A quick guide to writing at the Productivity Commission
A quick guide to writing at the
Productivity Commission
Productivity Commission papers and reports should make compelling arguments based on sound evidence in
clear, direct language. Our work should be rigorous, objective and withstand the scrutiny of professional
economists and other experts. But it should also be accessible to a broader audience, including policy officials
in government departments, Ministers and their advisers, journalists, academics and members of the public.
Well-written papers and reports are more likely to be read and implemented. They are more likely to
influence governments and contribute to academic and public debate. They may even be a pleasure to read.
This document is a quick guide to writing at the Commission. If you have a specific question, start by
consulting this quick guide, the Australian Government Style Manual or the Macquarie Dictionary.
You can also consult your team’s ‘style czar’ or email the style guide working group (xxxxxxxxxx@xx.xxx.xx).
Australian Government Style Manual
The Productivity Commission uses the Australian Government Style Manual (the style manual). The style
manual is updated regularly by a group of experts and is designed to help writers to create content that is
clear and accessible to the community.
It has detailed guidance not only on grammar and punctuation, but also structure, how to write in plain
language, and how to use inclusive language.
The rest of this quick guide provides an overview of the style manual and some Commission-specific rules
and guidance. Add the style manual to your browser as a favourite and consult it regularly.
Departures from the style manual
The Commission has a few minor departures from the style manual:
• Capitals: When referring to the Productivity Commission in a shortened form, write ‘the Commission’ with
a capital C, rather than ‘the commission’.
• Numerals: Use words for whole numbers between one and nine. For example, ‘there were nine cows, 10
goats and 17 sheep’.
• Block quotes: If the lead-in sentence is a fragment, use a colon. If the lead-in sentence is a full sentence,
use a full stop.
• When a general reference is appropriate, write ‘Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people’, not ‘peoples’.
We aim to keep this list as short as possible to avoid confusion and inconsistencies between reports.
Changes to the Commission’s style
• Use en dashes, both for ranges and for punctuation, not em dashes.
• Use a comma for numbers over 1,000, not non-breaking spaces.
• Use % symbol, not ‘per cent’.
• Use ‘data’ in the singular – ‘the data is clear’ not ‘the data are clear’.
• Only capitalise the names of Australian or state and territory governments when used as a formal name
(the ‘Australian Government’ and the ‘Victorian Government’). Do not use capitals in other cases.
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A quick guide to writing at the Productivity Commission
Tone
Government and academic writing is often criticised for being dense, dull and difficult to read. Productivity
Commission reports should generally be written in a formal tone – they should not be chatty, breezy, jokey or
glib – but they should be clear, accessible and as easy to read as the subject matter allows.
Not all Commission papers need to have the same tone. Early papers – such as issues papers and calls for
submissions – can be less formal than the final report. Tone can also be adjusted to meet the needs of a
particular audience.
Tone can also be subtly adjusted for different parts of the same paper or report. Overviews, introductions
and summary points, for example, might be a little less formal and more plain and direct than other more
detailed or technical parts of the document.
See the end of this guide for some tips for writing lively prose and the section about voice and tone in the
style manual.
Length
Getting the length of our reports right is one of the most important challenges to writing at the Commission.
There are many advantages to keeping a report short and focused. Other things being equal, short reports are
more likely to be read than long ones. They are also easier to review and discuss in teams and by
Commissioners, and therefore easier to improve and refine. Mistakes are also more likely to be found and
corrected in a short report.
Our reports should not, however, be written like newspaper articles. Supporting evidence and arguments and
the views of participants all need to be presented, and counter-arguments will often need to be addressed.
The Commission’s processes and reasoning should be transparent. Furthermore, many topics given to the
Commission are inherently complex and technical, and our expertise is not sought merely to produce high-
level overviews of a topic.
Given these competing considerations, getting the length of a report right can be difficult. But take pride in
editing and refining your work so that it is not only thorough, clear and compelling, but also no longer than it
needs to be. If mountains of research and notes can be neatly encapsulated in a few clear sentences,
readers will be grateful.
Structure
Reports should usually start with an overview and chapters should start with a list of key points. The
overview and key points should each stand alone and provide a clear exposition of the findings and
recommendations, rather than merely signal what will be discussed later. Remember, many readers might
only read these parts of the report.
It is sometimes useful to start individual sections within a chapter with a paragraph about the conclusion
reached in that section – that is, tell your readers what you’ve concluded, and the strongest arguments for
that conclusion, before you set out the supporting arguments in detail.
