North Korean missile tests, resolving the South China Sea issues, ethnic cleansing in Myanmar – there is a lot happening in the defence and security policy space right, but are we engaged enough to tackle these problems in a smart way? Dr Andrew Carr of the Strategic and Defence Studies Centre at the ANU has

Next year marks the 10th anniversary of the Global Financial Crisis. In 2008 the banks in Australia wobbled, the economy stalled, unemployment rose and the Government acted. The GFC demonstrated a failure of trickle-down economics. Ten years later, with rising populism, it is clearer now more than ever that we need a replacement to the neo-liberal economic

Australia’s young people have been unfairly targeted by policies that have loaded them up with uni debts, locked them out of housing market and crippled them on the ‘flexible’ job front, and any changes that might address this imbalance are ‘grandfathered’ in so that they don’t affect anyone who is presently in a position of

The South Australian state government announced in late June 2017 that it was going to follow the Federal government and introduce a levy on the big banks. Episode 19 of Follow The Money, explains why the banks can absolutely afford the levy, why it’s a good idea economically and just how small the levy really

Tonight, as the Treasurer rose to give his Budget address in the house, our Deputy Director Ebony Bennett grabbed our Chief Economist Richard Denniss and Senior economist Matt Grudnoff for a chat about the Budget, straight after they emerged from the Budget lockup.  Thi podcast isn’t a comprehensive discussion of the Budget, but we tried

Housing Affordability is not only a massive policy failure, but is increasingly vying for the gold medal for the most spin and econobabble in Australian politics. Episode 18 of Follow The Money, takes on the vexed issue and tackles the latest bad idea that won’t help housing affordability – raiding your super to pay for a

In episode 17 of Follow The Money, we tackle the current energy debate, including the South Australian blackouts, the war on renewables, what Christmas prawns have to do with baseload power and why the way we heat hot water offends our Chief Economist Richard Denniss.  Host: Deputy Director Ebony Bennett // @ebony_bennett Contributors: Chief Economist Richard

Follow The Money this week features former Republican Congressman for South Carolina, Bob Inglis on his Australian tour, hosted by The Australia Institute. Bob Inglis is a very rare bird indeed. He’s a real conservative – Christian, Southern, ‘small-government’, you name it. But his greatest passion is tackling climate change. You heard right! Inglis has

Follow The Money summer specials continue with an absolute pearler from the first Politics in the Pub last year (2016) featuring charasmatic, controversial Senator, Sam Dastyari. Richard Denniss described it as ‘the best Politics in the Pub speach yet.’ Senatory Dastyari opened with the omission that he was ‘A product of the Labor machine’. And

Welcome to our third Follow The Money summer special! It’s still probably scorching hot if you’re somewhere in Australia, but it’s even hotter in Kiribati. This weeks special features the ‘Hero of the Pacific’, President Anote Tong.  President Tong visited Australia as a guest of The Australia Institute ahead of the Paris Climate meeting. He

Welcome to our second Follow The Money summer special! If you’re taking a break this summer, but still craving a political fix – we are here to help. Over the summer we’ll bring you the highlights from The Australia Institute’s popular Politics in the Pub live sessions from 2016. In this episode you’ll hear a discussion from

Welcome to our first Follow The Money summer special! If you’re taking a break this summer, but still craving a political fix – we are here to help. Over the summer we’ll bring you the highlights from The Australia Institute’s popular Politics in the Publive sessions from 2016. In this episode you’ll hear our 2016 political

In a special mini-episode we’ve dubbed “Pocket Money” we take a look at the recent developments with Adani’s Carmichael coal mine in Queensland’s Galilee Basin. It’s a straight discussion, without our usual bells and whistles so that we could respond quickly and if you like it, we’ll probably do more of these Pocket Money episodes

House prices – what is to blame? Our economists look at the claim from the Prime Minister that the ABCC was needed to stop ‘union thugs’ pushing up house prices. They also look at the tax breaks for investors. No prizes for guessing what the evidence shows is actually effecting house prices. Contributors: Jim Stanford

How much is a hole in the ground worth? Australia has considered building a nuclear waste dump many times over the decades. Each time, the proposal has fallen through. This time, in South Australia, proponents are making $100 billion dollar claims. Richard and Rod take a look at those claims and the economics of building

Economic models are like a lot of things in life: What you get out of them depends on what you put in. But therein lies the problem. When reporting focuses on the ‘findings’ without looking at what assumptions underpin politically influential economic models, it leaves us vulnerable to what Richard calls the ‘peak-stupid of econobabble’.

Interest rates may be one of the most discussed and least understood area of economics in Australia. Our Chief Economist and Senior Economist discuss the whats and whys of Reserve Bank policy and how interest rates really effect people and the broader economy. Contributors: Richard Denniss – @RDNS_TAI  Matt Grudnoff – @MattGrudnoff Ebony Bennett – @ebony_bennett.  Produced by

Can Australia live without coal? Episode 7 of Follow the Money looks at the economics of coal and how a moratorium on new mines would help stop the boom and inevitable bust cycle, and instead create a smooth transition to a low carbon future.  Contributors: Richard Denniss – @RDNS_TAI  Rod Campbell – @R_o_d_C  Ebony Bennett – @ebony_bennett.  Produced by

In episode 6, we tackle the perennial favourite of politicians in an election year – income tax cuts. Do personal income tax cuts really lead to economic growth and job creation? Does more money in the wallet increase incentives and make people work harder? We put those claims to the test.  Contributors: Richard Denniss – @RDNS_TAI

The Australia Institute’s podcast series, Follow the Money, this week takes on Company Tax. What is it? How much does it raise? Who pays it? Who is saying that we should cut it, and ‘cui bono’ – who benefits? Contributors: Richard Denniss – @RDNS_TAI  Dave Richardson – not on twitter! Ebony Bennett – @ebony_bennett Produced by Jennifer

Episode four of Follow The Money is a special edition – In conversation with Richard Denniss about the subject and title of his new book: Econobabble. So what is econobabble? Ebony Bennett talks to Richard Denniss about why we shouldn’t be afraid of upsetting ‘the markets’ and how you can call commentators on their bullsh*t. 

Episode three of The Australia Institute’s exciting new podcast series Follow The Money looks at Negative Gearing. You can subscribe to Follow The Money on iTunes.  Contributors: Matt Grudnoff @MattGrudnoff Cameron Amos @CamAmos_  Frank Keany @FJKeany Find us on Twitter/Facebook.   More on Negative Gearing – recent papers from The Australia Institute: Top Gears: How negative gearing and the capital gains tax

The second episode of The Australia Institute’s exciting new podcast series Follow The Money looks at Australia’s superannuation system. You can subscribe to Follow The Money on iTunes.  Contributors: Richard Denniss @RDNS_TAI Matt Grudnoff @MattGrudnoff Francis Keaney @FJKeany Find us on Twitter/Facebook. More on Super – recent papers from The Australia Institute: A Super Waste of Money Tax Concessions