January 2022
Summer Series – Feeling the Heat with Marian Wilkinson, Richard Denniss and Allan Behm [webinar]
Our summer series brings you some of the best conversations from our webinars in 2021. This episode we’re bringing you a conversation with award-winning journalist Marian Wilkinson and the Australia Institute’s chief economist Richard Denniss and Allan Behm, International & Security Affairs program director, about the growing pressure on Australia, as global and regional powers
December 2021
The Public Square Project book launch
Held at The Australia Institute’s Politics in the Pub event, we launch the Centre for Responsible Technology’s new book ‘The Public Square Project’. Western democracy has always been anchored by the idea of a public space where people gather to share ideas, mediate difference and make sense of the world. When Facebook blocked Australian users
Ban lies from political ads: Fake news erodes trust in politicians and democracy
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
Whatever happened to the free web?
The internet promised new ways to challenge power and privilege, so how has it become a tool to promote division and entrench despots? Join us as we dive deep with special guest Elaine Pearson from Human Rights Watch into the ways tech platforms have become wilful partners in oppression around the globe. Regular panellists: Peter
My Year of Living Vulnerably with Rick Morton [webinar series]
My Year of Living Vulnerably is a dazzlingly brilliant book about love, trauma and recovery, we chat with the author Rick Morton.
Social media giants monetise anger and trolling is the result. A crackdown is welcome
The Coalition proposals would significantly shift the way these global advertising monopolies operate.
The Public Square Project: Reimagining Our Digital Future
A new book from the Australia Institute’s Centre for Responsible Technology, published by MUP and released today, The Public Square Project: Reimagining Our Digital Future explores a new blueprint for a more democratic digital space, and re-examines the idea of a public space where people gather to share ideas, mediate difference and make sense of
November 2021
Amazon’s Big Friday a Black Day for Worker Rights
The Australia Institute’s Centre for Responsible technology today called on Amazon to mark its global marketing day, Black Friday, by ditching patents to increase the surveillance of its workers. According to an analysis by UNI Global, Amazon currently have patents on a range of technologies that will erode workplace privacy including: Augmented reality headsets that
The great (gendered) resignation is not what you think. It’s worse
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.
New Analysis: Voter ID Laws a Solution Looking for a Problem
New research from the Australia Institute’s Democracy & Accountability Program shows that for each voter who was marked as voting more than once (accurately or otherwise), there were over 1,000 Australians who were entitled to vote but whose votes were not counted. New voter ID laws risk disenfranchising even more voters, for the sake of
What’s the go with DuckDuckGo?
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
Transport, housing, furnishings drive inflation
The retiree group most affected by rising living costs.
PM promised reform, record funding – here’s what happened
Economist Matt Grudnoff outlines the ‘progress’ made since the royal commission.
Can technology really save the planet?
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
The new law threatening the future of Australia’s charities
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.
The needle and the damage done
The federal government’s handling of the pandemic has been the worst public policy screw-up in Australian history
Active Policy Measures Needed to Stop Decline of Journalism
The media and information industries have lost some 60,000 jobs in Australia over the last 15 years. With almost half of those jobs lost during the COVID-19 pandemic, new research shows active policy supports are urgently needed to stabilise and protect the ‘public good’ function of journalism. A new report by the Australia Institute’s Centre
October 2021
Platforms vs. Nation-States
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
Privacy isn’t boring: Online Privacy in Australia
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
Facial Recognition for Home Quarantine is a Recipe for Privacy Disaster
State governments trialling home quarantine need to take active steps to ensure they are not crossing a new frontier in the surveillance of citizens by using Facial Recognition Technology, warns the Australia Institute’s Centre for Responsible Technology. This follows reports that in several states police have accessed COVID check-in data to undertake routine law enforcement activities.
Facebook Should Face Royal Commission into its Online Harms
The Australia Institute’s Centre for Responsible Technology has backed Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce’s proposal for a high-level review of the public health impacts of Facebook’s business model, calling for a Royal Commission into the company’s impact on Australian users. Evidence from an internal whistleblower to the US Senate this week has exposed how Facebook’s leadership
The algorithms that rule Australia
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
Insecure Workers Have Been the ‘Shock Troops’ of the COVID-19 Pandemic: New Report
New research from the Australia Institute’s Centre for Future Work confirms that workers in casual and insecure jobs have borne the lion’s share of job losses during the COVID-19 pandemic – both the first lockdowns in 2020, and the more recent Delta-wave of closures. Key Findings: Since May, workers in casual and part-time jobs have
September 2021
Key Accountability Committee Calls for Charity Regulations to be Scrapped
The Australia Institute has welcomed the Senate Committee for the Scrutiny of Delegated Legislation decision to recommend that the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission Amendment (2021 Measures No. 2) Regulations 2021 be disallowed. The Committee, chaired by Senator Concetta Fierravanti-Wells, outlined concerns which include that the regulation lacks clarity, would give the Charities Commissioner a
Government Must Now Act on ACCC Call to Regulate Google’s Advertising Power
The Federal Government should move urgently to implement the recommendations of a new ACCC report into the monopoly dominance of Google in the advertising. The Australia Institute’s Centre for Responsible Technology said understanding and regulating the hidden power of Google to collect and combine user data from multiple sources was a critical piece in addressing the
An Avoidable Catastrophe: Pandemic Job Losses in Higher Education
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.
Privacy concerns cast shadow over vaccination passports
The lack of a clear blueprint for vaccination ‘passports’ that addresses public concerns around safety and security risks is undermining the implementation of vaccine mandates, warns the Australia Institute’s Centre for Responsible Technology. With vaccine passports for international travel reportedly just weeks away, there appears to have been little focus on the way a digital
Morrison and Berejiklian are attempting to shift the blame for Covid on to us
In an amazing feat, both leaders shift attention away from their past performances and on to future freedoms to be granted, based on decisions made by the public In the ultimate expression of neoliberal language, prime minister Scott Morrison and New South Wales premier Gladys Berejiklian are gradually shifting their messaging away from the dangers
SA Voters Overwhelmingly Back Increased Health Funding in Key Election Battle
New research from The Australia Institute shows that South Australians rank health, the economy and climate change as the three most important political issues in South Australia ahead of the next state election. The Australia Institute’s survey of a representative sample of 599 South Australians also found the vast majority of voters would prefer it
What the Doherty Modelling Really Shows About Opening Up at 80% Vaccination
New Australia Institute analysis of the Doherty Modelling shows that while vaccination rates of 80% are essential to protect the community, so are other measures such as the ability to contact trace effectively and other little-analysed assumptions and outcomes of the model. Key Findings: While high vaccination rates lead to a significant reduction in the
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