In other words, get to the point. Don’t bury the good stuff at the back of your chapter or repeatedly signal
what you plan to say before you actually say it.
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A quick guide to writing at the Productivity Commission
For guidance about structuring your work, read about developing message-based structures and the section
about structure in the style manual. A message-based structure can be thought of as an inverted pyramid, with
an overview, key points or other important information coming first, and progressively more detail further below.
This structure makes it easier for readers to choose the level of detail they want.
The  Commission’s  inquiries  manual  also  has  guidance  on  what  Commission  reports  and  papers  should
generally look like, and some alternative options to consider.
Headings
Headings should be short, clear and use keywords. They should usually be about the substance of the
subject matter, rather than generic labels such as ‘background’.
Try to use only three levels of heading: Level 1 for the chapter title and levels 2 and 3 for headings within a
chapter. Readers can get lost when there are too few or too many heading levels.
Remember:
•  Use the sentence case and minimal punctuation (no full stop at the end).
•  Same-level headings should have the same grammatical form.
•  Headings should usually stand alone, although occasionally two heading can be part of the one sentence,
separated by an ellipsis (if the headings are not too far apart). Do not overuse ellipses.
•  Do not skip heading levels.
When drafting, you may like to use more headings than you will need in the final product. These workings
headings can help you structure your work, refine your overall argument, and improve the flow.
Inclusive language
See the style manual for guidance on how to use inclusive language, including how to write respectfully about
people with disability and how to use language that is respectful of cultural, sexual and gender diversity.
Also see the Commission’s Indigenous capability hub for guidance, based on the style manual, about how to
write about Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. Remember:
•  Consultation is key. If unsure, ask.
•  Use empowering, strengths-based language and do not be use patronising or paternalistic language.
•  Try to be specific. If writing about a particular group, use their nation, island or community name.
•  When a more general reference is needed, use ‘Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people’ (not ‘peoples’).
How to refer to the Commission and participants
•  Write the ‘Productivity Commission’ in full the first time it is used in each chapter, and thereafter simply
‘the Commission’ (unless repeating the full version is more clear). There is no need to set-up the short
version – that is, no need to write, ‘The Productivity Commission (the Commission) …’
•  Where required, sources for figures and tables should be ’Productivity Commission estimates’, not
‘Commission estimates’, to prevent confusion for readers.
•  Take care when you refer to two different commissions in a short space – for example, the Productivity
Commission soon after a Royal Commission.
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A quick guide to writing at the Productivity Commission
•  In some papers, where a less formal tone is needed or there are lots of references to the Commission,
‘we’ or ‘our’ can sometimes be used. ‘We welcome submissions from …’
•  Phrases such as ‘in the Commission’s view’ and ‘the Commission considers’ should be avoided as much
as possible. They are long-winded and sound a little pompous.
•  The people and organisations who write submissions and contribute to the work of the Productivity
Commission should be referred to as ‘participants’, not ‘stakeholders’. And they are participants ‘in’ an
inquiry, not ‘to’ an inquiry.
Use tables, figures and charts
Use tables, figures and charts to present information that might be easier to understand in a visual format.
Use boxes for case studies and other background information that can stand alone and might otherwise
interrupt or slow the main argument in the text.
Contact the Media, Publications and Web team for suggestions.
Referencing and footnotes
•  Use the Harvard in-text referencing style and the software program Zotero.
•  References should appear in text, not in a footnote, and usually at the end of a sentence or block quote.
Footnotes for other text should be used sparingly.
•  Try not to repeat in the text information that appears in a citation or the bibliography (such as the author
and title of a paper), unless this information needs particular emphasis.
Avoid this
Consider this
In their paper, On the Adequacy of Consultation in the
Communities in the Basin have expressed
Basin, Smith et al argues that consultation has been
concerns about the adequacy of consultation
inadequate (Smith 2020, p. 7).
(Smith et al. 2020, p. 7).
In its 2021 report, Murray–Darling Basin Water Markets
Some market participants have said water
Inquiry Final Report, the Australian Competition and
ownership should be tied to land ownership
Consumer Commission noted that some market
(ACCC 2021, p. 8).
participants have said water ownership should be tied to
land ownership (ACCC 2021, p. 8).
For more guidance, see the referencing section of the Writing hub.
Punctuation
•  Only one space after full stops and other punctuation.
•  Use a comma after introductory words and phrases at the start of a sentence (‘However, the evidence was
overwhelming’; ‘On that day, the member countries announced an embargo’).
•  Avoid the Oxford comma (the comma before ‘and’ in a list of words or phrases), unless using the comma
will clear up an ambiguity.
