March 2024
The RBA gets its wish as Australia’s economy slows dramatically
As interest rates have climbed, Australia’s economy has slowed – let us hope the RBA has not stalled it.
Pork Barelling is Not Democracy
Politicians Bob Katter and Andrew Wilkie dressed up as pigs this week in a memorable stunt in Parliament to draw attention to excessive supermarket profits.
February 2024
The gas industry is laughing at us as they make more money but not more tax
Despite soaring production and revenues the gas industry is not paying more tax
The changes to Stage 3 show that good policy is good politics
The changes to the Stage 3 tax cuts have passed the Senate and will become law.
Funny business: Why you’re paying the price for corporate greed
Australians are paying prices that are too high, too often.
The big error at heart of ‘right to disconnect’ opposition
This week, Parliament is set to approve a new set of industrial relations reforms, bundled in the second part of the “Closing Loopholes” bill.
More loopholes to close on insecure work … and a new right to disconnect from work
Late yesterday the final part 2 of the government’s Closing Loopholes industrial relations bill was passed by the Senate.
Stage 3 Tax Changes: A Win for Australians & Sensible Policy
Politicians are often accused of backflipping when they change their minds.
January 2024
Richard Denniss: National Press Club Address
On Wednesday, 31 January 2024, Richard Denniss and Allegra Spender MP addressed the National Press Club for a debate on the Stage 3 tax reforms. **Check against delivery** [See below for transcripts] Tax is good. Tax is an investment in our society and the highest taxed countries in the world also happen to be the
We Cannot Truly Value ‘Care’ Until Workers Using Digital Labour Platforms Get Fair Pay and Conditions
Unless minimum employment standards for care and support workers using digital labour platforms are guaranteed, decades of slow progress towards proper recognition of care work and equal pay for women could be undone.
Where is the middle income in Australia? Not where you think it is.
Australians right across the country are calling out for cost-of-living relief, but the government doesn’t want to risk any measures that will increase inflation—keeping interest rates higher for longer, or worse, pushing them up even further.
Closing the loopholes in labour hire
The industrial reforms system needs important repairs, writes Dr Fiona Macdonald – no more, no less.
The Pink Test is a feel-good story, but does it help where it’s really needed?
With the federal government announcing a desire to double charitable donations by 2030, Stephen Long examines the potential inefficiency & inequity of relying on charities, rather than governments, to provide essential services.
December 2023
How the Grinch Saved Christmas
For decades, the Grinch has had a terrible reputation as a Christmas-hating monster who railed against the festivities of the season and stole the townspeople’s presents, food and decorations in an attempt to stamp out the whole technicolour carnival.
Why You’re Paying More Tax Even Though Real Wages Are Shrinking
It’s a bitter irony.
Closing Loopholes: Important repairs to the industrial relations system, no more, no less
Labour hire workers can no longer be paid less than employees doing the same job in their workplaces as a result of industrial reforms passed by Parliament. However, other important reforms to close loopholes in employment laws and stop exploitation of workers and avoidance of standards won’t be voted on in Parliament until next year.
The Stage 3 tax cuts will make our bad tax system worse
Australia has one of the weakest tax systems for redistribution among industrial nations, and as Dr Jim Stanford writes, the Stage 3 tax cuts will make it worse.
Higher exports prices improve the budget, but the Stage 3 tax cuts remain the wrong tax at the wrong time
As the Budget outlook improves, with most of the benefits of Stage 3 tax cuts going to those earing over $120,000, over 80% of workers will be short-changed
Why are gas companies trying to sell us hydrogen?
The hydrogen dream has become widespread in the Australian climate conversation: apparently, with it, we’re going to decarbonise Japan, Korea, and the world! Is this ambitious vision a genuine step towards a greener future or merely a diversion from ongoing fossil fuel expansion?
November 2023
Who knew Queensland’s richest man is a foreign investor?
Clive Palmer’s controversial legal strategies challenge Australia’s trade agreements and environmental laws, and have profound implications for global climate action, writes Stephen Long.
A Matter of Trust – Research Misconduct in Australia
Australia’s lack of a research integrity watchdog leads to wasted funds, misdirected efforts and risks to public health.
After two years of profit-led inflation, workers deserve the pay rises they are getting
The wage rises for low-paid workers on awards and those working in aged care helped drive the strong wage growth.
Massive Gap Between Rhetoric and Actions on Emissions
Farmers know you can’t fatten a pig on market day and scientists know you can’t reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 while expanding coal, oil and gas production.
The Government needs to act on Stage 3 as the RBA warns about wealthy households spending
The RBA made it clear one group continues to do well, and continue to spend – and they are also the ones who are about to get a massive tax cut.
When the prices of necessities are rising fast, the RBA does not need to hit households with another rate rise
Cost of living rose by more than inflation because of interest rate rises. Another rate rise would only cause more unnecessary pain.
October 2023
Australia is wealthy but makes poor money choices
In the past year 3.7 million Australian households experienced moderate to severe food insecurity, meaning they were going hungry, skipping meals or going entire days without eating.
The Reserve Bank should not raise rates on Melbourne Cup Day
Inflation is being driven by things unaffected by interest rate, so there is no reason for the RBA to raise rates in November
With US trip, PM Albanese flies into the light
On election night in 2020, President-elect Biden reassured the American people that despite everything they had endured for the past four years, “I believe at our best, America is a beacon for the globe.”
The latest report from the IMF highlights the need for full-employment to be the aim of the government and the Reserve Bank
If the economy grows as slowly as the IMF predicts it will for the next 2 years, Australia will be lucky to avoid a recession.
Insecure work is a feature of our labour market. New laws can change that.
Chris Wright is Associate Professor in the Discipline of Work and Organisational Studies at the University of Sydney, and a member of the Centre for Future Work’s Advisory Committee. This commentary is based on his submission to the Senate Education and Employment Legislation Committee’s inquiry into the Fair Work Legislation Amendment (Closing Loopholes) Bill 2023,
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