Despite soaring production and revenues the gas industry is not paying more tax

Late yesterday the final part 2 of the government’s Closing Loopholes industrial relations bill was passed by the Senate.

Australia’s Parliament is set to pass a new set of reforms to the Fair Work Act and other labour laws, that would enshrine certain protections for workers against being contacted or ordered to perform work outside of normal working hours. This “Right to Disconnect” is an important step in limiting the steady encroachment of work

The Australia Institute welcomes the report of the Inquiry Into Price Gouging and Unfair Pricing Practices, chaired by Prof Allan Fels, and delivered today to the Australian Council of Trade Unions.

Unless minimum employment standards for care and support workers using digital labour platforms are guaranteed, decades of slow progress towards proper recognition of care work and equal pay for women could be undone.

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.

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.

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

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 wage rises for low-paid workers on awards and those working in aged care helped drive the strong wage growth.

The RBA made it clear one group continues to do well, and continue to spend – and they are also the ones who are about to get a massive tax cut.

Cost of living rose by more than inflation because of interest rate rises. Another rate rise would only cause more unnecessary pain.

Inflation is being driven by things unaffected by interest rate, so there is no reason for the RBA to raise rates in November

Australia is already an energy superpower, but our governments have lacked the courage to use that power to reduce greenhouse gas emissions

This week Professor Allan Fels, the former head of the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC), has begun an inquiry into price gouging across a range of industries, including banks, insurance companies, supermarkets, and energy providers. The inquiry commissioned by the ACTU comes off the back of the highest inflation in 30 years and the biggest falls in real wages on record.