•  Use a colon to introduce a list of words, phrases or clauses (including a fragment list of bullet points) and
place a full stop at the end of a sentence that leads into a sentence list. (See the section about lists below.)
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A quick guide to writing at the Productivity Commission
• Use either a colon or a full stop before a block quote, depending on whether the first part of the quote is a
full sentence.
• Use ‘smart quotes’ (the curly ones, not the straight ones).
• Not sure whether a word of phrase needs a hyphen? Check the dictionary, and if there are two options,
choose the first – for example, co-locate, tax-free, policymakers, socio-economic.
• Use a non-breaking hyphens (ctrl+shift+keypad-) for financial years, to prevent ranges being split across lines.
For more guidance, see the section on punctuation in the style manual.
Lists
Fragment lists
Sentence lists
Fragment lists have a:
There are different rules for sentence lists.
• lead-in phrase or sentence followed by a colon
• The lead-in sentence should be a full sentence that ends
• list of fragments, each marked by a bullet point.
in a full stop.
• Each list item should also start with a capital letter and
end with a full stop.
Notice how each item in the fragment list does not make sense without the lead-in? For fragment lists, there
is no capital letter in the first word of each item in the list. The fragments should also be short – usually just a
few words. If you find each dot point is quite long, try to turn your fragment list into a sentence list.
For sentence lists, each item in the list is a complete sentence. So capital letter for the first word and a full
stop at the end.
For more guidance, see the section about lists in the style manual.
Capitalisation
• Less is more. Too many capital letters can make text difficult to read.
• The Commission conducts ‘inquiries’ and writes ‘reports’, not ‘Inquiries’ and ‘Reports’.
• Use initial capitals for the Australian Government and the formal name of a state and territory
governments (‘Australian Capital Territory’, ‘Victorian Government’), but lower case for generic or plural
references (‘in the state’, ‘state and territory governments’, ‘the government recently announced’).
• In a sentence list, the first word of each item in the list should have a capital letter.
• In a fragment list, the first word of each item in the list should be in lower case.
For more guidance, see the style manual, including the section on government terms, with one exception:
the Commission, when short for the Productivity Commission, should have a capital C.
Abbreviations and acronyms
• Avoid uncommon abbreviations and acronyms, particularly if you only need them a few times in a chapter
– use the full term instead. But freely use widely known acronyms and abbreviations, such as the ABS.
• Spell out most acronyms the first time you use them in a chapter, but repeat the full term if you think it will
help the reader (for example, if the acronym hasn’t been used for a few pages).
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A quick guide to writing at the Productivity Commission
•  Spell out the names of Australian states and territories in full (‘New South Wales’), but use the shortened
form when the name is used as an adjective (the WA Government) or space is limited (such as in figures
or tables).
•  Follow the same rule for countries: abbreviate when used as adjectives (UK production), but not as nouns
(the United Kingdom).
•  The following acronyms do not need to be spelled out, but they should be in the abbreviations list of each
report in which the terms appear: ABS, CPI, CSIRO, GDP, IT, MP.
•  Avoid Latin shortened forms, including i.e. and e.g. – write ‘that is’ and ‘for example’ instead.
For more guidance, see the acronyms section of the style manual.
Currency and numbers
•  Where content is clearly only referencing Australian dollars, use ‘$’, not ‘A$’.
•  Where it is unclear, and for other currencies, use the relevant currency symbol – for example, US$7, not
the IBAN symbol.
•  For less well-known currencies, use the full name of the currency before you use the symbol for the first
time – for example, ‘the minimum wage in Japan in 2023 is Japanese yen (¥) 901 per hour’.
•  Round numbers to no more than one decimal place (7.6%).
See the numbers sections of the style manual, with one exception: use words for whole numbers from one to
nine.
Commonly confused words and phrases
Affect and effect; alternate and alternative; advice and advise; that and which. The style manual discusses
these and other commonly confused words and phrases. If in doubt, check the manual and the dictionary.
Myths
There are many myths about correct English, such as:
•  Never split an infinitive.
•  Never start a sentence with ‘and’ or ‘but’.
•  Never use the passive voice.
•  Never end a sentence with a preposition.
•  Never use verbs that have been repurposed from nouns.
When correcting the work of your colleagues, check the dictionary, a book about English usage, or the style
manual to ensure you’re not repeating a myth, and remember that how words are used changes over time.
Refine your work and welcome feedback
Review your writing with a critical eye and think about your audience. Revise your work often, delete
unnecessary words and simplify your expression, so that your work is clear and informative. And regularly
review and refine your structure and think about how your work fits into the rest of the report.
