The gas industry’s claims that new gas supplies are needed to bring down energy prices are misleading and incorrect, according to The Australia Institute. APPEA has today launched a national multimillion dollar campaign claiming that without developing new gas supplies Australia will lose jobs and energy prices will continue to soar. But research from The

Prime Minister Kevin Rudd’s announcement that the carbon price is now a quarter of what was forecast is good news; the question is, for whom? Rather than crippling, the impact of the carbon price is barely even irritating for most polluters. Compared with the impact of the high exchange rate since 2007, the carbon price

In debates about climate change and the mitigation of greenhouse gas emissions, there is a widely-held belief that market mechanisms, like the Labor government’s carbon pricing scheme, will reduce emissions in the cheapest possible way. As a matter of pure theory, this is correct but, in practice, it depends on what is included and excluded

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

The mining industry is in the middle of an expensive new campaign to convince Australians that the growth of mining will not come at the expense of farming. In late 2011 Federal Opposition Leader Tony Abbott talked about respecting the rights of farmers and about protecting arable land from mining, but rejected calls to stop

Households in eastern Australia are about to be hit with more gas price increases which could see wholesale prices triple, according to new research from The Australia Institute. The independent think tank’s paper Cooking up a price rise finds that wholesale gas prices will rise from around $3 or $4 a gigajoule to around $9

The federal government is pouring an extra half a billion dollars into taxpayer-funded subsidies to the mining industry, research by The Australia Institute has found. The Institute’s new paper Pouring more fuel on the fire reveals the booming sector has been propped up even further over the past year and now receives $4.5 billion from

Last month, PWCS management halted development of its controversial T4 coal terminal after downgrading its demand projections, citing falling commodity prices and the shifting global energy market. Considering the opportunistic nature of the proposal, this was always likely to be the case. The company’s environmental assessment used historically high estimates for steaming and coking coal

Politicians often claim that mining supports local communities such as Gloucester through job creation and attracting investment. However, Gloucester’s experience has been one of sluggish growth, environmental degradation and job losses in agriculture – the town’s biggest industry. Mining companies, including Yancoal and AGL, may tell communities that their business is the key to success,

Clive Palmer’s Waratah Coal claims its Galilee Coal Project, which will create four underground mines, two open-cut mines, and 468 kilometres of railway line in central Queensland, will bring economic prosperity to the region. In its recently-released supplementary environmental impact statement, however, the company refused calls to release its modelling. Without it, the public is

When Federal MP for Dawson George Christensen said the Abbot Point coal port expansion was critical to the community for jobs and security, he was absolutely right. Not because the project will create long-lasting job opportunities, but because it could put hundreds of the region’s workers out of sustainable jobs and permanently damage the region’s

Last week, the former NSW Treasurer and Minister for the Hunter Michael Costa attacked current Opposition Leader John Robertson for his comments suggesting the Labor Party was planning to phase out coal mining. Mr Costa labeled the move a betrayal of the party’s traditional voters. Michael Costa’s concern for the jobs of devout Labor voters

Last week, Greenpeace released a report calling for a halt to Australia’s burgeoning coal exports and pointing to the catastrophic climate impacts they would cause. In response, Mitch Hooke, chief executive of the Minerals Council of Australia, took a standard industry line: “the proposal to stop Australian coal exports won’t stop global coal use –

The Australian government will begin imposing a tax on carbon emissions in mid-2012. But large giveaways to industry mean Australia’s scheme doesn’t go nearly far enough in reducing the nation’s CO2 emissions or providing economic stimulus. Another global climate conference has come and gone with little action to reduce carbon dioxide emissions, which makes efforts

Climate change and food security are among the biggest problems facing the world today, and the fact that an increase in the former means a lot less of the latter simply makes both problems even more urgent. While the overlap in the consequences of these two problems might be obvious, what is less clear is

Between the lines is the Institute’s selective analysis of the policies and politics affecting the wellbeing of Australians. This edition looks at the Resource Super Profits Tax, government advertising and missing out on government assistance.

NOBODY could have predicted that the might of Rio Tinto would be challenged by Bulga, a tiny NSW town of 300. Certainly, nobody could have predicted that Bulga would win. But when the Land and Environment Court overturned the NSW government’s approval for the expansion of Rio Tinto’s Warkworth coal mine, citing that the project’s

QUEENSLAND Premier Campbell Newman has stared down former federal treasurer Peter Costello and he deserves some credit for that. A stocktake of Australia’s electricity now, compared with two decades ago, confirms that the privatisation and corporatisation of the sector has been a massive failure. An analysis of the sector since Victoria privatised power in the

Electricity privatisation has failed to deliver cheaper power to consumers and has not improved the sector’s efficiency, a new analysis by The Australia Institute has found. The analysis shows that since Victoria privatised power in the 1990s, electricity prices have outpaced inflation, increasing by 170 per cent compared with an increase of 60 per cent

What is the corporate equivalent of a dole bludger? For all the talk about class warfare in Australia it is interesting that the conservatives have a pejorative name for individuals who need support from the state but progressives don’t even have a term for the foreign companies that make huge profits but still have their

Tony Abbott’s Direct Action Plan has been ridiculed by many as expensive and unworkable. One of the primary objections has been that the centrepiece of the policy, the Emissions Reduction Fund, is a baseline-and-credit scheme that will require counterfactual baselines to be set for every participating polluter. The baseline for a given polluter will be

A cabinet reshuffle provides the perfect opportunity for a prime minister to clarify the role of incoming ministers. From his deeds, it’s pretty clear Martin Ferguson interpreted his job as representing the interests of those who profit from extracting our resources rather than the citizens who own those resources. And given their praise on his

Although the new water trigger law, recently introduced by the Government was cheered by the rural independents, Greens and environmental groups, the proposal is illogical, runs counter to existing policy structures and is unlikely to improve environmental outcomes. The government has unilaterally introduced this water trigger in breach of the 1997 Council of Australian Governments

This presentation provides a summary of key findings from research by The Australia Institute into the economic impacts of the mining boom. It gives an overview of the Australian mining sector, including levels of employment, foreign ownership and subsidies, and looks at the consequences of the boom for non-mining industries like agriculture, tourism, manufacturing and

Australian farmers have lost $61.5 billion in export income since the mining boom pushed the Australian dollar to historic highs, a new analysis by The Australia Institute reveals. Still beating around the bush: The continuing impacts of the mining boom on rural exports examines the rural sector’s export income from the beginning of the mining

The government’s obsession with speeding up the mining boom has delivered an exchange rate and a shortage of skilled labour that is devastating the manufacturing industry. Rather than take its foot off the mining boom accelerator or admit that the miners’ boom means a bust for manufacturers, the government is trying to buy itself some

The Australia Institute (TAI) has been researching the economic impacts of mining activity in Australia. This document provides a brief summary of key facts and links to TAI research papers, policy briefs and submissions currently available online. Key facts Mining ‘crowds out’ other industries: The expansion of mining causes a contraction in non-mining industries, particularly

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.

Resources and Energy Minister Chris Hartcher claims there will be “catastrophic consequences” if NSW does not develop more coal seam gas. He seems to believe that by doing so there will be more gas for local industry and that this will prevent soaring prices. This couldn’t be further from the truth. The reason that gas

‘Mums and dads’ seem to be replacing ‘working families’ as the focus of political concern in Australia. The biggest problem with last week’s hoax media release about Whitehaven Coal, many argued, was its impact on ”mum and dad investors”. The language of mum and dad investors is as widely used as it is meaningless. Gina