Articles & Opinions
Great gas giveaway: $215 billion in royalty-free gas for Woodside’s North West Shelf project
A 50-year extension to the North West Shelf (NWS) project in Western Australia (WA) would see huge amounts of gas given away royalty-free. While the exact volume and value is hard to predict, a basic estimate is that up to $215 billion worth of gas could be given away, royalty-free. The NWS liquefied natural gas
Why the election’s closest seat went unnoticed: Too close to Calwell
Updated 30/05/2025 The outer-Melbourne electorate of Calwell was named “Australia’s most unpredictable seat” by The Age after the election and was – aside from those going to a recount – the last seat to be called. The AEC labelled the counting process for the seat “likely the most complex in Australia’s history”. The count is
The election exposed weaknesses in Australian democracy – but the next parliament can fix them
Australia has some very strong democratic institutions – like an independent electoral commission, Saturday voting, full preferential voting and compulsory voting. These ensure that elections are free from corruption; that electorate boundaries are not based on partisan bias; and that most Australians turn out to vote. They are evidence of Australia’s proud history as an
How the government is setting everyone up to fail on green claims
If a private company ran a scheme that misled consumers, inflated investor confidence, and exposed its clients to legal risk, we would expect the government to shut it down.
The rise of early voting in Australian elections
Are voters missing out on more than their democracy sausage?
One way to improve the “dumpster fire of dumb stuff” which is Australia’s housing policy
Everyone agrees we need to do something about housing in Australia. But first we need to ask a very obvious, but often ignored question: what is housing is for?
Soft plastic recycling is back in supermarkets!
For many of us, the end of June will mark the return of soft plastic recycling run by the Soft Plastics Taskforce (SPT), which is made up of the three major supermarkets: Woolworths Group, Coles Group and ALDI. But this may be premature since the joint recycling strategy from the Ministry of the Environment and
Why Dutton’s ‘one tune’ division and animosity didn’t work for Australians
Friends, Australians, countrymen, we come to bury Peter Dutton, not to praise him.
What will Labor do with power? And what happened to the Greens? | Richard Denniss on ABC News
Richard Denniss joined ABC’s Afternoon Briefing to reflect on what the election result means for policy reform in Australia. Interview with Tom Lowry.
Business groups want the government to overhaul the tax system? Excellent – we have some ideas.
The landslide win by the ALP has seen business groups come out demanding the government listen to their demands despite having provided them no support, and plenty of opposition, over the past 3 years.
Australia rejected the Dutton-Murdoch agenda, now we’ll see if Labor does the same
We are about to see who the Australian Labor Party really is, in 2025.
Big Gas is taking the piss | Television Ad
Australia, Big Gas is taking the piss. We made this TV ad to make sure people know.
Knee-jerk anti-Chinese redbaiting in Australian elections
In the final days of the campaign, independent MP Monique Ryan and Labor’s housing minister Clare O’Neil faced questions about the support of the Hubei Association for their respective campaigns.
More senators for the ACT: Unity ticket, bar one
A four-way debate on ABC Radio Canberra on 1 May produced a rare moment of unity between election candidates. The main candidates for the ACT’s two senate seats agreed that Canberra needs more senators.
University is expensive, especially so for humanities students
The PM and the education minister have made big noises about easing cost of living pressures for Australians with large HECS/HELP debts. But they’ve been very slow to do anything about the high cost of getting a degree in the first place.
Nearly 40 years of efficiency dividends, and what have we got to show for it?
The size of the public service has been one of the sharper issues in this election campaign. But so far, the debate has been about “cuts” or “no cuts”, “working from home” or “back to the office you go”.
A closer look at the Coalition’s economic promises
The Coalition costings arrived at the last minute… and it was quickly obvious why.
5 ideas for a better Australia (missing from the election campaign)
We’re in the final days before the 2025 Federal Election. Sifting through slogans and dodging dreary debates, the team at the Australia Institute has put together a list of practical ideas that have been missing from the mainstream.
Five reasons why young Australians should be pissed off
1. Uni graduates pay more in HECS than the gas industry pays in PPRT University used to be free but is now more expensive than ever. After graduating with an arts degree a young Australian will now repay the government around $50,000. Meanwhile, Australia is one of the world’s largest gas exporters, but multinational gas
Election entrée: Dark money and your money pay for most of the political ads you’re seeing
At this stage of the election, you have no doubt seen plenty of political ads.
April 2025
Election entrée: Longest wait for results
After the 2010 election, independent crossbenchers negotiated for 17 days with Prime Minister Julia Gillard and Opposition Leader Tony Abbott to decide who to support.
Letter to the UN to assess Tasmanian salmon farm environmental damage
On Sunday in Hobart over 6,000 people protested against the harmful practices of foreign owned salmon industry in Tasmania. The Australia Institute’s Tasmanian director, Eloise Carr, spoke to rally participants about recent changes to national nature laws and how the Institute has raised this issue with the UN. Seventeen civil society organisations have written to
Election entrée: Feel the election campaign has dragged on? It could have been longer
Election campaigns come and go, but some go faster than others.
Five priorities for the next parliament if we want a liveable Australia
Climate and nature crises won’t pause while politics plays out.
More kids gamble than play ‘popular’ sports. Yet our leaders are too weak to put up a fight
Football, meat pies, kangaroos and gambling – there’s nothing more Australian.
Election entrée: Preference pile-ons
Last election, independent Kylea Tink won the seat of North Sydney on a primary vote of 25%.
Election entrée: more than one in four people living in Australia don’t get counted in elections
Australians are rightfully proud of compulsory voting, which ensures widespread participation in elections.
Election entrée: think three-year terms are too short? Spare a thought for generations past.
Complaints about the brevity of three-year parliamentary terms are common in Australia.
Election entrée: Early voting in Australia
A cornerstone of the Australian election experience is tucking into a democracy sausage after casting your ballot on election day.
Election entrée: Speakers from other parties
Every Australian parliament – federal, state and territory – has had a speaker from a party other than the one in government at some point.
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