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A quick guide to writing at the Productivity Commission
You may like to read your work aloud or ask a colleague or the computer to read it to you. If you suspect
your work is too long, ask someone to help you cut it back.
It is also important to ask for comments and suggestions from your supervisor and colleagues – early and
often. If you don’t understand the feedback, ask for clarification.
Tips for writing clear and lively prose
Vary sentence length and structure
Avoid very long sentences – that is, sentences with more than 25 words – and vary the length and structure
of your sentences.
Choose words carefully
Use short, concrete, familiar words. Prefer simple English expressions – for example, write ‘among other
things’ rather than ‘inter alia’ and ‘other things being equal’ rather than ceteris paribus.
Avoid jargon, clichés and vogue terms. Full disclosure, corporate jargon might leverage your career going
forward, but it doesn’t make for best-in-class writing.
It will often be necessary to use at least some technical terms, but explain their meaning the first time you
use them. If the term will be familiar to most readers and an explanation will be distracting, define the term in
the glossary instead.
Avoid repetition and cut clutter
Delete anything that does not add value. Look out for tautologies (e.g. ‘top of the summit’, ‘adequate
enough’), empty modifiers (‘clearly, this is totally and utterly unnecessary’, ‘very’, ‘indeed’), and wordy
expressions that can be replaced with something short, clear and direct.
Also avoid excessive repetition and unnecessary detail and avoid repeating in text information that appears
in tables, figures or the bibliography (see the referencing section above).
But don’t go overboard in your editing zeal. Do not cut anything that might help your readers understand your
argument, such as a helpful example. Remember, after spending months on an inquiry, you’re likely to know
more about the subject than many of your readers, so help them understand the topic as well as you do.
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A quick guide to writing at the Productivity Commission
Avoid long strings of nouns and adjectives
Would you prefer to read about ‘draft laboratory animal rights protection regulations’ or ‘draft regulations to
protect the rights of laboratory animals’? What about ‘long-term economic growth potential’ or ‘the potential
for long-term economic growth’?
Noun trains or noun strings are common in academic and technical writing, but they are hard to understand,
tiring for the reader, and usually not too much trouble to fix. In the examples above, the key words were
rearranged and a few short words were added.
Turn dull abstract nouns into verbs
There’s no need to rid your work of all abstract words, but replace dull abstract nouns with more lively verbs.
Look out for nouns ending in -ion, -ition, -isation, -ibility, -ance, -ment.
Dull abstract nouns
Lively verbs
The facilitation of strategic implementation through
Using new methods to implement strategies helps
the utilization of innovative methodologies promotes  organisations reach their goals more effectively.
the achievement of organizational objectives.
The reorganisation of the commission was effected
The commission was reorganised as quickly as
as quickly as possible.
possible.
A realisation among producers that the provision of
Producers are realising that existing organisations
services by existing organisations is inadequate is
do not provide adequate services.
growing.
Prefer the active voice
Whether to use the active or passive voice is often a question of emphasis – whether to emphasise, in the
first example below, the clown or the children. Sometimes it will be obvious or unimportant who, for example,
made the mistakes or will table the report – in which case, use the passive voice.
But in most cases, the active voice will be more clear, direct and a little shorter. Sometimes it may even be
crucial to use the active voice: recommendations in the passive voice, for example, can leave no one
accountable for implementation.
Passive
Active
The children were terrified by the clown
The clown terrified the children
Mistakes were made
The agency made mistakes
The report will be tabled in Parliament in June.
The Minister will table the report in Parliament in June.
A recommendation was made by the inspectors that  The inspectors recommended that the company
further consideration be given by the company to
further consider safety.
safety.
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A quick guide to writing at the Productivity Commission
Resources
Key resources
•  PC referencing guide – About how to reference and use Zotero.
•  PC editing checklist – Use this to assist with editing your chapter before the report is finalised.
•  Research, analysis and report drafting in the Commission’s Inquiries Manual. Includes information about
the different approaches to various Commission papers and reports, advice about research and drafting,
and some more writing tips.
•  Australian Government Style Manual – Follow this manual, except for the handful of exceptions set out at
the beginning of this quick guide.
•  Macquarie Dictionary – Use the online version for current spelling and word usage.
Other books and resources
•  The Economist, Style Guide, 2018
•  McCloskey, D.N. 1987, The Writing of Economics
•  Dreyer, B, 2019, Dreyer's English: An Utterly Correct Guide to Clarity and Style
•  Pinker, S, 2014, The Sense of Style: The Thinking Person's Guide to Writing in the 21st Century
•  James, N, 2007, Writing at Work: How to write clearly, effectively and professionally
•  Butterfield, J. (ed.), 2015. Fowler's Dictionary of Modern English Usage, 4th ed. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
•  American Heritage Dictionary
Hardcopies of some of these books are available in the library.
