February 2019
What The Hell Is Dividend Imputation?
What the hell is dividend imputation and why is everyone talking about franking credits? In this episode, Follow the Money explains how it all works. Host: Ebony Bennett, Deputy Director at The Australia Institute // @ebony_bennett Contributors: Richard Denniss, chief economist at the Australia Institute // @RDNS_TAI Matt Grudnoff, senior economist at the Australia Institute // @MattGrudnoff Producer: Jennifer Macey // @jennifermacey // Additional
December 2018
Big Sticks, Batteries And Bills
As 2018 draws to a close, Australia’s climate and energy policy remains almost entirely unresolved. While the government under Scott Morrison has a Minister for bringing down energy prices, it really has no clear plans to reduce emissions and has flagged plans to underwrite new coal-fired power. Meanwhile Opposition Leader Bill Shorten has announced Labor’s
November 2018
Will Australia Meet Its Paris Commitment?
Prime Minister Scott Morrison has repeatedly claimed Australia will meet its Paris commitment to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 26-28% below 2005 levels by 2030 ‘in a canter’, but is this true? As we approach the next United Nations climate negotiations in the Polish town of Katowice, the Institute’s director of Climate & Energy Richie
June 2018
Tax cuts by electorate
Read the full report: 2018 tax cuts by electorate. Table of electorates Rank Electorate Percentage of average Party 1 Wentworth 192% LIB 2 North Sydney 180% LIB 3 Warringah 172% LIB 4 Sydney 167% ALP 5 Melbourne Ports 160% ALP 6 Higgins 159% LIB 7 Bradfield 158% LIB 8 Kooyong 156% LIB 9 Grayndler 154% ALP
May 2018
2018 Budget Wrap
“the vast majority of the money being handed out is going to go to high income earners…” The Australia Institute was in the 2018 Budget Lockup, and subsequently have gone through the budget papers. Listen to two top economists break it down and give you the straight facts in a way that you won’t hear
December 2017
May 2017
Pocket Money: Budget 2017
Tonight, as the Treasurer rose to give his Budget address in the house, our Deputy Director Ebony Bennett grabbed our Chief Economist Richard Denniss and Senior economist Matt Grudnoff for a chat about the Budget, straight after they emerged from the Budget lockup. Thi podcast isn’t a comprehensive discussion of the Budget, but we tried
A House A House A Kingdom For A House
Housing Affordability is not only a massive policy failure, but is increasingly vying for the gold medal for the most spin and econobabble in Australian politics. Episode 18 of Follow The Money, takes on the vexed issue and tackles the latest bad idea that won’t help housing affordability – raiding your super to pay for a
October 2016
Interest Rates
Interest rates may be one of the most discussed and least understood area of economics in Australia. Our Chief Economist and Senior Economist discuss the whats and whys of Reserve Bank policy and how interest rates really effect people and the broader economy. Contributors: Richard Denniss – @RDNS_TAI Matt Grudnoff – @MattGrudnoff Ebony Bennett – @ebony_bennett. Produced by
September 2016
Is this a new low: politicians using a natural disaster to push a fact-free agenda?
Unburdened by evidence, anti-wind campaigners used the South Australian blackout to kick off a debate about renewables while others waited for facts. First published by the Guardian Australia – here. Normally natural disasters are off limits to politicking, at least in the period straight after the event. So it was pretty awful watching politicians and
May 2016
The Pea & Thimble Trick
In episode 6, we tackle the perennial favourite of politicians in an election year – income tax cuts. Do personal income tax cuts really lead to economic growth and job creation? Does more money in the wallet increase incentives and make people work harder? We put those claims to the test. Contributors: Richard Denniss – @RDNS_TAI
March 2016
Double Negative
Episode three of The Australia Institute’s exciting new podcast series Follow The Money looks at Negative Gearing. You can subscribe to Follow The Money on iTunes. Contributors: Matt Grudnoff @MattGrudnoff Cameron Amos @CamAmos_ Frank Keany @FJKeany Find us on Twitter/Facebook. More on Negative Gearing – recent papers from The Australia Institute: Top Gears: How negative gearing and the capital gains tax
History has a sense of humour
History surely has a sense of humour. In 2010 after taking down a sitting Prime Minister, Julia Gillard went on after the next election to run a minority government. Fast forward 5 years to 2015 and Malcolm Turnbull takes down a sitting Prime Minister only to discover that he too is running a minority government.
