he Adani coal mine is the most divisive resource project since the proposal to dam Tasmania’s Franklin River in 1983. The debate over whether to subsidise it even more so. But thanks to Annastasia Palaszczuk’s last-minute decision to veto any Commonwealth loan to the project, the voters of Queensland are now being offered a full range of policy positions

An FOI request from The Australia Institute has revealed the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade has “several hundreds of pages” of documents relating to Ministers and officials making formal representations to foreign financiers to back the Adani project.  “With ‘several hundreds of pages’ of relevant documents across multiple parts of the Department of Foreign

Media release 24 October 2017  The Australia Institute released a new briefing note showing that Australia’s emissions are rising rapidly, in contrast to the United States, China and the rest of the world. “The government has completely failed to put in place a suit of policies that will reduce our emissions,” said senior economist at The

New polling three key Liberal seats of Warringah, Wentworth and Kooyong on the National Energy Guarantee (NEG) policy shows voters overwhelming support pricing carbon, would be more likely to support a NEG that achieves 50% renewable energy, and do not think the NEG will lower electricity prices and back the States keeping their own renewable

A new report from The Australia Institute shows that the Minerals Council of Australia’s coal advocacy is out of all proportion with its members’ interests The Minerals Council of Australia (MCA) represents companies that mine a wide range of minerals, yet delivers three times more media coverage for coal than for any other mineral. Analysis

New polling of 1,421 Australians, released today by The Australia Institute’s Climate & Energy Program, shows voters would prefer to see governments increasing energy conservation rather than building new power stations. A recent report by Dan Cass explains that demand response allows energy consumers to sell ‘negawatts’ of reduced demand into the National Electricity Market,

The Australia Institute’s Climate & Energy Program says the demand response pilots announced by the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) and Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO) will reduce electricity prices for consumers. “ARENA and AEMO have taken action to deliver security through innovation, something that should be welcomed by all sides,” Australia Institute executive director,

The Australia Institute’s new Climate & Energy Program has today released national polling showing 78% support for a Clean Energy Target (CET). 72% of Liberal and National Party voters support a CET. Just 11% of respondents did not want a CET. “The public, industry, investors and experts are all crying out for some policy direction,”

The Australian gas industry’s best hope is the Turnbull government’s worst nightmare; a big increase in world prices for oil and gas. Santos and Origin executives lost billions of their shareholder’s dollars when they bet $60 billion worth of gas export facilities in Gladstone on a world oil price of around $US100. They lost. The

Australia has plenty of cheap gas. The problem is private companies are selling it all overseas, writes principal adviser at The Australia Institute Mark Ogge. [This article was first published by Crikey – here] Hard to believe, isn’t it? But it’s true: in the last decade, tens of thousands of square kilometers of Queensland farmland has

A new national poll on gas issues shows voters overwhelming support state fracking moratoriums and blame exports for gas price rises. A survey of 1,421 Australian residents, conducted by The Australia Institute through Research Now between 17 and 26 September 2017, showed twice as many support (49%) a moratorium on fracking than oppose it (24%).

Polling of over 1,000 voters in the Deputy Prime Minister’s electorate of New England shows strong support for renewable energy investment over coal. The results were similar in the electorate of Hughes, currently occupied by one of the most pro-coal members of the Coalition, Craig Kelly. “60 per cent of voters in New England think

The first major report from The Australia Institute’s Climate & Energy Program evaluates the energy policies required to meet Australia’s greenhouse gas emissions reduction targets set by the Abbott government and pledged at the international climate summit in Paris. The Climate & Energy Program was launched following the transfer of the Climate Institute’s intellectual property

Given the enormous investment in renewable energy taking place in the US and in Europe, other national governments must be determined to drive up the price of their electricity. [First published by the Australian Financial Review – here] Either that, or everything Malcolm Turnbull has been saying about the need to keep a 50-year-old power station going

