First published in The Australian Financial Review, 30 June 2015 – Here The Business Council of Australia once defended free markets, but now it and others only support reforms that help its big business friends. If the Business Council of Australia (BCA) was serious about reducing government waste it would have slammed the recent announcement

The Howard Government decision in 2001 to cut indexation has cost the budget more than $46 billion in tax revenue to date. If no change is made the total cost to the budget is projected to top $160 billion by 2025. Additional carbon dioxide emissions attributable to the policy are projected to reach 16 million

Queensland spends less on social services than the rest of Australia in per capita terms, a new report from The Australia Institute has revealed. (Table 1 below) The state is the nation’s biggest spender of public funds in one area though; subsidies for mining projects.  Currently public schools face a $268 million maintenance backlog, and

While Norway’s decision to divest its $900 billion sovereign wealth fund from coal shares sent shock waves around the financial world, it was the way the Norwegian parliament made the decision that is truly radical. Norway has a conservative minority government, but the idea to sell out of coal started with an NGO, was taken

The mining industry is furious that if you make a donation to an environment group, your donation is tax deductible. You know the drill. You give someone in a koala suit anything over $2, they give you a receipt and go off to save an owl, hug a tree or, more likely, make a submission

Most Australians agree universities should avoid investments in fossil fuels, according to the first national polling on the topic released today by The Australia Institute in a new report. The polling also shows university decisions to avoid fossil fuels may boost donations from alumni, while also encouraging people with superannuation to consider low carbon funds.

Tax policy Resources companies and lobby groups are lobbying a parliamentary inquiry to strip political climate groups of their charity status. But resources companies can deduct the money they pay to their industry groups from tax. Speech isn’t free in Australia. It isn’t even cheap. Corporate Australia spends billions telling the public, and our politicians,

The Guardian reported this morning International Monetary Fund calculations that world fossil fuel subsidies are running at $5.3 trillion dollars annually, or $10m per minute. In Australia, successive state and federal governments have given subsidies in the form of diesel fuel rebates, infrastructure funding and royalties discounts worth billions. TAI director of research, Rod Campbell,

A little bit of economic theory is a dangerous thing, and many of the people defending what BHP and Rio Tinto have done to the price of iron ore are demonstrating that they have very little economic knowledge indeed. Economists usually don’t like cartels, or other forms of producer protections, as they help producers and

Executive Director of The Australia Institute, Richard Denniss, today delivered expert witness testimony to a court challenge of the approval of a major coal mine in the Galilee Basin.  Summary: Adani have long claimed in public that the Carmichael mine project will create 10,000 jobs. In court, Adani’s own economist testified that the project would

The iron ore price is well above its long-term average. Indeed, at $US50 per tonne it is well above the $US36 price that Wayne Swan inherited in 2007. Blaming the iron ore price for Western Australia’s budgetary woes is like blaming the sinking of the Titanic on the iceberg. Yes, it’s a factor and yes,

Imagine this. You’re a State Government minister. Your department and the most powerful industry it regulates are under fire for failing to comply with your government’s own guidelines. Courts, the media and community groups keep complaining that the industry breaks the guidelines and your department lets them get away with it. Even the consultants you

A new report identifies huge potential investment in solar power, not just wind, is dependent on a stable, strong large-scale Renewable Energy Target (LRET). The Large Scale Solar and the RET report also suggests that a 40% target would provide an earlier tipping point to trigger major solar investment. “Since coming to office, the Abbott

Whether Tony Abbott limps on as PM or Malcolm Turnbull swoops in to lead the coalition, it is clear that big changes in policy are on the cards, and the area that is ripe for the biggest change is climate policy. There’s no easier way for the coalition to both signal that they have learned

The Newman government was handing an Indian billionaire billions of dollars of taxpayer money for literally – literally – no reason. During the recent state election, both the LNP and Labor in Queensland broadly supported the Carmichael coal project by Indian mining giant Adani. The key difference was whether they were expecting the taxpayer to

