6th Australian Workshop on Public Finance

The 2026 Australian Workshop on Public Finance is hosted by the Tax and Transfer Policy Institute, Australian National University (ANU) and will be held on Thursday 30 July and Friday 31 July 2025 at the Crawford School of Public Policy at the ANU. There is no registration fee for the workshop.

This event is sponsored by Australian Bureau of Statistics, Australian Taxation Office, Department of Finance, Department of Industry, Science and Resources, Department of Social Services and the Australian Treasury.

Keynote presentations will be given by:

• Dhammika Dharmapala, Robert and Joan Burch Distinguished Professor of Tax Law and Policy at the University of California Berkeley; and
• Muriel Niederle, Pauline K. Levin-Robert L. Levin and Pauline C. Levin-Abraham Levin Professor at Stanford University.

The conference will feature empirical research papers in any area of public economics, with a particular focus on papers that make use of the A-LIFE, DOMINO, PLIDA, BLADE, NDDA, Single Touch Payroll or other Australian administrative datasets. Each paper will be assigned one or two discussants. The purpose of the workshop is to provide researchers using large administrative datasets the opportunity to share their latest research and insights with a focus on presenting results in a way that is accessible to a wide range of policy-makers.

There will be a limited number of extra places available, please email Lisa.Whitaker@anu.edu.au to register your attendance.

We are again hosting a pre-conference workshop on Wednesday 29 July focused on the practicalities and complexities of using PLIDA and other administrative microdata sources for public policy research within the APS. The draft programme comprises four presentations from different teams within the APS who are using administrative data as part of their policy research. The session will focus on developing connections between APS researchers and sharing know-how around data processing, coding and common 'business rules' for conducting research with administrative data. There will be a limited number of extra places available to government employees, please email will.mackey@anu.edu.au to register your attendance.

Details and program of our 2025 workshop are available here.

We look forward to seeing you in Canberra.

Best wishes

Robert Breunig, ANU; Ashley Craig, ANU; Will Mackey; ANU & Australian Treasury; Sandra Roussel, ATO; Ha Vu, Deakin; and Arezou Zaresani, Sydney