The dominance of Google’s data-hungry search engine is under the spotlight in Australia, with live inquiries on its role in the Ad-tech industry and anti-competitive deals which embed the search engine in smart devices. But DuckDuckGo has proven that you can build a search engine that’s not based on user surveillance. In this week’s Burning

The Federal Government’s net zero modelling is little more than an exercise in magical thinking

As the world’s leaders debate the future of the planet, technology is being put forward as the solution to the earth’s climate woes. But will smart energy networks, AI and Bitcoin really save us? As part of the annual NetThing internet governance conference, this week’s Burning Platforms dives deep into the environmental impacts of technology. Regular panellists: Peter

For the first time ever at a UN Climate Conference, fossil fuels are being tackled head-on at Glasgow COP26. But Australia has plans to massively expand gas and coal projects. If Australia succeeds, the climate loses.

The Glasgow climate summit is all about lifting ambitions over the next decade, but Australia brought a lazy 2030 target and is planning to massively expand gas and coal projects – helping to wreck ambition at Glasgow.

Platforms are acting like nation-states and governments are trying to become platforms, but are they both getting it wrong? The idea of the ’platform’ has come to dominate our notion of the internet – that there are corporate networks that we stand on to support us in accessing cyberspace. Governments are employing the same construct

The Commonwealth Government spends over $1billion of public money annually on consultancies, but the advice and reports created by these consultancies is often kept secret from the public.

Climate of the Nation 2021 shows concern about climate change is at record highs and a majority of Australians support phasing out fossil fuels and electrifying appliances in their homes.

Will the AUKUS pact ensure Australia’s long term security or is it little more than a stunt?

With a review of the Privacy Act expected soon, and the Facebook whistleblower revealing Facebook’s privacy breaches among other things, we take a deep dive into the legal frameworks for entrenching digital data rights into Australian law. From informed consent to data matching and security, is the traditional approach to privacy applicable to the online

Today’s episode examines carbon offsets, in other words, the credits companies can buy to offset their emissions. The Australia Institute, together with the Australian Conservation Foundation did a bit of digging into Australia’s offsets system and found some alarming things. Recorded live on 5 October 2021 The Australia Institute // @theausinstitute Host: Ebony Bennett, Deputy

Welcome to Burning Platforms. A new fortnightly podcast unpacks the latest developments in technology from around the world. This fortnight we explore algorithms that rule Australia, how we are increasingly outsourcing policy and governance to algorithms. We will look at how facial recognition, robo-planning and robo-welfare are entering our policy environments. This and more in

The number of independent Members and Senators elected to Parliament has been steadily increasing and the crossbench plays an important role in shaping the future of Australia. independent Senator for Tasmania Jacqui Lambie for an inside look at how it all works. Recorded live on 3 March 2021 as part of the Australia Institute webinar

Exploring the economic, political and strategic implications of Australia dumping a $90 billion French submarine program to secure a deal with the US and UK for nuclear-powered submarines.

Australia’s universities were uniquely impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic and recession. Now, 18 months after the borders were first closed, things are getting worse for universities, not better.

Extracting gas from the Northern Territory through hydraulic fracturing (“fracking”) is one of the largest potential sources of carbon pollution in the world. In this episode we explore the climate cost of a potential policy backflip on opening up the NT to fracking, as well as the community opposition and the economics of it all.

The Doherty Modelling makes clear that without a highly functioning Test, Trace, Isolate and Quarantine (TTIQ) system we have no chance of stopping Australia’s ICUs from being overwhelmed; the problem is the effectiveness of TTIQ declines as case numbers rise and that has not factored into the modelling.

In 2020, Australian GDP was $2 trillion but Australian households received another $1.7 trillion in capital gains as overall wealth increased to $12.7 trillion. But Australia currently has no taxes on wealth, so what does that mean for the economy in the long term and for reducing inequality?

Recorded live on 24 February 2021 as part of the Australia Institute webinar series. Professor Ross Garnaut is an economist and author of new book Reset – which explores the opportunity Australia has to reset its economy in the wake of the pandemic. Warning: there is a bit of feedback on the audio for the

When the Black Lives Matter protests swept the globe in 2020, it shone a spotlight on Australia’s legacy of Aboriginal deaths in custody. It was a subject journalist Amy McQuire had written about extensively. Amy McQuire was the Australia Institute’s Writer in Residence recipient for 2020 and in this episode she discusses her upcoming book

The assumption that terrorism can be defeated by military force doomed the war in Afghanistan from the start, says Allan Behm

The sixth IPCC assessment report sounded the alarm on the climate crisis, finding that human activity is changing the Earth’s climate in “unprecedented” ways, with some of the changes now inevitable and “irreversible”. We unpack the latest report and the urgency of change with Richie Merzian and Alia Armistead from the Australia Institute’s climate &

The government’s massive $300 billion income tax cuts package will proceed in full, making inequality worse and mainly benefitting high income earners. But what makes a tax good or bad? This week, Richard Denniss and Matt Grudnoff explain the principles of a good tax and run the ruler over different types of taxes like income

When the going gets tough, the Morrison government calls in the military to boost its authority and credibility. In this episode, Allan Behm discusses the securitisation of domestic policy issues and how bringing in the ADF doesn’t really solve anything. The Australia Institute // @theausinstitute Host: Ebony Bennett, Deputy Director at the Australia Institute // @ebony_bennett Guest: Allan Behm,

The EU has announced it will introduce a Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) as part of its efforts to reach net zero emissions by 2050. This has big implications for the Australian economy, especially carbon intensive expor industries. This week we talk to Richie Merzian and Hannah Melville Rea about what CBAMs are, how they

It’s no secret the Australia-China relationship has hit a rocky path recently. How did we get in this mess? How do we get out of it? And how does the Australian public perceive the threat of China? Today we discuss the latest research on public attitudes to China, comparing them to public attitudes in Taiwan.

Births declining, fewer people working, health funding will double and deficits for years to come. The latest Intergenerational Report (IGR) has been released and the government wants you to be scared. But it turns out the IGR is rubbish at making predictions. Join Richard Denniss as he uncovers the hidden assumptions buried in the Intergenerational

When the University of Newcastle appointed the Chair of Whitehaven Coal as its new Chancellor, it prompted a swift and public backlash from students, staff, philanthropists and alumni. Join our chief economist Richard Denniss as he unpacks the problems with the university’s decision, the community who challenged that decision and why Vaile ended up resigning

Australia still has no federal anti-corruption commission, more than 2 years after the Coalition government promised to enact one. Worse, there are several serious flaws with the government’s proposed model for a Commonwealth Integrity Commission. Join two former judges, the Hon Anthony Whealy QC and the Hon David Harper AM QC as they explain why

There has been an enormous surge in the sale of utes, due to the instant asset write-off in the Budget. But just how effective is this in terms of stimulating economic growth and creating jobs? Dig into the details and find out how we’re spending billions of dollars to make our car fleet bigger, heavier