Australia was never exclusively a “two-party system”, a reality that is getting harder to ignore as minor party and independent representation grows, according to new research from the Australia Institute. While power sharing has always been a feature of Australian parliaments, the declining major party vote demands a more mature and nuanced analysis of electoral

The resignation of the Independent Commissioner Against Corruption, the Honourable Ann Vanstone KC, should trigger a rethink of the debilitating and troublesome changes to the ICAC that were rushed through the South Australian Parliament in 2021.

Canberra doesn’t really have a fossil fuel industry, which perhaps explains why we lead the country in decarbonising our economy.

Careless political finance reforms could shift the balance in Australian democracy in favour of special interests.

There are no parallels for the first debate of the 2024 US presidential election cycle.

Today, in a surprise development likely weeks in the planning, WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange was able to leave the United Kingdom for the first time in more than a decade after reaching a plea deal with the US government.

Leading civil society organisations have signed an open letter, coordinated by the Australia Institute and published today in The Canberra Times, calling on the Parliament of Australia to safeguard Australia’s democracy by addressing major gaps in the nation’s electoral laws.

Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek has just approved a new coal seam gas pipeline in Queensland.

Leading environment and policy groups are calling on the Tasmanian Government to make the decade-long-delayed State of the Environment Report public before several key financial and planning decisions are made by the government and the parliament later this year.

A majority of Australians (57%) want the Biden Administration to drop the prosecution of Julian Assange and allow him to return home to Australia, according to new Australia Institute research.

The Malinauskas Government’s electoral amendment bill could represent a potential paradigm shift in South Australian politics, but risks adverse outcomes unless carefully tested in a parliamentary inquiry. 

Today, the name of Niccolò Machiavelli is a byword for cynicism and hunger for power, but there was one profession so parasitic and selfish even he could not stomach it.

This edition: Independents call out the gas industry and Australia’s consultant addiction continues

The decision by the National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC) to not investigate potentially corrupt conduct by public servants administering Robodebt highlights the gaps in Australia’s accountability and anti-corruption regime.

Australia Institute research has found a majority (56%) of Australians want free-to-air sports coverage to be available on the internet.

New analysis from the Australia Institute shows that the privatisation, deregulation, and outsourcing of public services has failed to provide economic or social returns to Australians.

Transparency, integrity and accountability were buzzwords of the 2024 state election, yet Tasmanians went to the polls without knowing where their politicians get their money, without laws requiring truth in political advertising, and without an anti-corruption body that is fit for purpose.

Who would have thought that the legal and personal travails of Julian Assange, the Australian citizen whom US authorities are invested in prosecuting and jailing for the rest of his life without deep consideration of his fundamental rights, would become a lightning rod for former President Trump’s re-election hopes?

While money can’t buy everything, the Australian Government can ‘buy’ a lower Consumer Price Index (CPI).

In 2019 the Australia Institute identified ambitious, progressive policies from the Australian Capital Territory, most of which are overwhelmingly popular among all Australians. Five years on, we have an update on how these policies have progressed in Canberra and around Australia.

An investigative video report by the Australia Institute has found taxpayer subsidised native forest logging is destroying hundreds of hectares of the future Great Koala National Park each week, despite the NSW Government’s election commitment to put the land aside for protection.

The UK High Court decision to grant Julian Assange’s request to appeal against his extradition to the United States provides a welcome, but temporary stay and hope for the campaign to free him, while continuing his punishment-by-process at the hands of Australia’s closest ally.

Nobody likes to be hoodwinked, but that’s what big companies are essentially doing when they engage in greenwashing – giving consumers the false impression they have business practices that help the environment instead of harming it.

New research from the Australia Institute has identified 16 key reforms that are required to strengthen and safeguard democracy in Tasmania, which now lags behind many mainland jurisdictions in accountability and transparency.

Former Senator Rex Patrick is on a mission to make freedom of information reform “sexy”.

Freedom of Information laws have helped the public uncover information governments would prefer to keep secret, but the system is failing.

Watch Dr Emma Shortis’ address to ‘Night Falls In The Evening Lands: The Assange Epic’ at RMIT University, Melbourne, on 9th March 2024.

Research from the Australia Institute demonstrates that the NSW electoral system’s donation caps, spending caps and public funding benefit established parties and incumbent MPs at the expense of new parties and independent candidates.

This is an extract of Lech Blaine’s Quarterly Essay, Bad Cop: Peter Dutton’s Strongman Politics, out now.