In the lead-up to the 2013 election both the Coalition and the ALP pledged to make no changes to the superannuation system in the coming term of government. Stability, we were told, was what the system needed. Less than three years later both major parties are promising to change the superannuation system. Reform, we are

New costings from the Parliamentary Budget Office (PBO) show the government could help retirees boost their own incomes at nearly no cost to the budget by making the Pension Loans Scheme to available to all who wish to use it to have a comfortable retirement while living in their own homes. Costings requested by Senator

The Claim “Counterproductive workplace regulation, in particular high minimum wages and industry-specific award rates, [is an] impediment to youth job creation in Australia.” – Dr Patrick Carvalho, Centre for Independent Studies The Evidence Minimum wages are often accused of reducing demand for young jobseekers. The evidence is less compelling. The call for lower minimum wages

The 1st of July 2014 seems like a long time ago. We’ve been busy. Our research has led debates, laid out the facts, busted myths, challenged corporate and mining giants, upset more than a few lobbyists and conservatives, and changed minds.  Thank you everyone who has read our work, shared or talked about us, or

  The claim Senator Sean Edwards claimed that an expansion of the nuclear fuel cycle in South Australia could provide low or even no cost electricity, create a generation of high-paying jobs and do so without any subsidies from government. His plan is to take spent fuel from older nuclear power plants from around the world,

First published in The Australian Financial Review – here. If you think that world demand for coal is going to grow in the coming decades, then it makes sense to build the 50 new coal mines proposed for Australia. And if you think that the world will continue its shift away from coal, then it

As Sweden debates how best to get out of the coal mining business, Australia is debating how best to subsidise the world’s largest export coal mines. Just last week the Australian Federal Government approved the enormous Adani/Carmichael coal mine which, at 40 kilometres long and 10 kilometres wide, is bigger than Gothenburg. The Australian Government

Originally published in the Australian Financial Review – Here. Like politics, economics often throws up some unusual allies. Take, for example, the recent call for a global moratorium on new coal mines by Kiribati’s President Anote Tong. Were such a restriction on the supply of coal to go ahead the biggest winners would be, you

Adani mega-coal mine approved, again Environment Minister Greg Hunt has just re-approved the Carmichael Coal mine. Our research over many years has shown that the industry is getting massive taxpayer subsidies from both state and federal governments, in particular with government-financed infrastructure. Adani appears to be struggling to raise private capital, and despite declaring that construction would be underway by 2013, not

After decades in public life some Australian corporate leaders are figuring out what first-year philosophy students grasp in their first lecture: it’s hard to define “ethical”. But as Transfield Services’ chairman Diane Smith-Gander has discovered, the stakes are a bit higher than undergrad debating prizes. Losing the debate over the ethics of running offshore detention centres

The Australia Institute is excited to announce we are merging with Jubilee Australia Research Centre. Jubilee Australia works to raise awareness about harmful government policies and irresponsible behaviour of Australian companies operating overseas, particularly mining companies. Jubilee began as the Australian arm of the world-wide Jubilee movement working for debt cancellation and its research examines

First published in the Australian Financial Review – here It’s bizarre that people blame Tony Abbott’s demise on his inability to communicate. He was a great communicator, and people knew exactly what he stood for. No politician was as relentlessly ‘on message’.  Abbott’s problem wasn’t the clarity of his message; it was the incoherence of

As opposition leader Tony Abbott told us that emissions trading was an expensive fraud. As Prime Minister he is proposing changes to his direct action policy based on the assumption that trading pollution permits is both cheap and reliable. As with so much of the modern policy debate the explanation for this remarkable turnaround has everything

The claim Mr Hockey said; Over the last couple of months we have had some very pleasing economic information. Importantly, since the beginning of this year nearly 163,000 new jobs have been created, an average of 23,000 new jobs per month—23,000 new jobs per month. When Labor left office they were averaging 3,600 jobs per

