The Tasmanian Government is taxing electricity users to prop up the losses that keep bleeding from Forestry Tasmania. Indeed, the $30 million “woodchip levy” funded by Tasmanian business and households is significantly larger than the $22 million annual cost of the Renewable Energy Target that some Tasmanian businesses claim to be so disadvantaged by. Energy

It would be easy to highlight the hypocrisy of the government’s determination to rely on a price signal to reduce GP visits, versus its determination to avoid price signals for reducing greenhouse gas emissions. But what may look like policy inconsistency is actually a central element of the government’s strategy. Scrapping the carbon price helps

The budget’s hidden gender agenda The Chairman, the Commission and the questionable contract The (actual) facts about higher education TAI in the media Exciting news – TAI and Catalyst are merging   The budget’s hidden gender agenda In our workplaces men and women are treated differently and the situation is getting worse, not better. According to

Is it OK to break laws that you don’t believe in? Corporate Australia certainly seems to think so. Coles lost a Federal Court battle in June over the definition of “fresh”, when it was discovered their “baked today, sold today” bread range included products made overseas, frozen and transported months earlier. Coles took a slap

Making the dash from gas You know all the gas company marketing that bangs on and on about gas being a cheap and clean form of energy? Well, turns out it is indeed just marketing. Quite distinct from reality. Are We Still Cooking with Gas is a new report from the Alternative Energy, which shows

Following new climate targets from the US, China and the EU, and the beginning of the UN climate talks in Lima, the World Coal Association (WCA) is bracing for continuing criticism over its high-emissions energy source. The WCA argues: Technologies such as high efficiency, low emissions (HELE) coal plants and carbon capture, use and storage

The stunning victory by the ALP in Victoria on the weekend raises a number of big questions for the Coalition parties nationally, the most significant of which is whether their strategy for winning elections in recent years has ruined their chances of governing like grown-ups.

Divestment on the agenda Gender pay gap continues to cost women Are we beginning to overcome Indigenous disadvantage? Infographic Divestment on the agenda  Australia Financial Review might have gone totally overboard in its attack on ANU, but now it seems everyone’s talking about divestment. It was top of mind at the recent Responsible Investment Association of Australia

Australia’s $105 billion Future Fund has agreed to divest from tobacco, in recognition of the damage it causes to human health. However, the fund continues to invest public money in fossil fuels. When asked about this in a Senate inquiry on 20 November, Peter Costello, Chair of the Future Fund, said: The answer that the

Tony Abbott was made for “drop and run” politics.  A key part of media training for politicians, the “drop and run” is a smooth strategy for deflecting a question, promoting a three-word slogan and moving on to attack your opponent. Dodge the query, never dwell on details, just drop your message and shift debate to

New report shows Aussies walking the tightrope Like a Boss – hot tips for reclaiming your work day Queensland to invest in more mines  TAI in the media Infographic   New report shows Aussie workers walking the tightrope Do you stay in the office after hours? Check emails while at home? Work unpaid overtime for

The Queensland government’s decision to pour billions of taxpayer dollars into the Adani coal project in the Galilee basin proves, once and for all, that the mining industry are leaners, not lifters.

The Commission of Audit was always going to be an exercise in ideology. We knew from the Terms of Reference and from the heavy influence of the Business Council of Australia. The Commission’s recommendations confirm this. So, we think it’s time for the People to audit the auditors – will you help us? Why, for example,

The Australia Institute, in partnership with the City of Sydney and the Economic Society of Australia NSW, is delighted to bring Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz to Sydney to address a public forum on the topic of “The Price of Inequality”.  Event details:Tuesday 8 July 20146.30 – 8.00pm.Sydney Town Hall  This event is FREE but you must

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Last week’s commitment by the Australian National University to divest its sizeable endowment from seven companies with questionable environmental credentials triggered a fierce backlash. The government has led the attack, with Treasurer Joe Hockey suggesting ANU was ‘…removed from the reality of what is helping to drive the Australian economy.’ In this morning’s Canberra Times,

Laws around clearing of native vegetation in New South Wales (NSW) are currently being reviewed. In October the Australia Institute released a report looking at agriculture in NSW and the impact of changes to native vegetation clearing regulations. The research has been criticised (here and here), particularly for not making reference to a claim by

In a world in which war is waged for humanitarian reasons but sending doctors and nurses to prevent an outbreak of Ebola is considered too risky, almost any spin seems possible. But surely the mining industry’s claim that the best way to tackle global energy poverty is to build more coal mines takes the biscuit.

The term “energy poverty” refers to people who do not have access to electricity and clean cooking facilities. Globally, 1.3 billion people do not have access to electricity in their houses and 2.6 billion people cook by burning coal, wood and other solid fuels. This has major impacts on people’s health, safety and quality of

All talk, no action Can you see what IPCC see? More coal is not the answer TAI in the media Infographic    All talk, no action Coal – it’s “good for humanity,” according to our Prime Minister and our Environment Minister thinks we’re “condemning people to poverty” if we don’t dig up lots of it.

The climate debate reveals how confused the philosophical underpinnings of political parties have become, writes Richard Denniss for The Australian Financial Review. Public debate about the details of climate policy can be like seven-year-olds arguing over who would win a battle between Spiderman and The Incredible Hulk. The debate is messy because of the combination

The battle for jobs in the Hunter The Direct Action bet Weak excuses for a ‘real’ 20% RET The student debt crisis is real TAI in the media Infographic Share the eBulletin  The battle for jobs in the Hunter A few weeks ago we told you that the chief spin doctor for the NSW Minerals Council Stephen

If the Greens and Labor really are concerned about cost of living, they should support the re-indexation of fuel excise in return for a say on how this revenue is spent, writes Richard Denniss for The Drum.

You’d never know it from their behaviour, but the Greens hold 10 seats in the current Senate compared to the Palmer United Party’s three. Their current strategy of voting against virtually everything the Abbott Government announces, including things they actually support, has made them largely irrelevant since the last election. It is hard to think

Gough: Advancing equality in Australia We all lose from Medibank privatisation Coal not the solution to energy poverty TAI in the media Infographic Share the eBulletin  Gough: Advancing equality in Australia Poverty is a national waste as well as individual waste (Gough Whitlam, 1969 election campaign). With the passing of former Labor Prime Minister Gough

Today’s editorial in The Australian (24 October) claims: No sector has the right to be artificially insulated from uncertainty.…[the renewable energy sector has] always known that the RET has been opposed by Coalition and Labor MPs concerned to preserve jobs. The push for a cut in the Renewable Energy Target (RET) amongst Coalition MPs is

The Abbott government can’t decide if it wants to tell people how to live their lives or free them to make their own decisions. The Coalition’s education policy, for example, reveals the contradictions between the world views of libertarianism and conservatism that the Coalition claims to represent. For many years, the balancing act has worked.

The NSW Planning Assessment Commission has just rejected the application to extend the Coalpac mines near Lithgow. The Australia Institute, alongside several community groups, has been involved in the long fight against these mines in the environmentally sensitive area adjacent to the Blue Mountains World Heritage area. In September 2014 the Australia Institute made a written submission

Peter Reith writing in the Australian Financial Review today claimed that: The coal industry alone provides about 200,000 jobs and brings in billions of dollars to our economy to underscore living standards. According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics coal mining employs 37,800 people. Mr Reith’s claim is more than five times this number. This

Hysteria over divestment The mouse that roars:coal in the Queensland economy Is Australia still the land of the fair go? Politics in the Pub TAI in the media Infographic Share the eBulletin  Hysteria over divestment Billions of dollars in shares are traded every day without much commentary. So why has one investor’s decision to dump