Indian mining company Adani says its Carmichael coal project in Queensland’s Galilee Basin does hundreds of millions of dollars in taxpayer funds promised to it by the Queensland LNP, raising questions over why such a subsidy was offered in the first place. The $450 million rail subsidy, along with the offer to waive royalty payments

Job creation claims relating to coal projects in the Galilee Basin have been inflated by 300%, from 9,000 to 27,000, according to a report by economists at The Australia Institute. The Australia Institute’s Executive Director, Dr Richard Denniss, said the use of input/output modelling used by those championing the Galilee coal projects has been described by the

A new report commissioned by The Australia Institute shows gas demand in NSW could halve within a decade and questions the need for a gas network in NSW. The report, “The Dash from Gas. Could demand in New South Wales fall to half?” by the University of Melbourne’s Energy Institute synthesises recent important research by

Once upon a time if a project couldn’t make a profit without government support conservative politicians would have called it a bad investment. Not these days. Take, for example, the Queensland government’s plan to spend $2 billion on coal transport infrastructure trying to make marginal mines in the Galilee basin financially viable. Even after enormous

New research from the Australia Institute finds that the health and environmental impacts of wind and solar technologies are far less detrimental than fossil fuels.  Two reports were released today, examining the impacts of, and broad public attitudes toward, wind power and solar energy. They find Australians are overwhelmingly more interested in a future fuelled

The Victorian Liberals’ announcement of $3.9 billion for new trams and trains over the next 10 years appears unlikely to meet growing demand, according to analysis of the announcement from the Australia Institute. The “Napthine Government [is] building better public transport for a growing population,” the Victorian Liberals said in a press release last week.

The Renewable Energy Target is a big win for Tasmania, drawing in a net benefit of more than $100 million per year, according to a new report from the Australia Institute. But unscrutinised and unfounded claims from Tasmania’s largest industrial firms, who vocally oppose the scheme, have skewed public perceptions, the report finds. Released today, The

The latest plan to renege on the 41,000 GWh renewable energy target (RET) is even worse for consumers than the plans modelled by Dick Warburton’s recent inquiry, according to an analysis by The Australia Institute. A new proposal from NSW Senator David Leyonhjelm recommends existing hydro electricity generators built before the RET become eligible for

The Queensland government’s decision to pour billions of taxpayer dollars into the Adani coal project in the Galilee basin proves, once and for all, that the mining industry are leaners, not lifters.

In a world in which war is waged for humanitarian reasons but sending doctors and nurses to prevent an outbreak of Ebola is considered too risky, almost any spin seems possible. But surely the mining industry’s claim that the best way to tackle global energy poverty is to build more coal mines takes the biscuit.

The term “energy poverty” refers to people who do not have access to electricity and clean cooking facilities. Globally, 1.3 billion people do not have access to electricity in their houses and 2.6 billion people cook by burning coal, wood and other solid fuels. This has major impacts on people’s health, safety and quality of

The climate debate reveals how confused the philosophical underpinnings of political parties have become, writes Richard Denniss for The Australian Financial Review. Public debate about the details of climate policy can be like seven-year-olds arguing over who would win a battle between Spiderman and The Incredible Hulk. The debate is messy because of the combination

If the Greens and Labor really are concerned about cost of living, they should support the re-indexation of fuel excise in return for a say on how this revenue is spent, writes Richard Denniss for The Drum.

You’d never know it from their behaviour, but the Greens hold 10 seats in the current Senate compared to the Palmer United Party’s three. Their current strategy of voting against virtually everything the Abbott Government announces, including things they actually support, has made them largely irrelevant since the last election. It is hard to think

Divestment By the shrill sound of things, you’d be forgiven for thinking the Australian National University (ANU) had sent its teaching staff on a paid trip to blockade the Pilliga. Jamie Briggs, Minister for Infrastructure, attacked ANU for “damaging” job creation. Christopher Pyne, Minister for Education, called the university “bizarre”. Joe Hockey made similar intonations,