Between the Lines Newsletter
The biggest stories and the best analysis from the team at the Australia Institute, delivered to your inbox every fortnight.
November 2024
Donations for me but not for thee | Between the Lines
The Wrap with Amy Remeikis In one of his most recent columns for the Philadelphia Inquirer, columnist and author Will Bunch highlighted a quote a top aide to former US President George W. Bush gave to journalist Ron Suskind in 2004. The context was the Iraqi invasion and the war on terror. Suskind reported the
Truth in the Time of Trump | Between the Lines
The Wrap with Amy Remeikis Well, that was quite the week, wasn’t it? We wouldn’t blame you if you’re feeling a little bit flat. While many people may have thought they were prepared for a Trump victory, thinking it and seeing it happen are two very different things. Moo Deng may have tried to warn
October 2024
Submarines are not security | Between the Lines
The Wrap with Dr Emma Shortis What Australia does matters. We tend to think of ourselves as not having much influence or power in the world, but that’s not true. We’ve led the world on many things – including in our contribution to climate change. While leaders of Commonwealth countries met in Samoa for CHOGM,
Is our Government less “nature positive” than a mining magnate?
The Wrap with Ebony Bennett To coincide with the Australian Government’s Nature Positive Summit this week, we published a full-page ad in The Sydney Morning Herald and The Canberra Times to highlight that beneath the spin, current government policies are overwhelmingly “nature negative”. Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek has talked a big game — she recently claimed that Australia has made “good
September 2024
Negative Gearing, Dodgy Specials, and New Coal Mines
Labor gearing up for a change? 28 September 2024 +++ The Wrap with Ebony Bennett Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek approved three new coal mine extensions this week, completely undermining the government’s credibility on climate change. At the same time Foreign Minister Penny Wong was at the United Nations General Assembly talking about sea level rise
Who’s got a backbone? More mining malarkey | Between the Lines
The Wrap with Ebony Bennett Mining lobbyists descended on Canberra for the annual Minerals Week. On Thursday morning, the Minerals Council CEO Tania Constable described on Radio National what she sees to be the problem – policy interventions and the looming ‘threat’ of onerous environmental approvals: We’re seeing major changes in royalties at a state
August 2024
Stiglitz is in the house | Between the Lines
This edition: fossil fuel subsidies undermining Australia’s diplomacy, the Kamala femininomenon, and New Zealand’s recession lesson
July 2024
An American bin fire | Between the Lines
This edition: Stiglitz in Australia, banning fossil fuel ads and After America hits the charts
The Odd Couple | Between the Lines
This edition: American democracy on the brink, Assange freed and Australians want more action to end child poverty
June 2024
Dutton’s Gone Fission | Between the Lines
This edition: Telstra cans Climate Active, super tax concessions and the ‘odd couple’
Australia’s Great Gas Giveaway | Between the Lines
This edition: Independents call out the gas industry and Australia’s consultant addiction continues
May 2024
How government spending can reduce inflation | Between the Lines
The Wrap with Richard Denniss Money can’t buy everything, but it may buy this government a reduction in inflation ahead of the next election. As I wrote in the Nine papers this week, the government’s $3.5 billion Energy Bill Relief Fund is an innovative response to the unusual and challenging economic times we’re experiencing. By
Budgets are about choices | Between the Lines
This edition: government locks in fossil fuel expansion, an honest government ad and our budget preview
April 2024
Clean image, dirty truth | Between the Lines
This edition: The ‘gas shortage’ lie, government delays crucial environment reform and Musk a “friggin’ disgrace”
What does it take to save a species? | Between the Lines
This edition: Dutton’s misguided attempts to attack the Right to Disconnect, a win for Duty of Care in Switzerland, an egregious carbon credit grift in NSW and more.
