Rising pressure on individuals and families to meet their caring needs is the “human face” of decline in workplace protections and bargaining power that has gathered pace since 2013. Meanwhile, the need for fathers and male spouses to take on more caring and household labour is routinely discussed in the public domain. But how have Australia’s work/care policies worked to support a redistribution of caring and household labour to males and fathers?

by Richard Denniss[Originally published on The Guardian Australia, 26 June 2019] The modern conservatives often seem afraid of new technology. They act as though renewable energy, battery storage and electric cars will take us down the path to blackouts, economic ruin and, of course, the end of weekends as we know them. But if recent

by Ebony Bennett[Originally published on The Canberra Times, 22 April 2019] Australia is having a huge national debate about taxes and tax reform that’s mostly missing the point. There’s too much focus on costings and not enough analysis of who is getting the biggest slice of pie – here’s a hint: it’s not those struggling

by Richard Denniss[Originally published on Guardian Australia, 17 April 2019] When a magician says you must look carefully at the cards that they’re shuffling, they don’t want you to see what their assistant is doing. And when a politician tells you to focus on one key economic issue, it’s a sure thing they don’t want

The footage was shocking: One Nation figures meeting with the National Rifle Association in the US in search of political donations, media support and strategic advice. Australians may be surprised to discover the gun lobby in Australia rivals the NRA in size and spending, according to Australia Institute research commissioned by Gun Control Australia. Most people have

by Ebony Bennett[Originally published in the Canberra Times, 23 March 2019]  Australia has never had a federal treasurer who wasn’t a man and has had more finance ministers named John than female finance ministers. It doesn’t take an economics degree to know those numbers are a problem. With the federal budget near, we learned this

Like a dog that doesn’t know what to do when it catches the car it’s been chasing, the business community doesn’t seem to know what to do now they’ve pushed wages growth to record lows and the profit share of GDP to all-time highs. While some might read the room, bank their gains and mouth some platitudes about sharing said gains, the Business Council of Australia (BCA) and the Coalition are not for turning.

by Richard Denniss[Originally published on The Guardian Australia, 6 March 2019] Interests ahead of ideas, friends before philosophy, denial instead of debate. The desperate rush by “law and order” conservatives to defend a child rapist has shown there is no principle that the right of Australian politics won’t abandon in order to protect one of their inner

by Richard Denniss[Originally published on The Guardian Australia, 20 Feb 2019] It’s hard to believe that anyone who receives larges cheques from the government can call themselves a “self-funded” retiree, but hey, this is modern Australia and powerful groups get to call themselves whatever they want. Sure, the full age pension is only $23,823.80 per

by Ebony Bennett[Originally published in The Canberra Times, 26.01.19] Australians all let us rejoice, for we are young and forcing 537 councils to conduct citizenship ceremonies on Australia Day. And it’s stinking hot. What could be more Australian than a nationwide ban on shorts and thongs as we confer citizenship on our newest Aussies during

Workforce (a labour relations bulletin published by Thomson-Reuters) recently surveyed major IR figures in Australia on what they saw as the big issues in 2018, and what they expect as the major talking points for 2019. Jim Stanford, economist and Centre for Future Work director, was one of those surveyed, and here are his remarks.  What

by Richard Denniss, Chief Economist at The Australia Institute. [Originally published in the Guardian Australia 03.10.18] Greed is good. Or so said Michael Douglas’ character Gordon Gekko in the 1980s hit film Wall Street. Gekko went further, stating “Greed, in all of its forms; greed for life, for money, for love, knowledge has marked the upward

by Richard Denniss. [This article originally appeared on The Guardian Australia 19.09.2018] The royal commission Australia really needs is one into the spectacular – almost complete – failure of our regulators to protect the vulnerable from the greedy. While it is clear that many of our so-called watchdogs are little more than lap dogs, what

By Richard Denniss – Chief Economist at The Australia Institute.   [This article originally appeared in the Australian Financial Review on 24 September 2018] Wars are expensive and culture wars are no different. Indeed, the opportunity cost of Australia’s culture war is enormous as it comes at the expense of developing meaningful energy, broadband and tax

By Richard Denniss, Chief Economist at The Australia Institute. [Read in The Australian Financial Reiew here] Confidence is silent and insecurities are loud. How else could you explain Sky TV commentator Rowan Dean’s need to credit “Western values” for the Thai junior soccer team’s successful rescue? In case you missed Dean’s comments – because, like most

