[1] The chair of the Commission was Tony Shepherd AO who is a former head of the Business Council of Australia.
[3] The Terms of Reference for the Commission was to make recommendations to return the budget to a sustainable surplus of 1% of GDP by 2023/24.
[6] The Commission also recommended changes to the bulk billing arrangements under Medicare, by the introduction of a compulsory copayment regime.
[7] The Commission found that the vertical and horizontal fiscal imbalance in Australia is a major impediment to growth and prosperity and recommended that the States have direct access to a portion of income tax generated in their economy and this be offset by a reduction in tied grants.
Treasurer Joe Hockey, in response to the recommendations, quickly emphasised that the report was "not the budget", but did not rule out adopting any of the proposals.