First published in the Australian Financial Review, 24th March 2015 Politics The senate is often describe as obstructionist and causing chaos but it is there for good reasons and governments have to learn to deal with it. Imagine if there was no senate to block Gough Whitlam’s reform agenda. Malcolm Fraser would have had no

“For 27 of the last 30 years, Australian Governments have needed to engage a crossbench or convince the opposition to pass any legislation.” – Richard Denniss A new book, Minority Policy: Rethinking Governance When Parliament Matters, explores the influence of marginal parliamentarians in Australian Politics. It will be launched by Senator Nick Xenophon and Clive

The Intergenerational Report is a deeply flawed document based on deeply flawed assumptions according to Dr Richard Denniss, Executive Director of the Australia Institute. “The Intergenerational report should provide an opportunity to start a conversation about the Australia we want to have in the coming decades, instead it simply tries to scare the public into

Leading anti-corruption experts say that the lack of proper regulation of lobbying is a major corruption risk. They called on whoever forms government in Queensland to ensure that all lobbyists are included in the lobbying register, and for full disclosure of lobbying meetings.  Corruption fighting heavyweight, former ICAC Commissioner the Hon David Ipp AO QC,

Twenty two prominent QLD legal and civil society organisations have taken out a full page add in today’s Courier Mail newspaper calling on all parties elected to the new parliament to their election commitment to honour their the principles of accountability and good governance put forward by The Honourable Tony Fitzgerald AC QC. The letter

The Australia Institute sent letters on January 8th 2015 (copy of letter to LNP) to Queensland’s main political parties. Responses were requested by January 19th, 2015. Responses received: Queensland Labor Party – ALP response – PDF Queensland Greens – Greens response – PDF Bob Katter’s Australia Party: Response to The Australia Institute Letter to Katter’s Australian

Is it OK to break laws that you don’t believe in? Corporate Australia certainly seems to think so. Coles lost a Federal Court battle in June over the definition of “fresh”, when it was discovered their “baked today, sold today” bread range included products made overseas, frozen and transported months earlier. Coles took a slap

The stunning victory by the ALP in Victoria on the weekend raises a number of big questions for the Coalition parties nationally, the most significant of which is whether their strategy for winning elections in recent years has ruined their chances of governing like grown-ups.

Tony Abbott was made for “drop and run” politics.  A key part of media training for politicians, the “drop and run” is a smooth strategy for deflecting a question, promoting a three-word slogan and moving on to attack your opponent. Dodge the query, never dwell on details, just drop your message and shift debate to

The term “energy poverty” refers to people who do not have access to electricity and clean cooking facilities. Globally, 1.3 billion people do not have access to electricity in their houses and 2.6 billion people cook by burning coal, wood and other solid fuels. This has major impacts on people’s health, safety and quality of

You’d never know it from their behaviour, but the Greens hold 10 seats in the current Senate compared to the Palmer United Party’s three. Their current strategy of voting against virtually everything the Abbott Government announces, including things they actually support, has made them largely irrelevant since the last election. It is hard to think

The Abbott government can’t decide if it wants to tell people how to live their lives or free them to make their own decisions. The Coalition’s education policy, for example, reveals the contradictions between the world views of libertarianism and conservatism that the Coalition claims to represent. For many years, the balancing act has worked.

Divestment By the shrill sound of things, you’d be forgiven for thinking the Australian National University (ANU) had sent its teaching staff on a paid trip to blockade the Pilliga. Jamie Briggs, Minister for Infrastructure, attacked ANU for “damaging” job creation. Christopher Pyne, Minister for Education, called the university “bizarre”. Joe Hockey made similar intonations,

If universities can’t be trusted to make their own investment decisions, who can be? Indeed, if the federal Coalition wants to join in the mining industry’s attack on the Australian National University for having the temerity to divest its shares in Santos and six other companies, why is the government proposing fee deregulation for the

Richard debated Stephen Galilee, the head of the NSW Minerals Council on 7.30 NSW regarding their recent attack on our research into mining subsidies. This material sheds light both on our approach to our research and the disingenuous approach taken by the NSW Minerals Council.

The Australian Institute says the Minerals Council members – the large, mostly foreign-owned, mining companies – should explain the attacks on The Australia Institute. The Minerals Council has claimed that The Australia Institute is being directed by a political party. This is untrue and defamatory. The Minerals Council should immediately desist from making such claims

The hypocrisy of Joe Hockey’s call for big business to make the case for his economic reforms is breathtaking. His government’s signature economic ”reform” was to rip up a perfectly good carbon tax. The Prime Minister and Treasurer rightly bet that business groups would sit silently by while this populist policy destruction took place. But

Economic modelling is like The Wizard of Oz. Behind a impressive facade of power and omnipotence lies an underwhelming array of bizarre assumptions, confused theory, inadequate data, and a desire to please the customer. Economic modelling, it seems, is loved by everyone. Lobbyists and industry groups love it as it allows them to dress up

Last week was another big week for The Australia Institute. You might have seen that we launched another major research report, Mining the Age of Entitlement, this time on the $17.6 billion worth of  taxpayer support that State governments have given the mining industry. You might have seen Ben Oquist’s name mentioned in relation to

Age of entitlement lives on: Report exposes billions in government handouts to mining State governments are providing billions of dollars in subsidies to the minerals and fossil fuel industries, a new report by The Australia Institute (TAI) has revealed. The report exposes the massive scale of state government assistance, totalling $17.6 billion over a six-year

Usually political staffers are not seen and not heard. This week a striking exception was made when Clive Palmer brought attention to the Prime Minister’s chief of staff’s potential qualification for his paid parental leave scheme, and then called her the “top dog”. Outrage ensued, as it became better known that Credlin – perhaps the

There is a disparity between politicians’ love of symbolism and shareholders’ love of results. Unfortunately for Prime Minister Tony Abbott, that disparity seems set to distance his government even further from the agenda of the mainstream business community in Australia. As if proposing to introduce a new levy on corporate profits and increasing the top

Last night’s federal budget is more of a discussion starter than the final word when it comes to policy change in this term of government. Given the numbers in the Senate, the list of “new commitments” announced by Treasurer Joe Hockey are best interpreted as a wish-list rather than the likely end result.

John Howard is the Ronald Reagan of Australian politics. While Reagan is deified by modern Republicans for his fiscal conservatism, in reality he oversaw big increases in government spending. But because he took from the poor to deliver to the rich they love him all the same. 

Despite the skill of individual musicians, orchestras still need a conductor to bring the whole performance together. It is one thing to know how to play the horn, but someone needs to decide when the best time to honk it is. This week the Abbott government sounded like an orchestra without a conductor – there

Despite the Abbott government carrying out their commitment to slash tens of thousands of public-sector jobs and the pride taken in the deterrence effect of the death of an asylum seeker on Manus Island, our deputy prime minister in waiting, Barnaby Joyce, describes $300 million from taxpayers to his constituency as proof that we are

Class war, it seems, can only be declared on those who have the least. When laws are reshaped to pour money into the pockets of those with the most, however, it is more polite to call it tax reform.

Tony Abbott tore through Kevin Rudd, Julia Gillard and Kevin Rudd (again) but now, according to the polls, Bill Shorten is the most effective Opposition Leader in history. Abbott’s Coalition is the least popular new government on record and they haven’t even passed a horror budget yet. Incumbency used to be seen as a great