By Richard Denniss, Chief Economist at The Australia Institute [View article in the Canberra Times here] Confidence is silent and insecurities are loud. How else could you explain Sky TV commentator Rowan Dean’s need to credit ‘‘Western values’’ for the Thai junior soccer team’s successful rescue? In case you missed Dean’s comments – because, like

By Richard Denniss, Chief Economist at The Australia Institute [Read in the Sydney Morning Herald here] Economic rationalism and neoliberalism are dead in Australia. In an unexpected twist, the idea that markets are good and governments are bad was killed by the right wing of Australian politics, who simply couldn’t resist the desire to shovel

Peter Dutton’s best argument for Australia to lower its annual immigration intake is one word: Sydney. Australia’s largest city has been made crowded, slow, expensive and unproductive by decades of unplanned immigration. [This article was first published in the Australian Financial Review – here] Anyone planning an event knows that it makes a lot more

First published in The Examiner, 15 April 2018 By 2050, everyone everywhere will have the right to thrive. (Yep, utopia). All communities are changing all the time.  The future of our Tasmanian community is not like a book that has already been written, each chapter is emergent & authorship is our collective responsibility. The narrative

First published in The Examiner, 28 March 2018 On Tuesday, The Australia Institute Tasmania launched a new initiative cheekily titled #WTF2050 – What’s Tasmania’s Future?  The project brings together some of the state’s best thinkers to answer the question –  where do you want Tasmania to be in 2050? What’s your big hairy goal and

All poor people have low taxable incomes, but many people with low taxable incomes are a long way from being poor. [First published in the Australian Financial Review – here] And while the debate about the fairness of abolishing cash refunds for “spare” tax credits has conflated poor people and those with good accountants, the two groups

I’m proud that The Australian Financial Review thinks that my colleague Ben Oquist and I ran a “well-orchestrated thought campaign” against the BCA’s call for a $65 billion tax cut, but, to be honest, defeating it in that debate wasn’t difficult. [First published by the Australian Financial Review – here] Indeed, while Aaron Patrick’s piece titled “How company tax

Just as many politicians choose to ignore the evidence of criminologists when designing crime prevention policy, the majority of Australian politicians choose to ignore economic evidence in the design of Australian energy policy. That’s OK. There’s no mention of role of evidence in the Australian Constitution and there’s no obligation on parliamentarians to base policy

Three years after Campbell Newman suffered the biggest swing in Australian political history, the Liberal National Party (LNP) just lost another 8 per cent of Queensland voters. [This article was first published in the Australian Financial Review – here] Remarkably, senior conservatives are already demanding greater distance between their party and the vast majority of voters

The citizenship debacle engulfing the Nationals, and in turn the Coalition government, has as much to do with trust and integrity as it does with the constitution. Being consistent is important in business and in government. [This article was first published by the Australian Financial Review – here] After the Greens’ Scott Ludlum and Larissa

This opinion piece was first published in the Canberra Times on 29 July 2017. The final season of Game of Thrones is back and winter is coming for House Turnbull. The failure of the federal government on energy policy is driving up emissions, driving up energy prices, stalling investment and its harming consumers. And hasn’t

The Coalition Government is still paying a heavy price for Tony Abbott’s “ability” to simplify complex policy issues down into three-word slogans. His promise to “stop the debt” worked a treat for him in opposition but it made him look a failure as Prime Minister when debt grew rapidly on his watch. [This article was

When politicians spend taxpayers money flying themselves to fundraising parties or flying to their own weddings, we leave it up to the politician to decide if their claim is “outside of entitlement”. First published on The Guardian – here When it comes to income tax we allow people to claim $300 worth of tax deductions without receipts because

Just as market forces were about to push the price of housing down in Australia, the Treasurer stepped in with some new regulation. Phew. Some first home buyer’s nearly snatched a good deal, but luckily the Treasurer was there to protect the property developers from the oversupply their building bonanza created. [First pubished by the

The ACT election result is further proof that Australian conservatives have a tin ear. Either that, or because they spend so much time telling voters scary stories about taxes and public debt that there is simply no time to listen to what the voters are really want. First published by the Australian Financial Review –