Thousands of private sector jobs will be lost and Canberra could go into recession if the Coalition follows through on its promise to cut 12,000 public service jobs in the capital, according to a new analysis by The Australia Institute. It remains unclear whether the Coalition plans to make all of the job cuts in

The Opposition’s pledge to create jobs in Tasmania could be undermined by its plan to reduce the size of the public service, a new analysis by The Australia Institute reveals. The analysis shows Tasmania could lose more than 200 jobs under the Opposition’s planned public service job cuts. The Australia Institute used historic separation rates

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 financial disadvantage Australian women will face in retirement has nothing to do with whether they have a family, according to new research by The Australia Institute. The paper What’s choice got to do with it? found that women retire with substantially less savings than men, even if they don’t have children or care for

New South Wales, Victoria and Queensland could lose well over a thousand jobs each under the Coalition’s planned public service job cuts, according to new research from The Australia Institute. The Institute has launched an analysis of the economic impacts of the Coalition’s proposed public service job cuts, and is today releasing some initial findings.

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

Tonight’s Federal Budget would more than likely have returned a surplus, if the raft of income tax cuts introduced by the Howard/Costello Government had not been pushed through, a new analysis by The Australia Institute reveals. The Institute used NATSEM modelling to calculate the full extent of the structural changes that those tax cuts have

Australia spends more on subsidies to the booming mining industry than it would cost to increase the Newstart Allowance by $50 per week, a new analysis by The Australia Institute reveals. The analysis shows that Australia has the least generous unemployment benefit in the developed world, falling behind countries such as Germany, Spain, America and

Electricity privatisation has failed to deliver cheaper power to consumers and has not improved the sector’s efficiency, a new analysis by The Australia Institute has found. The analysis shows that since Victoria privatised power in the 1990s, electricity prices have outpaced inflation, increasing by 170 per cent compared with an increase of 60 per cent

The Australia Institute today called for the release of Treasury modelling on the relative cost of the age pension and tax concessions for superannuation over the coming decade. Speaking today at the National Press Club Executive Director Dr Richard Denniss said that until the Treasury releases this modelling neither the government nor the opposition can

Today’s announcement by Treasurer Wayne Swan will not fundamentally alter the incredible inequity that lies at the heart of the tax treatment of superannuation, according to The Australia Institute. The Institute’s Executive Director, Dr Richard Denniss, said not only did the government fail to go after the top one per cent of income earners, his

More than one in three families experience difficulties affording childcare despite increased government assistance over the past decade, a new study by The Australia Institute has found. While the government’s two recent announcements have sought to address availability of childcare through more flexible hours and quality through better wages for childcare workers, the Institute’s analysis

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

Twenty years of government inaction could lead to curable illnesses like tonsillitis again becoming a massive threat to human health, as the rise of anti-microbial resistant bacteria (aka “the superbug”) threatens to take us back to our pre-antibiotic era, a new paper by The Australia Institute reveals. Culture of Resistance: Australia’s response to the inappropriate

A new analysis by The Australia Institute, a public policy think tank, reveals that over the past decade tourism to Far North Queensland has slumped on the back of the mining boom driving up the Australian dollar. The Institute’s Public Engagement Officer Mark Ogge said the analysis shows that over the past ten years global

While Australia’s ‘big four’ banks claim to be fiercely competitive a new analysis by The Australia Institute shows that in fact over 53 per cent of each bank is owned by the same small number of institutional shareholders. The rise and rise of the big banks by Senior Research Fellow David Richardson examines the top

Millions of Australians afraid to talk about mental health with their boss One in two Australians would feel uncomfortable discussing issues about mental health with their manager, according to new research by The Australia Institute. An unhealthy obsession? The impact of work hours and workplace culture on Australia’s health reveals that there is an epidemic

The Australia Institute conducted an online survey of 1,422 Australians in March 2013. Survey respondents were representative by sex, age and state/territory. The survey included questions about survey respondents’ awareness of employment practices that may be used by private schools. Respondents who had children (n=306) at school were also asked what they looked for in

IMF study confirms super profits of Australia’s banks A new study by the International Monetary Fund shows that Australia’s ‘big four’ banks are the most concentrated in the world and are among the most profitable in the world. The IMF today released its Financial System Stability Assessment for Australia . The following graph (to see

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

Media release Do you know what time you will go home from work today? More than 2.2 million Australians head out to work each morning with very little idea what time they will knock off that night, according to new research by The Australia Institute. In estimating the time that they will knock off, more

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.

Put it in your diary – Wednesday November 21 is this year’s national Go Home On Time Day – the day Australians are encouraged to say ‘no’ to last-minute meetings, avoid out-of-hours emails and calls, and claim back some work/life balance.

Despite eight in every ten Australians belonging to a co-op or mutual such as the NRMA or AustralianSuper, only 16 per cent realise it, according to a new paper by The Australia Institute being launched today. In the first analysis of its kind, The Australia Institute has mapped the size and scope of mutually owned

Media release 14 September 2012 Press reports today suggest the Coalition has plans to scrap the superannuation rebate for low income earners. A recent publication by The Australia Institute ‘Can the taxpayer afford ‘self-funded retirement’?’ has drawn attention to the super rorts benefiting high income earners in Australia. ‘When in government the Coalition turned superannuation

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

The risk of loneliness increases for those in the community raising children, either as a single parent or as part of a couple, a new study from The Australia Institute has found. All the lonely people: Loneliness in Australia 2001-2009 reveals that three in ten Australians experienced loneliness in that period and that the number

Media release Today’s increase in the unemployment rate to 5.1 per cent in May hides important gender differences in the unemployment experience, according to The Australia Institute. With the male unemployment rate remaining the same at 4.8 per cent, female unemployment has seen an increase of 0.3 percentage points to 5.5 per cent. “Today’s figures

Every day that the Big Four banks delay passing on the Reserve Bank’s interest rate cut of half a per cent represents a transfer of around $12 million from home buyers with variable loans to the banks, according to The Australia Institute. An analysis of the ANZ’s new financial report shows that the bank has