February 2016
Super Duper
The second episode of The Australia Institute’s exciting new podcast series Follow The Money looks at Australia’s superannuation system. You can subscribe to Follow The Money on iTunes. Contributors: Richard Denniss @RDNS_TAI Matt Grudnoff @MattGrudnoff Francis Keaney @FJKeany Find us on Twitter/Facebook. More on Super – recent papers from The Australia Institute: A Super Waste of Money Tax Concessions
June 2015
Three solutions to housing affordability other than ‘get a good job’
While the public are rightly outraged at the callous tone of the Treasurers ‘get a good job’ remarks in response to housing affordability, economists should be equally disturbed about the bizarre logic behind the government’s approach to the issue. Joe Hockey seems to be increasingly confused about what housing affordability is. Hockey and Abbott believe
May 2014
Budget hacks away at our core principals
The Government says our education system, our health care, our pensions and our social safety net are unsustainable. The big question I have is why? Every prime minister since Whitlam has managed to maintain the principles of universal health care and education. They have managed to maintain help to our elderly and less fortunate. Why
Abbott delivers a billionaires’ bonus
To paraphrase Winston Churchill — never in the field of budget conflict has so much been extracted by so few at the expense of so many. While the rest of us face a horror budget where we are told to keep calm and carry on, the miners are walking away puffing a cigar and doing the
February 2014
Come clean on your climate stance, Prime Minister
The review of the Renewable Energy Target is the latest move from a Prime Minister whose actions on climate change don’t match his words, writes Matt Grudnoff in this open letter.
Government’s industry policy lacks compass
The government’s industry policy is a complete mess. They can’t seem to decide if they want to crack down on corporate welfare or spend big on industry development. The high Australian dollar is going to continue to put manufacturing businesses under stress. Claims for assistance will keep on coming and the government is deeply
November 2013
Fighting back on gas claims
The newly released report from the Victorian government’s Gas Taskforce is not surprising, given a recent article by its chair, writes Matt Grudnoff.
October 2013
CSG industry wants to hide from its toxic name
Just as those in the world of Harry Potter refused to utter Lord Voldemort’s name for fear of their lives, the gas industry appears equally frightened of using the words ‘coal seam gas’ for fear it might hurt its profits. But just as calling Voldemort ‘He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named’ didn’t make him disappear, calling coal seam gas (CSG)
September 2013
Macfarlane swallows spin from gas industry on drilling
Winston Churchill once said, “never let a good crisis go to waste”. The gas industry clearly agrees with him. It has taken a problem of its own making and turned it into a reason why Australians should ignore all their concerns about coal seam gas and let the industry drill wherever it likes. And if
July 2013
More coal seam gas means higher, not lower, prices
We all agree that gas prices are going to rise. The Australian Petroleum Production and Exploration Association (APPEA) would have you believe that the restrictions on coal seam gas (CSG) in NSW are the cause of the coming price hikes. Ironically, it’s not the lack of CSG that is driving up the price but the
May 2013
Those income tax cuts don’t look so good now
Federal government budgets are always strange affairs. They are billed as fact-based, hardnosed economics, when in fact they are far more about political theatre and posturing. While the budget is supposed to reveal the economic credentials of a government, most economists are left shaking their heads. Take the debate around the surplus. Both the Government
Has Labor’s tax aversion left them on the verge of electoral defeat?
Regardless of the result of the next election, the ALP will hold an inquiry into what went wrong. How on earth, they will ask, could a government presiding over low unemployment, low inflation, low levels of public debt and a triple A credit rating be seen as poor economic managers at a time when the
April 2013
Gas industry has itself to thank for higher prices
Coal seam gas protesters shouldn’t be blamed for rising gas prices in Australia – for that, the gas industry can thank only itself. The Australian Petroleum Production and Exploration Association (APPEA) is blaming opposition to coal seam gas for the coming rise in gas prices. APPEA’s argument is that there is a shortage of gas
February 2013
Geelong’s boom pain
The rapid expansion in the mining industry over the past decade has done more harm than good to Geelong’s economy. Mining has created virtually no jobs in Geelong and has induced a high exchange rate that is crippling Geelong’s manufacturing industry with more than 1 in 8 manufacturing jobs lost over the past six years.
November 2012
Dig a little deeper for full mining story
The NSW Minerals Council is out spruiking the benefits of the mining industry in the Hunter region in a new economic study. Using the same old tricks to inflate their numbers and ignoring any economic downside they manage to spin the result into a rosy picture that reaches the epic proportions of claiming that the
August 2012
Time to clear the haze of carbon price charges
The question perplexing many ActewAGL green power customers is a simple one: if my bill says I am responsible for no carbon emissions why did my bill go up when the carbon price came in? Unfortunately, the answer from ActewAGL has been anything but simple. Since my first article about this in The Canberra Times
July 2012
Why pick green power under new pricing model?
You would think that, with the introduction of a carbon price, the gap between the cost of coal-fired electricity and the cost of renewable energy would close, but, at least if you are an ActewAGL customer, you would be wrong. Surprisingly, despite not facing a carbon bill for the production of green power, the price
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