How to fix Australia’s broken childcare system so everybody wins
The potential social and economic benefits of early childhood education and care are huge.
Private health insurance is a dud. That’s why a majority of Australians don’t have it
Right now, final submissions are being made by private health insurers to the government for an increase in insurance premiums next year.
Corporate profits increase inflation | Fact Sheet
The prices of many goods and services have increased dramatically across Australia since 2021. This has resulted in hardship for many households—along with $100 billion in increased profits for major companies. These corporate profits have been a key factor driving inflation.
September 2024
The report the Prime Minister cites against changes to negative gearing actually shows housing would be more affordable and rents barely affected.
Rather than show negative gearing changes are bad, a Deloitte report cited by the Prime Minister concludes they would improve housing affordability and home ownership.
Extract: Black Witness by Amy McQuire
This is an extract from Black Witness by Amy McQuire, published by University of Queensland Press.
Why Dutton’s playing a very dangerous political game
Peter Dutton and Donald Trump have a knack for political division. There’s no doubt that stoking fear and the politics of division can be brutally effective, but the last thing Australia needs is to import the damaging culture wars of the American far right, dominated by bonkers conspiracy theories adhered to by militant acolytes untroubled
August 2024
Worth a Punt – 2% Levy on Gambling Revenue Could Replace Free-To-Air Advertising Spend
There is widespread public support for banning gambling advertisements on free-to-air media because of the harm caused by gambling. The main objection is that Australia’s free-to-air networks, hit by declining revenues and fragmenting audiences, can’t afford to lose the money. But there’s a simple solution. A small levy on the many billions of dollars gambling
July 2024
Renewable hydrogen: Superpower, or green mask for fossil super villains?
My children are aged three and four. They love anything with super powers – Spiderman, vampires, Paw Patrol, everything.
Over 30 organisations urge the Rockliff government to release Tasmania’s decade-overdue State of the Environment Report
Tasmania’s Government has failed to publish a State of the Environment Report since 2009,
despite having a legal obligation to do so every five years.
Value for money? The princely salaries of private school principals
While public school funding lags, principals of private schools are paid up to four times their state system counterparts.
June 2024
Why the US government’s pursuit of Julian Assange was becoming both damaging and untenable
Today, in a surprise development likely weeks in the planning, WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange was able to leave the United Kingdom for the first time in more than a decade after reaching a plea deal with the US government.
The future of journalism at stake in Assange case
The United States Government’s indictment of Julian Assange has major implications for the future of public-interest journalism, according to his legal advisor.
May 2024
The Assange litmus test and the fight to shape a future Trump administration
Who would have thought that the legal and personal travails of Julian Assange, the Australian citizen whom US authorities are invested in prosecuting and jailing for the rest of his life without deep consideration of his fundamental rights, would become a lightning rod for former President Trump’s re-election hopes?
Does leave for menstruation and menopause advance women’s rights and gender equality at work?
As pressure grows for action to establish new work rights, including additional leave, for those who experience menstruation and menopause, the Centre for Future Work’s Senior Researcher, Lisa Heap, canvases the debate about whether these rights will advance gender equality at work.
Raising jobseeker is not ‘fiscally sustainable’? Sorry, but that is flat out wrong
On Monday the Productivity Commission released its snapshot of inequality report.
5 Key Takeaways From The 2024 Budget
The Australia Institute’s analysis of the 2024 Federal Budget finds that while there some big numbers and good measures, there’s no meaningful solutions to issues such as inequality, housing or climate change.
Minimum qualifications: The missing piece of aged care worker regulation
“Mandatory and coordinated accreditation would allow workers to have their skills recognised, boost job satisfaction and make the industry more attractive as a long-term career.
“The Aged Care Royal Commission has been crystal clear about the need for these reforms. It’s beyond time to deliver them.”
“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.
April 2024
Private schools, public subsidies: with $50k fees per child per year, how can tax breaks be justified?
Private schools are competing to see who can boast the most luxurious accoutrements, and the tax-deductions they can claim on constructing buildings are helping them do it. The Scots College is awaiting construction of its new library, which will resemble a Scottish Baronial castle. At one point, they had a hypoxic chamber for altitude simulation sports training. Newington College
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.
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
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.
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.
Fixing the work and care crisis means tackling insecure and unpredictable work
The Fair Work Commission is examining how to reduce insecurity and unpredictability in part-time and casual work to help employees better balance work and care. The Commission is reviewing modern awards that set out terms and conditions of employment for many working Australians to consider how workplace relations settings in awards impact on work and
Five Highlights from Technofeudalism with Yanis Varoufakis
Visionary economist Yanis Varoufakis toured Australia in March as a guest of the Australia Institute, as part of our 30th anniversary celebrations in 2024.
Housing affordability is so bad that 2020 (!) now looks good
House prices after a brief fall in 2022 rose consistently during 2023 and housing affordability is now as bad as ever
National Press Club Address – Yanis Varoufakis
Yanis Varoufakis addressed the National Press Club in Canberra on Wednesday 13 March, 2024.
Stop the surge to big utes
This article originally appeared in The Daily Telegraph, in response to a column that critiqued the call for small cars on our road. You can read the original column via the link below.
On International Women’s Day: How the Fair Work Commission Can Really Take On the Gender Pay Gap
On occasion of International Women’s Day, the Centre for Future Work’s Senior Researcher Lisa Heap reviews the opportunities to use recent industrial relations reforms to more ambitiously address Australia’s gender pay gap.
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