December 2023
The Great Divide: Australia’s Housing Mess and How to Fix It | Summer Series
Our summer podcast series brings you some of the best conversations from our webinars and live events in 2023. One of the great mysteries of Australian life is that a land of sweeping plains, with one of the lowest population densities on the planet, has a shortage of land for houses. As a result, Sydney’s
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.
A Penny-Pinching Christmas – 2023 Wrap-Up
2023 was a big year in economics, with inflation and the cost of living crisis dominating the headlines. Greg is taking a look back at the year, and how the economy shaped our lives in 2023. Greg Jericho is Chief Economist at the Australia Institute and the Centre for Future Work and popular columnist of
PALM Visa Conditions Exploit Pacific Neighbours Working in Lucrative Australian Industries
New analysis from the Australia Institute has highlighted the extent to which temporary workers from the Pacific Islands and Timor-Leste are supporting essential agricultural and food processing industries, adding weight to calls for much needed improvements to working conditions for temporary visa holders participating in the Pacific Australia Labour Mobility (PALM) scheme.
Why You’re Paying More Tax Even Though Real Wages Are Shrinking
It’s a bitter irony.
Volunteer Firefighters Should Receive Army Reserve Style Support, 85% of Australians Agree
An overwhelming majority (85%) of Australians support better conditions for volunteer firefighters through an Army Reserve style model in the face of longer and more ferocious bushfire seasons, new research from the Australia Institute shows.
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.
New Report Reveals Changing Face and Future of Self-Employment
A new report by the Australia Institute shows self-employment in Australia has changed in recent years, towards fewer business owners and more gig work.
Special Issue of Journal Marks Halfway Point of First Albanese Government
The Journal of Australian Political Economy, a peer-reviewed journal based at the University of Sydney, has today published a special issue evaluating the record of the Albanese government during the first half of its term in office.
Australia cares too much about Budget surplus
The Government has released the MYEFO, or Mid-Year Economic and Fiscal Outlook, or as we call it, Easter for economists. It’s projecting a very small deficit of around $1 billion. But does that really matter? Greg Jericho is Chief Economist at the Australia Institute and the Centre for Future Work and popular columnist of Grogonomics
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
Paying for Collective Bargaining
Recent labour law reforms in Australia have focused attention on the crucial role played by collective bargaining in achieving higher wages, safer working conditions, and better job security.
The Wellbeing Framework needs a better measure of living standards
The Wellbeing Framework suggests Australia’s prosperity is linked with company profits, but it wrongly suggests this also measures people’s living standards.
..The Wellbeing Framework’s measure of innovation misses the mark
The Wellbeing Framework aims to measure what matters, but its measure of innovation has little to do with research or development
‘No one left behind’: Why doesn’t the Wellbeing Framework measure poverty?
According to Treasurer Jim Chalmers, the new Wellbeing Framework “helps us put … fairness and opportunity at the very core of our thinking”, but (astoundingly) lacks any substantive measure of poverty.
..The national accounts show just how wrong the RBA was to raise rates in November
In the September quarter, household living standards fell as rate rises continued to hurt. And then in November the RBA decided to hurt them again.
GDP figures are out, and it’s not good
GDP figures out this week show that while Australia is clinging to slight economic growth, under the surface a recession is already being seen. Greg Jericho is Chief Economist at the Australia Institute and the Centre for Future Work and popular columnist of Grogonomics with Guardian Australia. In Dollars & Sense, each week, Greg Jericho
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?
‘Thylacine of the Sea’ vs. the Salmon Industry
The Maugean skate, native to Macquarie Harbour, is running out of time. It’s facing extinction, due in large part to the Tasmanian salmon industry. This was recorded on Monday 4th December 2023 and things may have changed since recording. australiainstitute.org.au // @theausinstitute Guest: Eloise Carr, Senior Fellow and Contributing Editor, the Australia Institute // @GeneveraE Host:
Have your say in the EPBC Act review of salmon farming in Macquarie Harbour
The Australia Institute Tasmania’s work was critical to triggering the federal EPBC review of salmon farming in Macquarie Harbour.
November 2023
Government Decisions Look Set to Send Maugean Skate Towards Extinction
The Australia Institute has today condemned the decision by the Tasmanian EPA to renew fish farming in the Macquarie Harbour. The decision comes just hours after the announcement of a review of salmon farming in the Macquarie Harbour by the Federal Government, under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999. However, the Federal Government’s
Reserve Bank Governor says…go to the dentist less?!
Last week Reserve Bank Governor Michele Bullock told us to think twice about going to the dentist or the hairdresser, lest we contribute to inflation. Greg explains why, frankly, this is a load of Bullock. Greg Jericho is Chief Economist at the Australia Institute and the Centre for Future Work and popular columnist of Grogonomics
Stage 3 Better – Revenue Summit 2023
Presented to the Australia Institute’s Revenue Summit 2023, Greg Jericho’s address, “Stage 3 Better” outlines an exciting opportunity for the government to gain electoral ground and deliver better, fairer tax cuts for more Australians.
Voters Trust Labor over Liberals on Cost of Living: Polling
Labor is trusted over the Coalition to manage the cost of living crisis even as more people struggle to make ends meet, new research from the Australia Institute shows.
‘Oh, you shouldn’t have’ – Christmas gift waste expected to top $900 million
More than six million Australians expect to receive presents they will not use or wear and the bulk of these unwanted gifts are destined for landfill, new Australia Institute research shows.
Clive Palmer of…Singapore?
Clive Palmer, one of Australia’s richest men, is suing Australia for $41.3bn, claiming it breached the ASEAN free trade agreement in relation to coal exploration permits. But he’s doing so…as a foreign investor? Stephen Long explains how Clive Palmer’s controversial legal strategies challenge Australia’s trade agreements and environmental laws. Stephen Long is a Senior Fellow
Native Forest Logging Could End with Little Economic Disruption
New research from the Australia Institute, presented to the MONA Forest Economics Congress, shows that an end to native forest logging in Tasmania will have no economic impact on the state as a whole.
Murray-Darling: Irrigators and farmers support water buybacks in new ad campaign
The Australia Institute and farmers will run full-page ads in leading rural newspapers in all Basin States this week supporting water recovery through voluntary buybacks.
First-home buyers grants – 20 years of failed attempts to improve housing affordability
The Queensland government’s decision to double the first home owner grant is just the latest in 20 years of governments stoking demand for housing that makes affordability worse.
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