The recent decision to make Rapid Antigen Tests (RATs) tax deductible rather than free will deliver nothing to low paid essential workers and big savings to high income earners. How very Morrison Government. While a part-time cleaner working in the aged care sector will likely receive zero benefit from tax deductible RATs, someone earning $200,000

Aged care was in crisis long before the pandemic arrived on Australian shores, yet even more than 500 deaths in one month is apparently not enough to make it a greater priority than attending the cricket for the Aged Care Services Minister. How good is Australia? It’s not that long since the royal commission delivered

Will an unemployment rate with a 3 in front it, ensure that we also get wage growth with a 3 in front of it? Don’t count on it.

With the rise in inflation as Australia’s economy struggles with re-opening and supply chain problems, each release of the Consumer Price Index (CPI) generates headlines and political debate. But the CPI doesn’t necessarily provide a full reading of price pressures: depending on who you are, and what you buy. In this column published in the Guardian Australia, Greg Jericho (new policy director for the Centre for Future Work) dissects several measurement issues related to this most-watched economic statistic.

Headlines about public funding in an election year are generally accompanied by hi-vis vests, the promise of more jobs and occasionally a bit of Top Gun theme music thrown in for good measure. So it was unusual to see a beachside photo-op with Scott Morrison to announce a “record” $1 billion investment (over nine years)

Make no mistake: the heightened risk of armed conflict between Russia and Ukraine has serious implications for Europe, especially the Nato members, as it does for the rest of the world. But most importantly, it has massive strategic consequences for the US. And that’s where it matters for Australia. To judge from much western media

It is budget season already, and not a Canberra autumn leaf in sight. Omicron has ended early March election speculation, meaning the early budget in March will go ahead instead. So much of the March 29 budget will already be in place, and some final decisions are being made right now. Much is made of

If he doesn’t provide support soon the economy will spiral but if he does he must admit the cost of living with the virus.

Australians are getting a stark reminder about how value is actually created in an economy, and how supply chains truly work.

The return of Summernats to Canberra reminds us the Prime Minister promised Australia would be going into 2022 ‘looking through the front windscreen, not the rear vision mirror’. In reality, National Cabinet seems to be doing the policy equivalent of a burnout (or a doughnut as I called them growing up), spinning its wheels furiously

It was a shock when the 2010 election result produced a hung parliament, but no one will be surprised if the 2022 election delivers the same. The seven-member-strong crossbench is already large in historical terms, and well-resourced, blue-ribbon independents are running in several more seats. If independents do win balance of power next year, what

An astonishing nine out of 10 Tasmanians want truth in political advertising laws and Eloise Carr explains that there is an opportunity now to legislate against all the lying and deception

“Democracy doesn’t happen by accident, we have to renew it with each generation”, announced President Joe Biden, opening his global Summit for Democracy. There is certainly an urgent need to renew the health of Australia’s democracy as we head to the next federal election. Pork barrelling has somehow become business as usual, whistleblowers are being prosecuted

It’s no surprise the Business Council, the Australian Industry Group and the National Farmers’ Federation are supporting Labor’s position.

The Coalition proposals would significantly shift the way these global advertising monopolies operate.

It is the biggest attack on the Australian charity sector you have never heard of. On the eve of an election, with no notice, no public explanation, not even a media release, the Morrison Government has rushed retrospective amendments into the Parliament that would squash charities’ right to advocate, stomping on our democracy. Instead of

The great resignation is apparently upon us — workers are walking away from bad jobs. But in Australia, the exodus of women from the workforce says more about structural barriers than worker empowerment.

The retiree group most affected by rising living costs.

Economist Matt Grudnoff outlines the ‘progress’ made since the royal commission.

Dishonesty is a trait people loathe in politicians, but thankfully our Prime Minister “doesn’t believe” he has ever told a lie in public life. While the PM should hope the media doesn’t throw to the video referee on that claim, it’s clear that French President Emmanuel Macron’s bombshell comment that Scott Morrison lied to him not only

Australia is still trying to find its place in Asia, Paul Keating says, which explains why we’re so preoccupied with Taiwan and China.

Scott Morrison thrives in the empty space between three-year terms and 30-year plans. Whether it is climate change, nuclear submarines or budget repair – it is no accident the prime minister with the shortest planning horizon in living memory is our greatest announcer of long-run plans. While the vacuousness of Morrison’s net-zero “plan” and his

NSW’s Independent Commission Against Corruption has revealed extraordinary amorality and cynicism in how the Berejiklian government, and its predecessors, approached both public policy and the use of public money. The ICAC has also revealed Berejiklian’s vicious approach to imposing compliance, complicity and ultimately connivance on the public servants who advise government. In an extraordinary few

In an eight-day sprint at the end of the parliamentary session, the government is attempting to ram a charity-crushing bill through with almost no public debate.

I’m in Glasgow and the city is buzzing. World leaders are starting to file in with cavalcades of police around them. Curiously, there is a mish-mash of colours and markings on the police cars, as they have come in from all corners of the United Kingdom. This conference is a big deal not just for

The federal government’s handling of the pandemic has been the worst public policy screw-up in Australian history

Sitting in Rome ahead of the G20 this week, got me wondering. It seemed unlikely that anyone – outside a handful of journalists and public servants – knew the G20 was about to take place. Certainly, as a nation, we seem to have forgotten that Australia helped build this integral piece of the world’s diplomatic

Our Prime Minister believes in miracles – which is lucky, because he might need one to get himself out of the political mess the Coalition has made of climate policy in Australia. Any day now, it is expected the Morrison government will make a commitment to net zero emissions by 2050. The PM is probably

If you’ve ever seen the TV food series Nailed It!, or if you yourself are an amateur cook with a colourful track record, you’ll know that things don’t always turn out the way they look on the packet. This month, Prime Minister Scott Morrison will likely announce a net-zero emissions by 2050 target. On the

Sometime this month Scott Morrison will announce a net zero by 2050 emissions-reduction target for Australia. This announcement will be made with the expectation of praise. However, much like the world was indifferent when Australia signalled it would no longer be using Kyoto credits to meet its Paris targets, so too will this announcement be