Marketing

Markets

Marketing - including changing mix of marketing (e.g. above & below line advertising expenditure), direct marketing

90

Subcontracting

Services

Subcontracting - including the difference between outsourcing & subcontracting, onshore & offshore subcontracting, etc.

91

Family Formation

Community

Family formation - including marriages, separations, divorces, etc.

92

Households

Community

Households - including number, growth, composition, etc.

93

Religion

World

Religion - including major religions, radicalism/fundamentalism/extremism, role in economy & welfare of nations, etc.

94

Parties

Government

Parties - including parties in power (state and federal), platforms, performance, etc.

95

Ideologies

Government

Ideologies - including socialism, capitalism, humanism, rationalism, environmentalism, etc.

96

Sport

Community

Sport - including participation levels, types of sport, etc.

97

Unionism

Labour

Unionism - including levels, direction, disposition of union membership, etc.

98

Franchising

Services

Franchising - including the growth & disposition of franchising, legal issues, etc.

99

Republic

Government

Republic - the importance & consequences of becoming a republic, etc.

100

Religious Adherence

Community

Religious adherence - including religious affiliations, practicing vs. nominal, etc.