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.

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.

The 2024 National Defence Strategy (NDS) looks more like the impactless pronouncements of consultants’ “decks” than a persuasive guide to the government’s security plans for the next decade or two.

While money can’t buy everything, the Australian Government can ‘buy’ a lower Consumer Price Index (CPI).

In 2019 the Australia Institute identified ambitious, progressive policies from the Australian Capital Territory, most of which are overwhelmingly popular among all Australians. Five years on, we have an update on how these policies have progressed in Canberra and around Australia.

An on-the-ground video investigation into native forest logging and the people trying to protect the last refuges of some of Australia’s most iconic wildlife.

Ongoing logging within the boundaries of the proposed Great Koala National Park threatens the survival of endangered species and contradicts conservation efforts, writes Stephen Long.

On Monday the Productivity Commission released its snapshot of inequality report.

“Gina Rinehart and the mining industry already get out of paying excise on petrol. So I can see why she thinks everybody should avoid it.” – Executive Director Richard Denniss on Channel 9’s the Today Show.

Nobody likes to be hoodwinked, but that’s what big companies are essentially doing when they engage in greenwashing – giving consumers the false impression they have business practices that help the environment instead of harming it.

Remember all that talk about wage-price spirals? About wages driving inflation? All that worry about a wages breakout causing interest rates to rise? Ahh yes, good times.

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.

The government failed to make a dent in the structural challenges facing housing, social security and the climate in its pre-election budget, says Senior Economist Matt Grudnoff.

There’s a lot of misinformation in the debate surrounding Australia’s gas industry. To be clear: the world cannot afford for new gas projects (or any other fossil fuel projects) to be opened if we want to avoid dangerous climate change.

A bigger surplus this year and a bit bigger deficit next year! Does it matter?

Inflation will remain higher for longer, but a recession is not the solution, says Greg Jericho.

If Australia is to use and produce more fossil fuels than we are now, the rest of our climate policy amounts to tinkering at the edges, writes Rod Campbell.

It’s hard to believe in 2024 we still have Governments pretending we need to expand fossil fuel production to “help tackle climate change”.

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

“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.”

With the Future Gas Strategy, government policy has entered a backward land where logic is reversed, writes Stephen Long.

It seems that some people really want a recession.

It is often said that the only way to reduce inflation is by higher interest rates. That’s not true – the government can also reduce inflation and cost of living pressures

Spreading fear about inflation not falling fast enough distorts the true picture

They knit, they sing, they even have their own ‘nannafesto’, and these unlikely environmental activists are a force to be reckoned with.

The government has the power to make significant and long-awaited improvements to the JobSeeker scheme in this federal budget, but it has to make it a priority, says Greg Jericho.

If the government decided to make raising Jobseeker a priority in the Budget it would not talk about not being able to afford it, writes Greg Jericho.

Details released by the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet under the Official Information Act reveal New Zealand officials have been considering involvement in AUKUS from the outset.

Can you imagine Qatar or Saudi Arabia panicking about a gas or oil shortage?

In April 2022, conservative American think tank the Heritage Foundation, working with a broad coalition of 50 conservative organisations, launched Project 2025: a plan for the next conservative president of the United States.