Centre for Future Work Economist Alison Pennington recently gave a keynote address to hundreds of delegates at the ATIA International Taxi Conference, held this year in Gold Coast, QLD.

The Australia InstituteFollowApr 12  In a blink and you’ll miss it move on the eve of the Federal Election, Environment Minister Melissa Price rubber stamped the groundwater management plans for Adani’s coal mine and rail project. Adani still requires further approvals before it can proceed, but the timing of this decision is a major concern: on the cusp

The Australian Building and Construction Commission’s decision to press charges against 54 steelworkers for attending a political rally, with potential fines of up to $42,000 per person, is abhorrent on any level. No worker should face this kind of intimidation for participating in peaceful protest.

https://australiainstitute.medium.com/the-australia-institute-2019-budget-wrap-d6c8168a3924

You don’t announce anything you’re proud of at 5pm on Friday and you certainly don’t rush legislation you’re proud of through Parliament in the shadow of the Budget on the eve of a Federal Election.

You would think that after 5 consecutive years of wage forecasts that wildly overestimated actual experience, the government might have learned from its past errors – and published a wage forecast more in line with reality. But not this government. They are still trying to convince Australian workers, who haven’t seen real average wages rise in over 5 years, that better times are just around the corner. And rosy wage forecasts are helpful in justifying their equally optimistic revenue forecasts: since if Australians are earning more money, they will be paying more taxes!

Just as ‘low tar’ cigarettes were aimed at keeping people smoking, WA’s big gas export companies want to lock Australia into using Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) for decades to come. The Australia InstituteFollowMar 21  Image source: AAP by Mark Ogge, Principal Advisor at The Australia Institute. Remember when the tobacco industry was pushing low tar cigarettes as a

David Richardson, Senior Research Fellow The Parliamentary Budgetary Office (2019) has just published a report on net debt but is really a plea for wider use of ‘net financial worth’ as a better indicator than net debt of what it calls ‘fiscal sustainability’. They say ‘net debt is widely regarded as a key budget indicator

124 labour policy experts have today published an open letter calling for proactive measures to help accelerate the rate of wages growth in Australia’s economy. The legal experts, economists, and other policy analysts agreed that “stronger wages in the future would contribute to a stronger, more balanced and fairer Australian economy,” and they proposed several broad strategies to boost wages.

A unique conjuncture of economic and political factors has created an opportunity for a historic change in the direction of Australia’s workplace and industrial policies. That’s the conclusion of Dr. Jim Stanford, Economist and Director of the Centre for Future Work, in a major review article published in Economic and Labour Relations Review, an Australian academic journal.

There has been a lot of discussion about “living wages” in recent years – in Australia, and internationally. And now the idea has become a hot election topic. The ACTU wants the government to boost the federal minimum wage so it’s a true living wage. Opposition leader Bill Shorten has hinted he’s open to the idea. Business leaders predict economic catastrophe if the minimum wage is increased.

The Australia Institute’s Dan J Cass explains why ‘demand response’ is proving so popular with energy market operators, Australian consumers and some of our country’s biggest businesses. Weather records have been smashed as Australia continues to swelter through one of its hottest summers on record As the heatwaves hit Australia this summer, we should be watching

Instead of reloading the gun to do it again, perhaps this is a good time to reconsider whether company tax cuts made any sense at all The Australia InstituteFollowJan 25   The ABS released its detailed biennial survey of employment arrangements this week and, buried deep in the dozens of statistical tables, there was a very surprising breakdown. It

Hundreds and thousands of native fish have been killed in the Murray Darling Basin. Drought is the catalyst, but mismanagement and policy failure of implementing the Murray Darling Basin Plan is the cause. The Australia InstituteFollowJan 23   ABC report on the mismanagement of the Murray Darling Basin Since allegations of large-scale water theft were first aired on Four

Over the summer, we have been busy recording what Tasmanians think about a whole range of issues. Tassie is cool and tourism is hot – with our state having the largest rise in visitor numbers this quarter. Whilst some in the South and East are worried about over crowding and under funding of infrastructure, the

Australia’s manufacturing sector has been experiencing an important and welcome rebound during the last two years. The turnaround has been documented and analysed in previous Centre for Future Work research (including studies published in 2017 and 2018 as part of the National Manufacturing Summit, co-sponsored by the Centre).

