Dr Evan Jones, retired professor of Political-Economy at the University of Sydney, has published an insightful commentary on recent debates regarding corporate profits, inflation and monetary policy. With permission we reprint his article here. It originally appeared in Counterpunch. The politics of inflation in Australia Consumer price inflation in Australia reached 6.8 % in the

Q & A audience member Amy Brown cited the Australia Institute’s profits research when she asked the panel of politicians when they’re going to “act on behalf” of the constituents who elected them, instead of on behalf of corporations.

More than 100 economists and tax experts are urging the Labor government to reconsider the impending stage 3 tax cuts for high income earners, including a former RBA boss who called it a “slap in the face for disadvantaged groups”. The tax cuts are part of the previous Coalition government’s three-stage tax overhaul, which changed

The federal Liberals have rejected an invitation to attend a national jobs summit next month, labelling it a stunt.

Report proposes big changes to Australian economy including giving workers more clout to bargain for better pay

The Australian Council of Trade Unions has accused the Reserve Bank of deliberately laying the groundwork for a recession due to its “whatever it takes” attitude to bringing inflation back to target.

The ACTU has proposed a radical overhaul of the nation’s economic structures, pushing for a tax on businesses that profit from high inflation and price controls on some goods and services, while tasking the Reserve Bank with driving down unemployment.

A pandemic-era $1.6 billion injection in much-needed funding into the nation’s training system has dramatically increased headcount of people in vocational courses, a new report says, but left Australia’s pipeline of skills in disarray. Three in five new apprenticeships have gone to male-dominated trades while numbers training in feminised sectors, such as aged and disability

Luke Grants speaks with Mark Ogge, Principal Adviser at The Australia Institute’s Climate & Energy Program, regarding their new research that shows virtually no tax or royalty is paid on two thirds of the gas exported from Western Australia. Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) worth $27 billion was exported from WA last year, while only $430m

The iron ore giant’s backing of renewable energy is anything but a purely altruistic, not-for-profit exercise

Australia Institute report finds state received only $430m of its revenue from industry that generated $27bn in exports last year

A “gas-fired robbery” is underway in an offshore heist that is cheating Australians out of a much-needed tax windfall, a report says. “What if you gave your house to a real estate agent and trusted them to sell it and they gave it away to a mate for free – it’s that outrageous,” Australia Institute

Hostplus has agreed to divest from companies linked to the nuclear weapons industry after coming under pressure from progressive think-tank the Australia Institute and Quit Nukes. Other industry funds are being lobbied to follow suit, including AustralianSuper, which has $1.5 billion invested in 18 companies that critics say are linked to the nuclear weapons industry.

A surge in full-time employment over the past five months has raised optimism about the economy’s health, but is that positivity misplaced?

Former Reserve Bank boss Bernie Fraser has savaged the Fair Work Commission’s cuts to penalty rates and the Turnbull government’s company tax cuts, saying the measures will further entrench inequality but do little to produce jobs and growth.

Last weekend’s edition of The Saturday Paper featured an in-depth analysis by journalist Mike Seccombe, dissecting the Coalition government’s attempts to scapegoat welfare programs for Australia’s labour market and fiscal problems. The article included several statistics from the Centre for Future Work, as well as from our colleague Richard Denniss (Chief Economist at the Australia Institute).  With decent paid work increasingly hard to find, it’s no wonder the government targets income-support payments for working-age Australians: there are both political reasons (shifting blame) and a perverse economic logic (reinforcing the compulsion on desperate workers to accept any job, no matter how insecure or badly-paid) behind the government’s strategy.

Regardless of who wins the Federal election, the major issue facing Australians is the future of work.

A new report from the Australia Institute shows that on a range of measures, the performance under the current government has been worse than that under Gillard, write Greg Jericho.