Media Releases
Bombshell FOI reveals fish farms have been inadequately assessed for impact on threatened species and World Heritage
Documents released today under Freedom of Information reveal advice to the federal government that salmon farming in Tasmania’s Macquarie Harbour should be comprehensively assessed under national environment law, for its impact on the endangered Maugean skate and the harbour’s World Heritage value. The advice was provided in November 2023 as the ‘likely outcome’ of reconsidering a 2012
Mythical shortages and a manufactured “crisis” – How the gas industry uses AEMO data to trick Australians
The Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO) will this week release its annual Gas Statement of Opportunities.
Bad advice – which hasn’t aged well
Ten years after former Treasurer Joe Hockey advised Australians to get “a good job that pays good money” to buy a house, new analysis by The Australia Institute reveals just how bad that advice actually was.
Implications for ACT of High Court decision on Commonwealth v Yunupingu
On Wednesday 12 March, the High Court of Australia is scheduled to hand down a decision on the case Commonwealth of Australia v. Yunupingu (on behalf of the Gumatj Clan or Estate Group) & Ors.
Coal and gas exporters are causing this mess. They should help clean it up.
Ordinary Australians are paying the massive costs of more frequent and extreme floods caused by a handful of global fossil fuels corporations, including the coal and gas export giants operating in Australia.
International Women’s Day 2025: Five key issues facing working women in Australia
To mark International Women’s Day, The Australia Institute’s Centre for Future Work has identified five key issues facing working women in 2025.
From debt to diversity, AI to pay … Program Director Fiona Macdonald and Senior Researcher Lisa Heap tell us what to expect following sweeping changes to policies impacting women in the US and the looming election here.
Pay a fortune in premiums or risk losing everything – the brutal reality of Australia’s insurance crisis
Struggling families who ditch their home and contents insurance would lose three-quarters of their wealth if their home was destroyed, according to new research by The Australia Institute.
Making billions yet crying poor
Australia’s biggest private health insurers are making billions but, at the same time, crying poor so they’re allowed to hike premiums.
60 jobs: The salmon industry finally comes clean
Ever since Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s letter pledging to protect the foreign-owned salmon industry at the expense of world heritage wilderness, an ecological disaster has unfolded in Tasmania.
Poll: Trump a greater threat to world peace than Putin or Xi
More Australians consider US President Donald Trump a greater threat to world peace than Vladimir Putin or Xi Jinping.
February 2025
Australian gas for Australians first
Exporting most of Australia’s gas has led to higher prices for Australian households and businesses.
Australians must be protected from diseased salmon
With an unfolding ecological disaster in Tasmania, salmon farmers have a duty to protect Australian families from diseased, dying or dead fish.
Cutting the public service saves nothing
Reducing the size of Australia’s public service is often characterised as a way to save the country money and make government departments more efficient.
Woodside’s North West Shelf gas export project: a disaster on five fronts
Australia Institute analysis reveals Woodside’s North West Shelf gas export project is driving up WA energy prices, threatening the state’s domestic gas reserves, paying even fewer royalties, corroding one of the world’s greatest artistic treasures, and wrecking the climate.
The housing crisis is turning into an inequality crisis
The rising concentration of property and investment assets in the hands of wealthier Australians is making housing crisis worse and deepening economic divides.
Fake fight over nuclear a distraction from real climate issues
A new report which reveals the coalition’s nuclear plan would send an additional two billion tonnes of emissions into the atmosphere and send power bills even higher is yet another distraction from the real issues in Australia’s energy debate.
Giving our consumer watchdog more teeth to tackle companies gouging shoppers
Australians know they’re being ripped off at the supermarket checkout.
Secrecy, Prime Ministerial promises, now mass deaths – time to clean up Tasmania’s salmon industry
Australia’s Administrative Review Tribunal has ordered the federal government to release a ministerial brief on the prospective extinction of the Maugean skate, recognised for its World Heritage value, in a win for government transparency over a culture of secrecy.
Dutton’s divesture plan good for retail companies, but it’s climate change which is driving insurance costs up
The Coalition’s proposed divestiture powers to break up major hardware and grocery retailers could help keep inflation down and assist with cost-of-living pressures.
PM’s move to protect foreign companies undermines democratic process
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s letter to the Tasmanian salmon industry, promising new federal environmental laws to protect the foreign-owned businesses, sets a dangerous precedent and undermines government process.
Interest rate cut a good start
Today’s long-overdue decision by the Reserve Bank of Australia to cut interest rates is a good start.
Climate crisis escalates cost-of-living pressures
A new report has found direct connections between the climate crisis and rising cost-of-living pressures. Failure to lower emissions now will only aggravate the crisis, with each moment of inaction compounding the pressure on households.
Something fishy about PM’s reported pledge to salmon industry
There are reports today that Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has written to the Tasmanian salmon industry, assuring its future in Macquarie Harbour.
Australian Government urged to release response to UNESCO concerns about Maugean Skate
The Australia Institute and 13 other organisations have written to UNESCO, the World Heritage Centre and the International Union for Conservation of Nature, to highlight the plight of the endangered Maugean skate and request their assistance to prevent its extinction.
Rushed, secretive and dismissive – the dirty deal which degrades our democracy
Last night the federal Liberal Party announced it had done a deal with the Albanese Labor Government on electoral laws – and, this morning, it became law, having been rushed through both houses of Parliament.
A Blueprint for Democratic Reform
Crossbench MPs have joined The Australia Institute to launch a new report outlining potential democratic reforms for the next Parliament.
Private sector demands ‘real zero’ policies and an end to fossil fuels
Some of Australia’s best-known and most respected industry, business and community leaders have written an open letter to state and federal MPs calling for an end to the “net zero smokescreen” to “secure Australia’s prosperity”.
Integrity 2.0 – whatever happened to the fourth arm of government?
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese came to office in 2022 promising a new era of integrity in government.
Australia’s biggest companies turn their backs on flawed carbon offset scheme
The revelation that many of Australia’s biggest companies have quit a government-run carbon offset scheme is real-world, real-time proof that carbon credits don’t work.
Australia Must Support Palestinian Self-Determination and Facilitate Long-Term Peacebuilding in the Middle East
In the aftermath of the January 2025 ceasefire, the outlook for Palestinians remains dire.
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