Jim Stanford, Director of the Centre for Future Work, was recently featured in a new video produced in collaboration with United Voice and the Flip production company.

The Australia InstituteFollowDec 13, 2018   BREAKING: the government has announced it will establish a Commonwealth Integrity Commission to investigate corrupt conduct at the federal level. Prime Minister Scott Morrison and Attorney General Christian Porter this morning held a press conference where they made the announcement to set up a new federal anti-corruption watchdog. Australia Institute

Australian wage growth has decelerated in recent years to the slowest sustained pace since the 1930s. Nominal wages have grown very slowly since 2012; average real wages (after adjusting for inflation) have not grown at all. The resulting slowdown in personal incomes has contributed to weak consumer spending, more precarious household finances, and even larger government deficits.

Wednesday 21 November is Australia’s official “Go Home On Time Day,” sponsored by the Centre for Future Work and the Australia Institute. This represents the 10th year of our initiative, to provide light-hearted encouragement to Australian workers to actually leave their jobs when they are supposed to. Instead of working late once again – and allowing your employer to “steal” even more of your time, without even paying for it – why not leave the job promptly. Spend a full evening with your family or friends, visit the gym, see a movie – do anything other than work.

Why would the IMF put dealing with inequality at the centre of their economic agenda? Professor Joseph Stiglitz explains in his National Press Club Address. The Australia InstituteFollowNov 16, 2018 Professor Joseph Stiglitz. (photo: Sasha Maslov) 1 // Progressive economics make more equal societies. “Why would an institution like the International Monetary Fund (IMF) put dealing with inequality

On average, that’s one gas & coal plant breakdown every 2.6 days. The Australia InstituteFollowOct 23, 2018   Above: Yallourn W Power Station, image used under Creative Commons license. The Australia Institute’s Gas & Coal Watch has been tracking gas and coal power plant breakdowns and gas and coal power plants have broken down 114 times this calendar

The Australia InstituteFollowOct 19, 2018  The Pacific Islands will potentially suffer the worst impacts of climate change Richie Merzian is The Australia Institute’s Climate & Energy Program Director — @RichieMerzian When the lights are on and the cameras are rolling, most government Ministers know that they must at least pretend to believe in and care about the impacts of

When it comes to meeting the Paris Target, new analysis from The Australia Institute shows the Government is way off the mark and off-message The Australia InstituteFollowOct 11, 2018  A new report from The Australia Institute debunks the government’s claims that Australia will meet the Paris target ‘in a canter’, demonstrating total emissions have been

The Government released it’s Quarterly Greenhouse Gas Inventory last Friday, but don’t be shocked if you missed it. The Government released its Quarterly Greenhouse Gas Inventory late last Friday afternoon, before a long weekend and the football finals, at the same time as the interim report into the banking royal commission and it was a month late. A more

The crisis currently engulfing the ABC demonstrates clearly that the process for ABC Board appointments, including the appointment of the Chair, is in urgent need of reform in order to depoliticise future appointments and protect the ABC’s independence. “Revelations that many directors of the ABC’s eight-member board were directly appointed by the minister rather than

The Australia Institute, Total Environment Centre, and the Public Interest Advocacy Centre have submitted a rule change request to AEMC, with support from Energy Consumers Australia. One of the largely unknown features of our national electricity system is that anyone is entitled to submit a request to reform the market rules. The Australia Institute has

Bad for the environment, bad for irrigators’ rights, not helpful for the farmers it is supposed to help — in a competitive field, this is truly one of the worst water policy ideas of recent times. Much of Australia is experiencing drought, so why don’t we give farmers water that would just be ‘wasted’ on the environment? That’s the