Australia is one of the richest countries in the world but while we can apparently afford tax cuts for high income earners and submarines, we “can’t afford” to increase unemployment benefits, address child poverty or even protect our endangered species from the climate change we do so much to cause.

Join Richard Denniss to debunk the nonsensical economic arguments used to justify our ongoing failure to reduce inequality and discuss the simple solutions available for any parliament that is serious about reducing poverty, making housing cheaper, reducing Australia’s emissions…or all of them at once.

About Richard Denniss

Richard Denniss is Executive Director of the Australia Institute and a prominent Australian economist, author and public policy commentator. He has spent the last twenty years moving between policy-focused roles in academia, federal politics and think-tanks. He was also a Lecturer in Economics at the University of Newcastle and former Associate Professor in the Crawford School of Public Policy at ANU. He is a regular contributor to The Monthly and the author of several books including: ‘Econobabble’, ‘Curing Affluenza’ and ‘Dead Right: How Neoliberalism Ate Itself and What Comes Next?’

The Richard Denniss National Speaking Tour is presented by The Australia Institute.

About the Australia Institute: Celebrating 30 years of Big Ideas

In 2024 the Australia Institute is celebrating its 30th anniversary as Australia’s leading independent think tank.

For 30 years the Australia Institute’s independent, non-partisan research has led the national policy debate. From our groundbreaking 1997 paper on better measuring wellbeing in Australia, The Genuine Progress Indicator, to the influential 2005 book Affluenza and then Curing Affluenza, to our cutting-edge research exposing the role of corporate profits in driving Australia’s inflation in the aftermath of the pandemic, to our work for fairer tax reforms like reshaping the Stage 3 tax cuts to make them better and fairer—the Australia Institute plays a critical role in shaping the national economic debate for a fairer society and economy.