Australia can’t have a grown-up debate about reform until we stop having juvenile debate about economic modelling. A government that thinks its most persuasive argument begins with “but economic modelling shows” should have as much chance of shifting the economic debate as Bronwyn Bishop had of shifting Australians’ attitudes to the role of helicopters in political

Politics Tony Abbott picks his fights, and loves, on the basis of the enemies he will enrage. This time he’s decided to love coal, but he has also enraged key sections of the National Party. First published in the Australian Financial Review – here. As the coal price continues to fall, the financial case for

The Monthly is one of Australia’s premier political current affairs magazines. The Australia Institute’s Richard Denniss provided the cover article for the current edition, titled ‘Of clowns and treasurers’.   The response has been staggering. As of Thursday, over 18,000 people had shared the article through their social media accounts (follow facebook or twitter). The reach and readership is

The claim: Concetta Fierravanti-Wells: This [marriage equality] is not a conscience matter. It’s not a life or death matter. Conscience votes in our party room are reserved for life or death matters. And in – Jonathan Green: Not for matters of deep conviction? Concetta Fierravanti-Wells: Well, the point is it’s not a life or death

First published in The Australian Financial Review, 30 June 2015 – Here The Business Council of Australia once defended free markets, but now it and others only support reforms that help its big business friends. If the Business Council of Australia (BCA) was serious about reducing government waste it would have slammed the recent announcement

A message from the Chair of the Board The Australia Institute has some exciting news to announce. After 8 years at the helm Richard Denniss has decided to step down from the role of Executive Director of the Australia Institute. On behalf of the Board I would like to express my appreciation to Richard and

While Norway’s decision to divest its $900 billion sovereign wealth fund from coal shares sent shock waves around the financial world, it was the way the Norwegian parliament made the decision that is truly radical. Norway has a conservative minority government, but the idea to sell out of coal started with an NGO, was taken

The mining industry is furious that if you make a donation to an environment group, your donation is tax deductible. You know the drill. You give someone in a koala suit anything over $2, they give you a receipt and go off to save an owl, hug a tree or, more likely, make a submission

While the public are rightly outraged at the callous tone of the Treasurers ‘get a good job’ remarks in response to housing affordability, economists should be equally disturbed about the bizarre logic behind the government’s approach to the issue. Joe Hockey seems to be increasingly confused about what housing affordability is. Hockey and Abbott believe

Tax policy Resources companies and lobby groups are lobbying a parliamentary inquiry to strip political climate groups of their charity status. But resources companies can deduct the money they pay to their industry groups from tax. Speech isn’t free in Australia. It isn’t even cheap. Corporate Australia spends billions telling the public, and our politicians,

The claim “Any changes to the GST are a matter for the states.” Tony Abbott The evidence Subsection 38-47 of the A New Tax System (Goods and Services Tax) Act 1999 (GST Act) grants the Health Minister the power to determine that “A supply is GST‑free if it is a supply of goods of a kind

A little bit of economic theory is a dangerous thing, and many of the people defending what BHP and Rio Tinto have done to the price of iron ore are demonstrating that they have very little economic knowledge indeed. Economists usually don’t like cartels, or other forms of producer protections, as they help producers and

Joe Hockey’s second budget was much better armoured than his first. The brazen nature of the first budget made the task of those critiquing it pretty easy. This one took more time and detailed analysis to break down. Our verdict: The 2015 Federal Budget doesn’t fit the 2015 Australian economy. It ignores obvious and major issues,

Joe Hockey’s “do nothing” budget is better than his first “do harm” budget, but he still hasn’t tackled the big issues that face Australia in the wake of the mining boom, writes Australia Institute executive director and economist Richard Denniss. This article was produced for, and originally published by Crikey.com.au – Here. The economy described in

The apparent Coalition aim of cutting taxes does not match its public declarations about reducing the deficit. But tensions within the Coalition make any move on taxes difficult. Does Joe Hockey think removing the deficit levy will make the deficit go away? Announced in last year’s budget, the temporary 2 per cent increase in the