Software
There are many tools that can be used to improve your writing, but do not accept their suggestions uncritically.
A good place to start is the editor function in Word, but the Commission is also exploring other tools.

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A quick guide to writing at the Productivity Commission
Appendix – Formal, informal and academic tone
Formal – what we are aiming for
Informal – avoid
Academic – avoid
The integrated nature of the world
When countries are all connected in
The intricate interdependence of the
economy has implications for how risk
the global economy, it means that risks  global economic system entails
and uncertainty are spread. Disruption
and surprises can spread around
significant consequences pertaining
to production in one country affects
easily. If something goes wrong in one
to the dissemination of risk and
others in the global supply chain and
country, it can mess up the supply
uncertainty. Disruptions in the
breakdowns in trade between two
chain for everyone else. Even just two
production process within a given
countries can have various
countries having problems with trade
nation can reverberate throughout the
implications for trading partners. Trade  can cause issues for others. Plus,
international supply chain. Bilateral
itself can spread some forms of
sometimes trade can spread bad stuff
trade disruptions may engender
disruption, particularly where it relates
like biohazards or diseases.
multifaceted ramifications for
to biohazards or disease.
associated trading entities.
Furthermore, the act of trade can
facilitate the propagation of certain
forms of disturbance, most notably in
cases involving biohazardous
materials or the transmission of
disease.
Tax concessions for philanthropic
Tax breaks help people and groups
Tax concessions additionally engender
giving facilitate choice — a person or
have more choice when giving to
the diversification of decision-making
organisation, rather than the
charity. Basically, they can pick where  authority, empowering individuals and
government, can direct their donation
their money goes, and the
organizations to allocate their financial
to their preferred cause. However, the
government isn't as much in control of  contributions toward their preferred
government relinquishes some control
where the cash ends up when they
philanthropic objectives. The corollary
over where public funds are directed
offer tax perks for donating.
of this is that this paradigm
when it provides tax support for
necessitates the government’s partial
philanthropic giving.
abdication of control over the
appropriation of public resources, as
tax incentives are employed to bolster
philanthropic endeavours.
Consumers are not always aware of
When people buy Aboriginal and
The procurement of souvenirs and
the concerns around the authenticity
Torres Strait Islander art and
merchandise containing Aboriginal
of Aboriginal and Torres Strait
souvenirs, they might not always
and Torres Strait Islander visual arts
Islander visual arts and crafts. The
know about authenticity issues. With
and crafts often occurs without full
information available in the market
so much info out there, it’s pretty hard  cognizance of the potential issues
can make it difficult for them to make
for them to make well-informed
surrounding authenticity. The plethora
informed decisions. Although various
choices. They’ve tried using labels to
of information present in the market
measures, such as labelling, have
help people figure it out, but it hasn’t
can obfuscate the decision-making
sought to provide better information to  been super successful.
process for consumers, rendering it
consumers, these measures have
challenging to ascertain the veracity
had limited success.
of such products. Despite the
implementation of various measures,
such as labelling systems, to
ameliorate consumer awareness, the
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A quick guide to writing at the Productivity Commission
Formal – what we are aiming for
Informal – avoid
Academic – avoid
efficacy of these interventions
remains limited.
A well-functioning consumer redress
A good system for fixing customer
An optimally functioning consumer
system is essential for the effective
complaints is really important for
restitution framework is integral to the
operation of consumer guarantees. It
making sure customer guarantees
successful implementation of
underpins consumer confidence and
actually work. It helps build trust
consumer warranty provisions. This
sends a signal to businesses about
between customers and businesses
structure bolsters consumer reliance
the need to comply with consumer
and reminds companies that they
and conveys a message to
laws. But in practice, consumers often have to follow the rules. But, in real
commercial entities regarding their
find it difficult to exercise their rights
life, customers often have a tough
imperative to comply with consumer
under guarantees, particularly for
time getting their rights under these
protection legislation. However, in
higher-value products such as cars,
guarantees, especially when it comes
real-world situations, consumers
electronics and white goods.
to more expensive things like cars,
regularly experience difficulties in
electronics, and fridges.
exercising their entitlements under
such warranties, particularly in
relation to high-value items such as
motor vehicles, electronic equipment,
and major household appliances.

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Document Outline