The mining boom bonanza barely spread beyond the mining industry itself but the negative implications of the mining boom were felt very widely. This is important in view of the current suggestions that the end of the mining boom implies that Australians will have to tighten their belts. Symmetry should apply in the event of

The benefits of the mining boom: where did they go? Renewable energy: the more the merrier, but how would we know? Mutual obligation by any other name.

The CPRS has fundamental flaws that need to be addressed. A mechanism to ensure that the efforts of individuals and state governments to reduce emissions result in lower emissions, not extra permits for other polluters, needs to be introduced. Similarly, the decision to insulate the petrol price from the introduction of a carbon price needs

While it may not have been the government’s intention, it looks like the most potent symbol associated with the CPRS might be the Senate uniting to vote it down. The likely delay in implementing an effective scheme is a source of much regret for people who have called for urgent action for many years. But

The 2009 Budget in clichés. The ghost of Keating past. How green is my Budget? The good, the bad and the ugly.

Dr Bill de Maria discusses the new whistleblowing proposals; David Ingles laments the exclusion of people on NewStart from either of the stimulus packages and explains the great superannuation tax concession rort; Reconciliation Australia looks at reconciliation a year after the Rudd apology; Tully Fletcher examines the current state of legal aid; Richard Denniss enumerates

While it may seem appealing to wait until we know where the new jobs are going to be before we start moving away from the jobs the atmosphere can no longer support, developing such a ‘plan’ is a fool’s errand. The fact is we did not wait until we knew where photo development lab workers

Tax cuts for the rich damage the Australian economy and disadvantage the average Australian.

Right up until the end of the resources boom and the onset of the global financial and economic crisis, the government was flush with money, a result of the virtually continual ‘surprises’ as economic growth, and especially government revenue, came in way over budget forecasts in each of the years from 2003-04 to 2007-08. By

There are strong equity and efficiency arguments for taxing all income from capital at the same rate; the current concessions are wrong in principle and regressive in practice. The focus should be on why the wealthy enjoy the unique privilege of having a sizeable part of their real income taxed at half the normal rate.

Paid parental leave. Increasing GDP. The measurement of unemployment.

Senator Fielding and the alcopops debacle. The wisdom of tax cuts. Freedom of information becomes freer?

Superannuation is the most concessionally-taxed investment in Australia with contributions, fund earnings and payouts all receiving concessional treatment. According to Treasury, the effective marginal tax rate on superannuation savings is highly negative. This paper discusses how superannuation could be reformed to make it more equitable.

A Human Rights Act for Australia. Executive excess. Policy on the run; is policy underdone? Food security

The CPRS in its current form is deeply flawed. If the government wants to see the legislation passed, it is going to have to amend its proposal. In order to take advantage of every additional emissions reduction and allow every concerned citizen to make a direct contribution, the government needs to convert its ‘cap and

It is often said that there is nothing more powerful than an idea whose time has come. But it seems that in the case of Minister Wong’s version of emissions trading, the so called Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme (CPRS), there is nothing more pitiful than an idea whose time never actually came. The targets are

The CPRS is looking more and more like a hotted up second hand car. It sounded good in the advertisement, had all the fancy bits added on and looked really shiny and ready to go. Unfortunately the closer you look at it, the less reliable it gets. It might not be as fancy, but an

Does the market have all the answers? Index of wellbeing. K Rudd bank. Newstart and the fiscal stimulus package.

The unfortunate reality is that, having waited a decade for a government to express a willingness to do something about climate change, we are now faced with a choice between a policy that locks us into failure by dictating that emissions in Australia cannot fall by more than five per cent and abandoning the CPRS

How annoyed does the community need to get before further restrictions can be placed on telemarketing, junk mail and street spruiking? And which is more important, the interests of direct marketing companies or the views of the wider public? These are the kinds of issues that The Australia Institute sought to raise through its research.

Burying bad news in the media. The impact of climate change on new businesses. Cooperatives. The Government’s new human rights consultation.

Debates about superannuation policy are often ideological in tone.People in finance and investment circles tend to forget that the majority of Australians are profoundly disengaged from their super, at least until they approach retirement. The super system is so complicated that many workers take the simplest option – doing nothing. Governments therefore have a responsibility

Telemarketing is one form of ‘direct marketing’, along with junk mail, spam and face-to-face marketing. Direct marketing differs from ‘traditional’ advertising in making a much stronger claim on our attention. Members of the public have to take deliberate action if they wish to avoid direct marketing, but Institute research indicates that an ‘opt-in’ system would

Hugh Saddler and Helen King examine the difficulties implicit in applying emissions trading to agriculture; Josh Fear reclaims your time from the telemarketers and examines the superannuation industry in Australia; David Richardson explains how accelerated depreciation would help the renewable energy industry; Richard Denniss looks at a new top tax rate; John Langmore asks whether

An economical truth. The bogus economic case for telemarketing. Bee lines. Over a barrel.

Ministerial responsibility. A major flaw in the ETS. Thinking long term.

Government assistance to industry. New anti-SLAPP legislation in the ACT. ACMA’s recent decision on subliminal advertising. The need for wellbeing in a climate-changed Australia.

Why we care more about the financial crisis than climate change. The 50 per cent discount on capital gains. Whether there has been an exodus from public schools to private ones.

Originally printed in the Sydney Morning Herald. Under the Productivity Commission’s parental leave proposal, men are entitled to two weeks’ paternity leave (use it or lose it), and mothers would be allowed to transfer their 18-week entitlement to their partners. It leaves the important decision about who provides primary care up to individual families and,

Why we measure stock market performance daily, but don’t measure what really counts. The record profits of Australia’s big banks despite the ‘crisis’. The real reasons behind Australia’s doctor shortage. The Government’s review of Australia’s tax system: are we paying enough?