March 2024
Reaching the Summit | Between the Lines
The Wrap with Ebony Bennett The Australia Institute has had a massive March, full of incredible and exciting events. Over the course of the month, we have hosted prominent thinkers from across the world such as Yanis Varoufakis and His Excellency Anote Tong in celebration of our 30th anniversary, organised speaking tours in major cities,
Leading Thinkers | Between the Lines
The Wrap with Ebony Bennett This week, I had the pleasure of interviewing Yanis Varoufakis, the former Finance Minister of Greece, at one of two sold-out shows in Sydney and Melbourne. Yanis Varoufakis was touring Australia as a guest of the Australia Institute as part of our 30th anniversary celebrations. You may also have seen
5 Years in the Making | Between the Lines
The Wrap with Richard Denniss The amendments to the Stage 3 tax cuts that passed through the Senate this week marked the culmination of more than five years of work from the team at the Australia Institute. In 2018, literally the day after Scott Morrison announced the biggest and most inequitable tax cuts in Australian
February 2024
Time to Tax Gas | Between the Lines
The Wrap with Ebony Bennett The public support for the Albanese government’s bold decision to redesign the Stage 3 tax cuts has shown us that Australians are up for a conversation about tax – and that we understand that policies need to change as our circumstances change. Our research found that Australians’ appetite for tax
Breakthrough On Stage 3 | Between the Lines
The Wrap with Ebony Bennett What. A. Fortnight. People told us it was impossible. But last week Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announced the Stage 3 tax cuts would be redesigned to make them fairer, redistributing $84 billion that was destined to go to the highest income earners back to people on low and middle incomes.
January 2024
The Issues That Will Shape 2024 | Between the Lines
The Wrap with Richard Denniss Happy New Year! While it’s only mid-January, 2024 is already off to a big start. US bookmakers have Donald Trump as favourite for the next presidency, Australia is getting drawn into US foreign policy in the Middle East, domestic debate about the $320 billion Stage 3 tax cuts is heating
December 2023
That’s A Wrap! | Between the Lines
The Wrap with Richard Denniss As 2023 rapidly draws to a close, the festive season fast approaches. For many, that means thinking about Christmas or, more astutely, the cost of Christmas. With profit fuelled inflation rising faster than most worker’s ‘real wage’ (that is the wage adjusted for inflation), many Australians can’t afford to buy
Pressure Works | Between the Lines
The Wrap with Ebony Bennett It can be easy to forget this. Often, the path to change isn’t linear and there are setbacks along the way. But the Australia Institute has been a part of three undeniable recent wins. Our work to save the endangered Maugean skate has triggered an EPBC review into salmon farming
November 2023
Go Home! | Between the Lines
The Wrap with Ebony Bennett Today is our annual Go Home on Time Day, when we shine a spotlight on the unpaid overtime of workers across Australia. This year’s report found that employers were stealing more than 280 hours from workers each year, exposing a heavily uneven labour market rife with insecure work and often
Action, Not Offsets | Between the Lines
The Wrap with Richard Denniss At the same time as Anthony Albanese flew into the Cook Islands to discuss climate action at the Pacific Island Forum, the Australian Parliament was passing the new Sea Dumping legislation. A bill which will allow Santos to pump millions of tonnes of carbon dioxide, 800 kilometres north into the
October 2023
Truth, Lies and Consequences | Between the Lines
The Wrap with Richard Denniss While I have no doubt that the votes cast in the recent referendum were validly counted, I have major doubts about the arguments and evidence on which many of those votes were based. Misinformation and lies have always played a role in elections, but new technology has made it so
Voting for a Voice | Between the Lines
The Wrap with Richard Denniss This Saturday, October 14, is a crucial day for Australia: the day we vote on whether or not to create an Indigenous Voice to Parliament. The new body, enshrined in the Constitution, will add an Indigenous perspective when the Parliament is drafting laws and making policies that impact Indigenous communities.
September 2023
Australian Fossil Foolery Called Out on the World Stage | Between the Lines
The Wrap with Richard Denniss Australia’s governments, both state and federal, usually like to brag about their ability to attract foreign investment and generate exports, but when it comes to growth in fossil fuel exports, they prefer to hide their light under a bushel. But while governments in Australia tend to downplay their enormous fossil
Climate of the Nation | Between the Lines
The Wrap with Richard Denniss There has never been a more profitable time to cause climate change. This year, while millions of Australians are struggling with a cost of living crisis, fossil fuel companies operating in Australia made $140 billion in profits. The fossil fuel industry will never tire of making that much money, which is
August 2023
Good Neighbours Ban Fossil Fuels | Between the Lines
The Wrap with Ebony Bennett The date for the Voice Referendum has been set and on Saturday 14 October the country will come together to make a choice about the role of First Nations people in Australia’s future. For me, the choice to vote Yes in the referendum is a simple one. First Nations people
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