Chinese working visit on income distribution: delegation arrives in Australia

World Wide is currently managing the Australian Working Visit on Income Distribution Modelling and Forecasting, a program funded by AusAID under the China Australia Governance Program. The objective of this project is to work with the Employment and Income Distribution Department of the NDRC, and other relevant Chinese agencies, to improve awareness of relevant Australian and Chinese experience and to enable the identification of appropriate institutional arrangements, policy options, and policy tools to effectively address income distribution issues in China.

The working visit aims to increase knowledge that will assist and facilitate the development of new procedures and policies for the: 1. Establishment of a coordination mechanism to facilitate the collaboration of government agencies and research institutes in the monitoring and forecasting of income distribution status; 2. Enhancement of capacity of interpreting statistical data with the aim of making policy recommendations to address inequality in income distribution; 3. Exposure to policy options – for example, taxation policy, transfer payment, social security payment, to correct unfair income distribution; and 4. Policy development processes through public participation.

Delegates arrived in Australia on 8 July for ten days, and will be involved in intensive workshops under the direction of Team Leader, Dr Simon Kelly, as well as agency site visits and presentations in Canberra and Melbourne.