A new ReachTEL poll, commissioned by The Australia Institute’s Climate and Energy Program, asked residents of the electorates of Hunter and Shortland about energy policy, including government investment in coal, renewables and the Liddell coal power station. Strong majorities in the coal electorates (61% and 57%) preferred government investment in renewables than in coal (32%

The Australia Institute has released a scathing criticism of economic modelling in the Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for Glencore’s zinc mine expansion. “Glencore claim up front that the expansion of McArthur River would generate taxes and royalties of over $1.5 billion,” said Rod Campbell, Research Director of The Australia Institute. “But it’s not until you

The Australia Institute is today releasing a new FOI showing that the CSIRO pays membership fees to the Minerals Council of Australia (MCA) of $10k a year. The CSIRO is an associate member of the Minerals Council of Australia (MCA), the mining lobby group known for its forceful campaigns against effective action on climate change.

New research released today by the Australia Institute shows that the mining industry is dominated by foreign corporate interests that are spending hundreds of millions of dollars influencing our political process. The report finds that: Total revenue of mining lobby groups over the last 10 years is $524,150,431, with the Minerals Council of Australia accounting

The citizenship debacle engulfing the Nationals, and in turn the Coalition government, has as much to do with trust and integrity as it does with the constitution. Being consistent is important in business and in government. [This article was first published by the Australian Financial Review – here] After the Greens’ Scott Ludlum and Larissa

The Palaszczuk Government risks a voter backlash as it breaks a clear election promise which ruled out subsidising the Adani coal project, according to a new report from The Australia Institute. First, the Queensland government is ultimately responsible for a $1bn subsidised loan from the Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility (NAIF). Secondly, the Queensland government has

This opinion piece was first published in the Canberra Times on 29 July 2017. The final season of Game of Thrones is back and winter is coming for House Turnbull. The failure of the federal government on energy policy is driving up emissions, driving up energy prices, stalling investment and its harming consumers. And hasn’t

The Australia Institute has released a report Electricity Costs which finds that electricity prices have increased at three times the rate of CPI. The report finds that companies have been ‘gold-plating’ financial assets and passing those costs onto consumers. [Full report see attachment below] “All in all we find that the additional direct and indirect

Imagine if petrol prices went up from $1.29/litre to $180/litre for brief parts of the day on a few days of the year. Worse still, imagine drivers had no way of knowing what price they were paying until after they’d filled up. [This article was first published by Crikey here] If that was the case, Australia’s

The Australia Institute has released new research showing that the development of Adani and other Galilee basin mines would reduce NSW coal royalties by over $10 billion to 2035. [Full report in PDF below] The Institute’s calculations are based on analysis by well-known coal analysts Wood Mackenzie, commissioned by the Port of Newcastle, the world’s

New report identifies ‘virtual power plants’ could provide energy security faster and cheaper than new power stations, echoing parts of the Finkel review that have been largely ignored. “Australian governments can fight all they like over what new generation capacity to build. Regardless of who wins, none of it will be built for years, while

If word processors were invented today they would no doubt be seen through the left-right prism. Like a dying star, the 18th century political binary of left and right produces far more heat as the end of its life approaches. Is a wind turbine really “left wing”? Is a grid scale battery “progressive”? [The article

New polling of seven electorates belonging to senior Cabinet Ministers, including the Prime Minister, reveals strong opposition to a federal subsidised loan for Adani’s coal project, and support for instituting a moratorium on new coal mines. The Australia Institute commissioned ReachTEL to conduct surveys of 4,712 Australian residents across the electorates of Wentworth (Turnbull), Cook

Media release 24 June 2017 The Climate Institute has selected The Australia Institute to take on remaining funds and intellectual property from the disbanding organisation. “I am  pleased to announce that, following the closure of The Climate Institute on 30 June, its significant remaining funds and intellectual property will be transferred to The Australia Institute,

It has taken ten years of cheap politics and bad policy decisions to deliver Australians high energy prices, high greenhouse gas emissions and low levels of reliability. Rather than listen to scientists, engineers or economists Australia’s energy policy has been shaped by lobbyists, political strategists and shock jocks. It’s hard to see how things went