Articles & Opinions
“Here for the kiddies”: the Knitting Nannas calling for an end to fossil fuels
They knit, they sing, they even have their own ‘nannafesto’, and these unlikely environmental activists are a force to be reckoned with.
Transparency only shouted from opposition benches: Patrick
Former Senator Rex Patrick is on a mission to make freedom of information reform “sexy”.
Promoting a Free and Peaceful Indo-Pacific
Allan Behm’s address to the Australian Institute of International Affairs Korea Forum, Sydney on 15 April 2024.
2024 is Election Year
While we could be forgiven for thinking 2024 will be all about American democracy, this year is in fact a big one for democracies across the world, writes Dr Emma Shortis.
Politics could provide a real and long overdue result for Julian Assange
As President Joe Biden walked along the West Colonnade of the White House with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kushida this week, a reporter shouted a question: Did he have a response to Australia’s request that he end Julian Assange’s prosecution?
Video Report: The Carbon Credit Grift Destroying Koala Habitat
Despite a decade-long commitment to establish the Great Koala National Park, the NSW Labor Government is delaying its creation so that the forests can be exploited for carbon credits. It’s a decision with disastrous consequences for the koalas, and the climate.
The Cruelty Is The Point: Australia and the Politics of Empire
Watch Dr Emma Shortis’ address to ‘Night Falls In The Evening Lands: The Assange Epic’ at RMIT University, Melbourne, on 9th March 2024.
Who’s hurting most from rising interest rates? It’s probably you.
Soaring house prices, high household debt and the pervasiveness of variable rate home loans mean that Australians bear the brunt of interest rate rises, says Greg Jericho.
NSW government dragging its feet on koala park for “sham” carbon credits
By waiting for a carbon credit scheme to be established before delivering its Great Koala National Park, the New South Wales Government is putting the species at risk, says Stephen Long.
What is the PRRT?
Gas extraction is often lauded by the industry as the ‘backbone of the Australian economy’, but the actual revenue collected from one of the main taxes on the industry falls staggeringly short of what most people would expect. Find out why this is the case – and what we can do to fix it.
Extract | Bad Cop Bad Cop: Peter Dutton’s Strongman Politics
This is an extract of Lech Blaine’s Quarterly Essay, Bad Cop: Peter Dutton’s Strongman Politics, out now.
The carbon con killing koalas
The NSW Labor Government took office promising to create a vast koala sanctuary on the state’s mid-north coast – the Great Koala National Park. Despite the threat of koala extinction in the state, more than a year later the Great Koala National Park is yet to be established.
Video: The Right to Disconnect is NOT Bad for Productivity
The Right to Disconnect legislation being passed recently has attracted criticism from Opposition leader Peter Dutton and business groups, who say it’s bad for productivity. They may need to learn some basic maths, because they couldn’t be more wrong. Centre for Future Work Director Dr Jim Stanford explains. Research indicates the average Australian worker performs
Why minority government can be better for Australia
Prime ministers need to stop “waving their mandates around” and start negotiating in both houses of parliament if they want to pass more legislation, says Richard Denniss.
Australia’s “stupid” surplus obsession must end
A budget surplus doesn’t mean a government is good at running the economy – we should focus on the choices they make instead, says Greg Jericho.
Labor’s pledge to depoliticise the public service is undermined by the government only hearing what it wants to hear on climate change
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.
Don’t worry about a budget surplus, care about the choices in the budget
Budget, Julia Gillard rightly said, are about choices. And those choices are a lot more important than whether or not the budget is in surplus or deficit
“It’s a scare campaign”: award wage rise won’t trigger inflation spiral
With unions calling for a five per cent increase to award wages, business groups are crying wolf over the proposal’s impact on inflation and unemployment, says Greg Jericho.
Whether you tune in or not, journalism’s a public good that benefits us all
For three years, Meta and Google have paid hundreds of millions of dollars to Australian publishers in exchange for using news content.
March 2024
Why the Carbon Myth Industry is bad for farmers
Jigsaw Farms, long held up as a shining star of carbon neutral farming, is no longer carbon neutral, although only just.
Coalition’s nuclear powerplay a “cynical distraction”
Rather than backing cheap and abundant renewable energy, Opposition Leader Peter Dutton has gone all in on nuclear.
The Coalition’s nuclear power crusade is a futile distraction
Nuclear energy really is remarkable.
Who Pays the Piper…Universities Dance to the AUKUS Tune
When AUKUS was announced, the ANU was quick off the mark to cash in.
Fire extinguishers, not guns
The Australian Government should be using its unique position to leverage our close relationship with the United States over the ongoing conflict in Gaza, writes Dr Emma Shortis.
The academic publishing rort
As much as $1 billion in taxpayer funding may be being funnelled into the pockets of for-profit academic publishers every year, writes Dr Kristen Scicluna.
Highlights from the Climate Integrity Summit 2024
2023 has shown us a planet on the brink of collapse. Cyclones, heatwaves, catastrophic floods, fires and landslides have killed people, destroyed ecosystems and decimated communities. And yet Australia is still yet to repair all the homes lost in the Black Summer bushfires of 2020 or the devastating Lismore floods of 2017 and 2022. No
The RBA should keep its finger off the interest rate trigger
With unemployment tumbling in February, the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) should resist the urge to raise interest rates, says Australia Institute Chief Economist Greg Jericho.
Tax the cloud to peg back techno-lords: Varoufakis
Big tech is kicking capitalism to the kerb, former Greek finance minister Yanis Varoufakis tells a sold-out crowd at the State Library of NSW in a special episode of Follow the Money.
Gomeroi Ngaar, Bigan Ngaar (Gomeroi are strong when our Law is strong) | Polly Cutmore
“My job was simple, don’t sell our people out – because nothing is worth more than Us.”
It’s a good thing if Trump doesn’t like us
Instead of worrying about whether Trump hates us, we should be thinking, together, about how to forge a world which remains free of his demagoguery, writes Dr Emma Shortis.
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