The Australia Institute Tasmania has written to federal Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek, urging her to intervene and end salmon farming in Tasmania’s Macquarie Harbour, which is threatening the endangered Maugean skate. The letter asks the Minister to review the decision to greenlight expanded marine farming operations. The decision was made more than a decade ago

The Australia Institute welcomes the Joint Standing Committee on Electoral Matters’ interim report for its inquiry into the conduct of the 2022 election, in which Australia Institute research and recommendations are cited often. The committee recommends: A lower donation disclosure threshold ($1,000, down from over $15,000) and real-time disclosure of donations. Caps on political donations

The latest data on Enterprise Bargaining Agreement highlights that wage remains very much within levels that are consistent with the Reserve Bank’s inflation target

With less than 7 years to go till 2030 we cannot wait to transition away from coal and gas

Labor announced its desire to host a United Nations climate conference in the lead-up to the 2022 election. Officially called the Conference of the Parties, the UN describes its COPs as “the biggest and most important annual climate-related conferences on the planet”. They bring together nation states to negotiate on how best to tackle climate

As interest rates rise, the gains from negative gearing increase.

While campaign finance reform can, if done well, reduce the role of money in elections, poorly-designed changes to campaign finance rules risk providing yet more power to incumbents.

The Australian War Memorial is currently displaying the uniform of a soldier found by the federal court, on the balance of probabilities, to be a murderer, war criminal, a bully and a liar.

Australia is using its bid to co-host the world’s largest climate conference with Pacific nations to greenwash decades of climate inaction and future fossil fuel expansion, think tank the Australia Institute has warned. Its new report, A Fair Cop31, urges the international community to think twice before awarding hosting rights to the 2026 United Nations

For the sixth consecutive quarter a record number of people are working more than one job

Campaign finance reforms risk hurting democracy by entrenching massive financial advantages enjoyed by sitting MPs and senators unless the right balance is struck, think tank The Australia Institute warns. New research finds that MPs are entitled to nearly $3 million, and senators more than $2.6 million, in pay, resources and perks over a three-year election

In the debate over what is driving inflation – the OECD has looked at 15 nations across the world and found that in Australia and most other nations, the answer is profits

The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) is the latest leading economic body to publish research showing the important role played by historically high corporate profits in explaining the surge in inflation after the COVID pandemic. Its new findings are consistent with both the methodology and the conclusions published by the Australia Institute and

Every inflationary episode embodies a power struggle within society over who benefits from inflation, who loses out – and who will bear the cost of getting inflation back down.

A slowing economy and households closing their wallets is bad news with a Reserve Bank determined to keep raising rates

The Australia Institute Tasmania is calling on the Tasmanian government to commit to end overfishing and rebuild fish stocks, after ignoring evidence of overfishing for decades. It is among the think tank’s 10 recommendations (see below) to the Tasmanian Scalefish Fishery Rules Review that aims to aid species recovery and modernise management arrangements so the

New research from public policy think tank The Australia Institute shows that a permanent ban on native bird hunting in South Australia is supported by a strong majority of the public and would have minimal impact on the state’s economy. The findings are the result of a survey of 604 South Australians, undertaken between 15

Today’s 5.75% award wage increase is a necessary boost for the lowest paid workers but does not keep pace with inflation. The Fair Work Commission (FWC) has today explicitly said this increase “will consequently not cause or contribute to any ‘wage price spiral’”. Key Points: Award wage increase of 5.75% is less than inflation, which

Tasmania’s native forests are globally recognised for their unique species and their conservation value. They are also some of the most carbon dense forests on the planet.

Whenever Australia’s GDP per capita has gone backwards through a year Australia has been in recession or nearly so. And right now the Budget expects that to happen in 2023-24.

Australia needs more housing, and we definitely need more public housing

Federal MPs, an Olympic champion and acclaimed authors are among dozens of high-profile names urging the Tasmanian government to end to native forest logging.

The indexation of HECS/HELP debt this year will leave people earning less than $62,000 with a bigger debt even after their repayments.

For a document that self-advertises as “the most substantial and ambitious approach to Defence … since the second World War”, the Defence Strategic Review (DSR) is neither.

There’s nothing politics loves more than a good rort or scandal, like the recent revelations of PwC’s misconduct, which is finally throwing a spotlight on the vast tentacles of the big four consulting firms into the business of government. But it’s concerning that one of the biggest and longest-running rorts in climate change policy—carbon capture

Australia needs legislation outlawing the public display of Nazi symbols in the service of white supremacist ideology, but it is critical that we get the free speech balance right.

Despite a mainstream shift in the national conversation away from baseless claims of a “wage-price spiral”, some big business proponents and conservative economists appear unwilling to accept the economic evidence of a profit-price spiral.