This edition of The Australia Institute’s newsletter features: All I want for Christmas …. David Baker The clash between coal and conservation Paola Cassoni Beating around the bush Matt Grudnoff Income and wealth distribution in Australia David Richardson 10th Henry Parkes Oration Prof George Williams And homelessness marches on …. Alison Laird The one early

The NSW Minerals Council is out spruiking the benefits of the mining industry in the Hunter region in a new economic study. Using the same old tricks to inflate their numbers and ignoring any economic downside they manage to spin the result into a rosy picture that reaches the epic proportions of claiming that the

The newly-inked Tasmanian Forest Agreement has been hailed by many as a historic breakthrough that provides Tasmania with an opportunity to end the divisive “forest wars” and remake the state’s ailing economy. In truth, it is a case study in how not to make policy. By handing over the responsibility for resolving the dispute to

According to Rene Hidding, Tasmania’s Liberal spokesman for forestry, it is “insulting” to Tasmanians to inform them about the tiny contribution the forestry and logging industries make to that state’s employment. Presumably he thinks it would be better to deceive the people? For all of the analysis about what the collapse of the state’s forest

Listening to the mining industry complaining about the high exchange rate is like listening to a three-year-old complaining about the noise of their own tantrum. It simply adds insult to injury. The surge in world demand for our resources and the flood of foreign money into Australia to buy or build mining assets has been

The Nationals are worried about Chinese farm ownership yet it’s European mine ownership that’s harmed farmers Australians, it seems, don’t like selling off the farm. And the National Party really doesn’t seem to like selling them to the Chinese. But while the Nationals have a long, if not always proud, history in Australia it is

It’s obscene for someone with inherited wealth, whose business is subsidised by government, to criticise low-paid workers. Two numbers pretty much sum up all that is wrong with political debate in Australia: Gina Rinehart earns the annual full-time minimum wage every 53 seconds and, at the peak of the mining boom, the industry contributed only

Late last week, the details of an interim agreement between the forestry industry and green groups on the future of Tasmania’s native forests was released, showing the distance between the two parties has narrowed considerably. Both sides now support the creation of additional reserves and a permanent native forest timber production area, and want governments

Imagine if a company lost money selling something that it never paid for. Now imagine that company was owned by a state government. In an environment in which state governments and oppositions are either crying poor or crying waste you might imagine that such expensive mismanagement would create a bit of political heat. But the

Australian climate policy has been defined by its volatility. Grand plans have been hatched, only to wither in the face of opposition. Where policy measures have come to fruition, most have had a short lifespan. On the surface, the one major exception to this is the renewable energy target or RET, which was created by

In his televised address, Premier Campbell Newman warned Queenslanders that spending cuts were needed to rein in debt. This follows his announcement that the state cannot afford to pay 20,000 public-sector workers. But how can this be when Queensland is the second most resource-rich state in the middle of the biggest mining boom in Australia’s

Like a man who buys a cheap house next to a pub and then complains that the noise late at night is depressing his house price, the Minerals Council has come out and complained that Australia is now an expensive place to do mining. The Minerals Council of Australia released a report by Port Jackson

Nothing gets interest groups more riled up than a proposal to reduce some regulation or, as business groups like to call the federal Environment Protection and Biodiversity Act (EPBC act), “green tape”. In the green corner, we have the major environment groups arguing that such reductions signal further retreat by government in the face of

If the mining industry was a political party, it would make the current federal government look like a success story. The miners are internally divided, running entirely contradictory messages and are increasingly unpopular in the published opinion polls. But luckily for the miners, it is far easier to make billions of dollars selling resources you

In our latest TAI newsletter Andrew Macintosh and Deb Wilkinson from the ANU’s Australian Centre for Environmental Law explain the likely threat of the mining boom on the Tarkine. For eight years conservationists have fought to have the Tarkine rainforest in Tasmania included on the National Heritage List. Yet despite its eligibility it is under

The New York Times recently asked its online readers a simple question: should the newspaper check the claims made by politicians before it reports them? The response was a torrent of bemused hostility. What, the readers wanted to know, did the newspaper think its job was? Much has been written in recent years about the

There is no doubt that the automotive industry plays an important role in the Australian economy, but there is also no doubt that the Gillard Government’s recent attempts to support it are like providing Panadol to a heart attack victim. It might make them feel a little less pain but it will do nothing to

What is it Australian politicians are afraid of? They can’t seem to take a strong stand on important environmental questions. In a rapidly changing world it’s reassuring that a few constants remain in Australian politics. Like the sounds of cicadas in the summer bush, the sounds of Australian politics always take on a distinctly summer

This edition of the Institute’s newsletter features: A great year -2011 in review Dr Richard Denniss Help needed: billions of tax dollars looking for a problem Lin Hatfield Dodds Big change or a lot of hot air? Dr Richard Denniss The rhetoric and reality of the mining boom David Richardson Bulky billing David Baker Why

The one thing that unites people about the mining tax is that it is not the best designed tax ever proposed. That should hardly be a surprise given that it was bashed out between the new Prime Minister Julia Gillard and the three biggest mining companies in the first days of her taking office from

One of the most interesting features of the mining boom is the way that it is opening up old, and unresolved, political and policy debates in Australia. Do we trust that the benefits to the small group of people directly involved in the mining industry will “trickle down” to the rest of us? Should governments

THE mining boom in Queensland might be big but it certainly isn’t broad. While the mining industry tries to suggest otherwise, the simple fact is millions of Queenslanders bear the pain of the mining boom without receiving any of the gain. Yes, the mining industry employs people and yes, they spend some of their money

What is the true value of the service we get when buying something at a shop? It can be quite high when the shopping experience adds to the pleasure of the purchase, such as getting you out of the house, friendly sales staff and nice food next door. The value added can be particularly high

There has been a lot of talk about the need to ‘reframe’ the debate about climate change among the Australian environment groups who have tasked themselves with persuading our politicians to reduce Australia’s greenhouse gas emissions. Unfortunately, their attempts to reframe the debate have been as unsuccessful as their attempts to persuade our politicians. The

For the past two or three decades we have been told that globalisation and free trade will speed up the pace of capitalism and deliver innovation and efficiency to the benefit of all. Now we have a classic case study unfolding before our eyes: the changing structure of the Australian retail industry. Change of course

What a year it has been! We’ve witnessed the fall of a Prime Minister, the rise of a woman to the top job, a hung Parliament, a drawn AFL final, a visit from Oprah, the Wikileaks exposé and supposedly a ‘new paradigm’. 2010 has had something for everyone. For The Australia Institute it has been

This edition of the Institute’s newsletter looks at 2010 in review, the consequences of ongoing work-life imbalance, the recent mortgage rate rise, Christmas public holiday pay, poverty traps and an article by Georgia Miller from Friends of the Earth on why we should approach nanotechnology with circumspection.

Between the Lines is the Institute’s selective analysis of the policies and politics affecting the wellbeing of Australians. This edition looks at reforming the banking sector and financial behaviour.

This edition of the Institute’s newsletter looks at the 2010 federal election, the market power of Australia’s big four banks, green jobs, income quarantining, the case for a carbon price and a review of Nobel-prize winning economist Jospeh Stiglitz lecture at the Sydney Opera House.

Wouldn’t it be funny if we spent so long arguing about what to do about climate change that we ran out of cheap oil first? No, it wouldn’t really, it would be catastrophic. But given the government’s delay in producing an Energy White Paper and the steady backsliding on the need to actually reduce our