August 2025
‘Right moment’? Australia risks losing power and respect on Gaza
There used to be a myth that News Corp could make or break governments.
This carbon policy has been a spectacular failure. Let’s put this zombie in the ground for good
Like a reanimated corpse from The Walking Dead, carbon capture and storage (CCS) is the boondoggle “technology” that just wont die. As a way for governments to piss public money up the wall, CCS is incredibly effective. On almost every other front, it’s a spectacular failure.
It will take more than process to win crossbench support to govern
It’s pleasing to see a real competition emerging for government in Tasmania the state election a fortnight ago. The Labor Party is finally off the bench and in the game – making a play for crossbench support to form government after refusing the last two opportunities to do so. So far, negotiations are focusing on
July 2025
Australia has a politician problem: not too many, but too few.
Each of Australia’s 150 members of Parliament (MPs) must split their attention between more constituents than ever before: 120,659 voters per MP, over six thousand more than in 2022.
Australians want to kick political parties out of postal voting – poll
Australians overwhelmingly want to keep political parties out of the postal voting process, according to new polling conducted for The Australia Institute.
Are the Democrats an unworkable coalition?
By courting neo-cons and failing to address cost of living concerns, have establishment Democrats signed the party’s death warrant?
The disempowerment of the ‘consumer’ in public services
We are all consumers. Every one of us.
Australians aren’t afraid of power-sharing parliaments
Tasmanians have returned another power-sharing parliament – it’s now up to the major parties to make it work.
Oil and gas export rip-off gets worse as Australian governments hand back royalties to Big Gas
Reporting in Boiling Cold confirms the Australian and Western Australian governments will hand back almost half of the royalties collected from the Chevron-operated Barrow Island joint venture oil facility in WA. The deal between Chevron and the Australian and WA governments means taxpayers will pay Chevron and its joint venture partners, Santos and Exxon, at least $500 million.
WA and federal governments allowing Woodside to export large amounts of WA’s domestic gas reserves
Reporting today confirms large quantities of Western Australia’s domestic gas reserves are being exported via Woodside’s North West Shelf project, and the federal and Western Australian governments are letting it happen.
Election result shows Tasmanians want a power-sharing government
This weekend saw Tasmania’s second election in just over a year, and the result means whoever forms government will need to work with the Greens or Independents if they want to govern.
Just 3% of Australians support the sale of Santos to foreign investors
New polling, commissioned by The Australia Institute, reveals just 3% of Australians want the federal government to approve the sale of Australian-based oil and gas company, Santos, to foreign investors.
South Australia’s leap into the unknown with political finance changes
July 1 marked a dramatic change in how political parties and candidates are funded in South Australia.
Tasmanians want a power-sharing government: poll
More Tasmanians agree than disagree that the major parties should seek to form government with Greens and Independents if they cannot form government in their own right, according to new polling commissioned by The Australia Institute.
A matter of preference
Labor won big and the Coalition got “smashed”, but the major parties have never been more reliant on preferences.
June 2025
Anthony Albanese can restrict gas exports and save the Tomago aluminium smelter
Taxpayers are being asked to hand over billions to multinational mining giant Rio Tinto to help keep its Tomago aluminium smelter open – again.
Minor party and independent preferences behind Labor’s landslide victory
The Labor and Liberal–National parties rely more on preferences to win elections than ever before, according to new analysis from The Australia Institute.
Major parties have never relied more on preferences
At the 2025 federal election, the Albanese Labor Government won over 55% of the two-party preferred vote. The two-party preferred vote, called 2PP, measures whether Australians preferred their Labor candidate or their Liberal–National Coalition candidate. 55% of the 2PP is the party’s best result since 1943. This high 2PP vote disguises a relatively low first-preference
Greens, independents and minor parties the closest threat to leaders
For the first time in Australian history, all three major parties – Labor, Liberal and National – have leaders who saw off a crossbench challenger to hold their seat, according to new Australia Institute analysis.
For major party leaders, the Greens, independents and minor parties are the closest threat
Nearly a quarter of all seats in the federal parliament are now “non-classic” seats, where first and second is no longer a fight between the two major parties.
Australian CEOs are still getting their bonuses. Performance doesn’t seem to matter so much.
Almost all of Australia’s top chief executives are, according to their boards at least, knocking it out of the park in terms of performance.
The $368 billion question | Between the Lines
The Wrap with Dr Emma Shortis As Taylor Swift said, if you play stupid games, you win stupid prizes. Last week the Trump administration sent Australia’s national security establishment into a spin when it announced that it was reviewing the Aukus submarine pact to ensure that it fits Trump’s “America First” agenda. But even before
Whether for or against the stadium, Tasmanians overwhelmingly feel dudded by the AFL – poll
Regardless of who wins the July 19 state election, Tasmanians overwhelmingly want the government to rip up the dud stadium deal with the AFL.
Australia’s parliaments closing in on gender parity, in spite of coalition “women problem” – new analysis
New analysis by The Australia Institute reveals that, following the recent federal election, there are now more women than ever in Australia’s nine parliaments, but the coalition’s so-called “women problem” remains.
Gender parity closer after federal election but “sufficiently assertive” Liberal women are still outnumbered two to one
Now that the dust has settled on the 2025 federal election, what does it mean for the representation of women in Australian parliaments? In short, there has been a significant improvement at the national level. When we last wrote on this topic, the Australian Senate was majority female but only 40% of House of Representatives
The system is working, but big parties must heed voters and engage with minor parties
Tasmanians keep voting for a power-sharing parliament over the wishes of the major parties.
Trump-Musk meltdown & the administration’s ‘crystal ball’
Musk may be out, but the influence of the tech bros has never been greater.
One vote. One value. | Christine Milne
Australians know how to solve national problems, but our political system protects the duopoly that creates them. That’s why we need proportional representation.
Hearing voices: why the Nats should be watching their backs
The community independent movement did not begin in Sydney or Melbourne, but in the bush.
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