Everyday Australians are feeling uneasy and under-informed about the risks surrounding the extraction of coal seam gas (CSG), according to new research by The Australia Institute. A survey of more than 1400 people makes up part of the research paper What Australians don’t know about CSG. Respondents were asked about their knowledge of, and concerns

The Coalition’s newly announced trade policy leaves the federal government vulnerable to legal action from international companies, according to The Australia Institute.  Hours before voters head to the polls, the opposition has announced it would use investor-state dispute settlement clauses in free trade agreements. The move would give foreign companies the right to take action

The federal government should do more to protect agricultural land from coal seam gas mining, according to a new report commissioned by The Australia Institute. The research, released today, was untaken by the Australian Network of Environmental Defender’s Offices. It identifies areas of the Constitution of Australia which would allow for national reforms to protect

The Commonwealth government has the power to protect Australia from the negative impacts of coal mining and coal seam gas and shouldn’t pass responsibility to the states, according to new research commissioned by The Australia Institute. The research, released today, was untaken by the Australian Network of Environmental Defender’s Offices. It identifies areas of the

The Queensland government’s approval of Clive Palmer’s latest coal mine and rail project shows a blatant disregard for the thousands of jobs that will be lost as a result, according to The Australia Institute. Waratah Coal’s own economic impact statement shows the China First mine will see 3,000 people losing their jobs, primarily across Queensland.

The gas industry’s claims that new gas supplies are needed to bring down energy prices are misleading and incorrect, according to The Australia Institute. APPEA has today launched a national multimillion dollar campaign claiming that without developing new gas supplies Australia will lose jobs and energy prices will continue to soar. But research from The

Households in eastern Australia are about to be hit with more gas price increases which could see wholesale prices triple, according to new research from The Australia Institute. The independent think tank’s paper Cooking up a price rise finds that wholesale gas prices will rise from around $3 or $4 a gigajoule to around $9

The federal government is pouring an extra half a billion dollars into taxpayer-funded subsidies to the mining industry, research by The Australia Institute has found. The Institute’s new paper Pouring more fuel on the fire reveals the booming sector has been propped up even further over the past year and now receives $4.5 billion from

Australian farmers have lost $61.5 billion in export income since the mining boom pushed the Australian dollar to historic highs, a new analysis by The Australia Institute reveals. Still beating around the bush: The continuing impacts of the mining boom on rural exports examines the rural sector’s export income from the beginning of the mining

Australian farmers have lost $43.5 billion in export income since the mining boom pushed the Australian dollar to historic highs, a new analysis by The Australia Institute reveals. Beating around the bush: The impact of the mining boom on rural exports examines the rural sector’s export income from the beginning of the mining boom in

Census reveals forestry and logging one of Tasmania’s smallest employers New census data reveals that forestry and logging in Tasmania employed only 975 workers in 2011 making it one of the smallest employers in the state, according to analysis by The Australia Institute. The health care industry, on the other hand, employed 24,151 in 2011.

In July 2012 The Australia Institute conducted an online survey of 542 Tasmanians regarding their perceptions of the forestry industry and its contribution to the state’s economy.

According to the Western Australian government’s own economic assessment, the Browse LNG precinct proposed for James Price Point is likely to have a significant adverse impact on the state’s budget, will employ few local workers and harm the region’s reputation as a tourist destination, a new analysis by The Australia Institute has found. Mr Matt

Media release Arrow’s own analysis of planned Gladstone LNG plant shows 1,600 jobs could be lost. A Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) plant proposed for Gladstone will have serious negative consequences, including large job losses, across the local and State economy, according to an analysis of the project’s own Economic Impact Assessment (EIA). Arrow Energy concedes

Media release QLD mining boom to destroy 20,000 non-mining jobs Queensland’s massive mining boom is likely to destroy one non-mining job for every two mining jobs it creates, costing around 20,000 jobs, according to a new analysis by The Australia Institute. Job creator or job destroyer? An analysis of the mining boom in Queensland by

The mining boom continues to drive international tourists away from Cairns and Far North Queensland on the back of the high Australian dollar, according to a new analysis by The Australia Institute, a Canberra-based think tank. The analysis shows that in Far North Queensland international tourism numbers have slumped from 868,303 to 648,959 over the

Everyone has heard how good the mining industry is for Queensland but is this actually the case for industries other than mining? There currently is a huge and unprecedented expansion of coal and coal seam gas mining under way across Queensland . There is no doubt that this will destroy existing jobs in tourism and

Everyone has heard how good the mining industry is for Queensland but is this actually the case for areas like Cairns and the Far North? The world’s largest coal mine is being developed 400km inland from Cairns, with a proposal to ship coal through the Whitsundays. There is no doubt that it will destroy existing

The alleged benefits to NSW communities from Santos’ plans to develop coal seam gas (CSG) reserves in the north west of the state should be questioned in the light of inconsistencies and flaws in the economic modelling used to support the project, according to The Australia Institute. Santos recently commissioned the Allen Consulting Group to

The China First mine proposed for Queensland is so large that even the economic impact statement prepared by the mine’s proponents finds that it will drive more than $1.2 billion worth of manufacturing offshore, cause 3,000 job losses and result in higher housing costs and a less equal distribution of income. Dr Richard Denniss, Executive

Public perceptions of the size and significance of the mining industry to the Australian economy are radically different to the facts, a new survey by The Australia Institute reveals. When asked what percentage of workers they believe were employed in the mining industry, the average response was around 16 per cent, when according to the

The mining industry, not Australian workers, should be shouldering the blame for Australia’s flagging productivity growth, according to a new analysis by The Australia Institute. In a speech last night Dr Martin Parkinson, the new head of Treasury, quoted figures showing that Australia’s annual productivity growth slipped from 2.1 per cent in the 1990s to

In October 2009 the Australia Institute conducted an online survey of 1,807 main grocery buyers in Australia and New Zealand. Respondents were asked about the food they throw out and their attitudes and behaviour in relation to food waste.

Last year six million, or one in three, Australians received one or more Christmas presents that they never used or later gave away, a new survey by The Australia Institute reveals. Asked about their Christmas gift habits, more than one in four respondents also expect that some of the presents they give this Christmas will

Proponents of a new debate about the role of nuclear power stations in Australia should start with a discussion about their location, said The Australia Institute.

A proposal by Victoria’s Premier John Brumby to shut down one quarter of Hazelwood power station, Australia’s dirtiest power station, shows that effective action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions is actually cheaper than the symbolic action favoured by the Rudd and Gillard Governments, according to The Australia Institute’s Executive Director Dr Richard Denniss.

A group of leading Australian academic, policy and business economists has issued a statement supporting the replacement of royalties on mineral outputs by a resource rent tax.

Another mining boom will be a mixed blessing for Australia unless the government heeds the lessons from the previous boom and sets up a resources fund, according to The Australia Institute.

Australian households are throwing out $5.2 billion worth of food each year, which exceeds the amount they spend on digital equipment such as flat screen TVs, according to new research by The Australia Institute. “To put this into context, the $5.2 billion worth of food that Australians throw out each year is enough money to

The Rudd Government hopes to incorporate agriculture into its Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme (CPRS) in 2015 but this initiative is unlikely to be successful.