While last year’s robodebt royal commission exposed a shocking lack of ethics among senior ranks of the Australian public service, the systemic condition still largely seems to be regarded as an aberration.

I am starting my address to this year’s summit in the exact same way that I started last year’s address. Because it is just over a year since I delivered these same words, which aren’t actually my words. They are the words of our Climate Change Minister, and they provide a baseline of sorts for what progress has been made in that time.

The ‘robodebt’ debacle was a shameful episode for the federal government, but was it an anomaly? Our guest today says the same behaviours that enabled robodebt have been playing out for decades in our climate policymaking and questions whether the government has appetite to implement its proposed integrity reforms. australiainstitute.org.au // @theausinstitute Guest: Polly Hemming, Director,

Our summer podcast series brings you some of the best conversations from our webinars and live events in 2023. Australia’s native forests are not only home to some of our most vulnerable and threatened species, they hold critical cultural and ecological value. While native forest logging is being phased out in Western Australia and Victoria,

While social licence for fossil fuels has slipped, gas seems to be clinging on longer than the rest.

The United Nations annual climate conference, COP28, is wrapping up, and it’s crunch time. Is there going to be a mention of actually phasing out fossil fuels? Or will we have more of avoiding the issue? This was recorded on Tuesday 12th December 2023 and things may have changed since recording. australiainstitute.org.au // @theausinstitute Guest: Polly

The Australian government talks big on the world stage about how we need to end reliance on fossil fuels, but our exports don’t match our rhetoric.

The Labor Government has been campaigning for Australia to host COP31, the UN climate conference, in partnership with a Pacific Island nation. But Pacific Islanders have several concerns, mainly due to Australia’s track record with new fossil fuels, and lacklustre climate policy. This was recorded on Wednesday 30th August 2023 and things may have changed

The lifecycle emissions resulting from Tamboran Resources’ proposed Liquified Natural Gas (LNG) processing and export facility in the Northern Territory would be equivalent to 12 coal-fired power stations every year when operating at full capacity. Not exactly on the transition to net-zero… This was recorded on Wednesday 16th August 2023 and things may have changed

In his new essay “The Great Stock ‘n’ Coal Swindle” for The Monthly, Nick Feik takes a deep dive into Australia’s carbon offsets industry and its links to fossil fuel expansion. This was recorded on Wednesday 8th March 2023 and things may have changed since recording. The Australia Institute // @theausinstitute Guests: Nick Feik, Writer, journalist

The Australian Government has proposed that Australia host the 2026 UN Climate Conference, in “partnership” with Pacific nations. But can Australia be considered a credible host for a COP31 while it continues to subsidise and approve fossil fuel expansion? This was recorded on Wednesday 14th June 2023 and things may have changed since recording. The

If you’ve ever ticked ‘yes’ to offsetting your carbon emissions when you booked a flight, it might have felt like you were doing something good. Planting some more trees to make up for your trip certainly offsets our guilt. But does it actually take carbon out of the atmosphere?

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, or IPCC, just released a report with a a very clear message; there is a rapidly closing window of opportunity to secure a liveable and sustainable future for all. One of the key messages in the report is that new fossil fuel projects are incompatible with a net zero

The Climate Integrity Summit 2023 brought together leading experts to discuss and address integrity risks that could jeopardise Australia’s emissions reduction policies. The Australia Institute’s Polly Hemming unpacked what climate integrity really is, and why it is the antidote to the Australian government’s state-sponsored greenwash. This was recorded on Wednesday 15th February 2023 and things

To understand and define what climate integrity is, it is important to have a common understanding of what climate integrity isn’t. 

Our summer podcast series brings you some of the best conversations from our webinars in 2022. Australian governments have committed to tackling the twin climate and biodiversity crises but continue to subsidise and approve fossil fuels and habitat destruction. While simple policy solutions exist, governments are instead relying on over-complicated market-based solutions to conceal the