February 2018
The Coalition of free-market freeloaders
The word “ideology” has a bad name these days but, as we are beginning to see, it is surprisingly hard to govern a country without one. Take, for example, the ideology of small government often associated with conservative governments like that of Mr Turnbull’s. [First published by the Australian Financial Review – here] Last week
Company Tax: Research promoted in TV advert challenges $65 billion cuts
A TV advertisement which will begin airing nationally today features research from The Australia Institute into the government’s $65 billion dollar company tax cuts plan. Building on research showing a lack of evidence that company tax cuts promote either jobs or growth the advertisement identifies the likelihood that the gift to the corporate sector will
January 2018
Gas And Coal Watch
“Burning something to boil water to create steam is a really old-fashioned technology…” The Australia Institute has spent the hot summer days monitoring when gas and coal power plants trip, taking sometimes hundreds of megawatts of power from the grid at unpredictable times. In contrast, solar power is taking pressure of the grid by delaying
Scare Tactics for Corporate Tax Cuts Do Not Stand Fact Checks
In the wake of the Trump Administration’s success in pushing a major company tax cut through the U.S. Congress, the Australian Treasurer has stepped up his calls for reduced company taxes here. He claims Australia will bypass the growth-inducing benefits of these tax cuts, but Dr. Anis Chowdhury, Associate of the Centre for Future Work, has compiled the economic evidence. The U.S. experience shows no statistical evidence of any “trickle-down” growth dividend from company tax cuts.
Energy policy based on feelings doesn’t help consumers
Just as many politicians choose to ignore the evidence of criminologists when designing crime prevention policy, the majority of Australian politicians choose to ignore economic evidence in the design of Australian energy policy. That’s OK. There’s no mention of role of evidence in the Australian Constitution and there’s no obligation on parliamentarians to base policy
December 2017
Polling shows Americans and Australians united in opposition to cutting company tax
ReachTEL polling released today by The Australia Institute, asked voters in three blue-ribbon Liberal electorates about cutting the company tax rate. The poll comes as proponents of the cuts site the progress of deeply unpopular Republican tax plans as a reason for Australia to follow suit. The GOP tax plan has been widely repudiated by
Curing Affluenza – How To Buy Less Stuff And Save The World
“Affluenza is that strange desire we feel to spend money we don’t have to buy things we don’t need to impress people we don’t know . . .” A truly modern affliction, affluenza is endemic in Western societies, encouraged by those who profit from a culture of exploitation and waste. So how do we cure
November 2017
Plan to use Trump tax cuts to boost Australian case backfires
As advocates of cutting corporate taxes have attempted to cast Donald Trump’s tax cuts as a reason for Australia to follow suit, analysis of the plan has exposed more evidence of the flaws in the economic case for the Coalitions’ planned big business handout which would cost the budget $65 billion dollars. The report from
Job Growth No Guarantee of Wage Growth
Measured by official employment statistics, Australia’s labour market has improved in recent months: full-time employment has grown, and the official unemployment rate has fallen. But dig a little deeper, and the continuing structural weakness of the job market is more apparent. In particular, labour incomes remain unusually stagnant. In this commentary, Centre for Future Work Associate Dr. Anis Chowdhry reflects on the factors explaining slow wage growth — and what’s required to get wages growing.
Queenslanders – North and South – back Adani loan veto: poll
A new ReachTEL poll of over 2,181 Queenslanders, commissioned by The Australia Institute, has found strong support for Queensland parties choosing to veto a federal subsidised loan for the Adani coal project. To accompany the polling (full results in PDF below), The Australia Institute has also released new research on the economic case for the
October 2017
Hundreds of Adani-related documents from DFAT – FOI
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
Tasmanian salmon industry faces major risks
The Australia Institute Tasmania today released a new report Salmon stakes: Risks for the Tasmanian salmon industry, outlining the serious risks Tasmania’s salmon industry faces if its environmental and social impacts are not managed. “The salmon industry is important to Tasmania and has tripled in size over a decade. Rapid growth is always brings problems,
What does the MCA stand for? Mainly Coal Advocacy
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
Submarines or rape counselling? Priorities are the measure of any government
Is the purpose of being in government primarily to keep the opposition from doing it? The Coalition is now in its fifth year in power, yet it spends more time blaming Labor for the country’s problems than spelling out its own plans to improve Australians’ lives. [This article was first published by The Canberra Times
Gas prices shine light on mining subsidies
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
September 2017
No loss of revenue and overwhelming support to phase out pokies – so why would Tasmania keep them?
Modelling by The Australia Institute has found any impact to the state budget from phasing out poker machines in pubs and clubs could be negated through increasing taxes on poker machines in casinos. New polling released today shows strong support for phasing out poker machines in pubs and clubs in Tasmania, even among Liberal voters.
Malcolm Turnbull has simply become the man with a plan for more plans
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
Jobs survey reveals underemployment and unpaid work key issues for Tasmanian workers
The results of the combined Australia Institute Tasmania and Unions Tasmania’s jobs survey are in and they spotlight underemployment and unpaid work as key issues for respondents. While Tasmania’s unemployment rate sits at around the national average at 5.6% the survey results have revealed that underemployment is a critical issue for many Tasmanian workers. The
McArthur River Mine economic benefits of $1.5B dismissed as ‘Wishful Zincking’
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 Global Financial Crisis Ten Years On
Next year marks the 10th anniversary of the Global Financial Crisis. In 2008 the banks in Australia wobbled, the economy stalled, unemployment rose and the Government acted. The GFC demonstrated a failure of trickle-down economics. Ten years later, with rising populism, it is clearer now more than ever that we need a replacement to the neo-liberal economic
The BCA is pushing policy irrelevance and being ignored by the parties
When the Prime Minister is forced to spend his own political capital fixing the mistakes of the former head of Origin Energy, is it any wonder the Coalition is ignoring that same man’s policy advice now that he heads up the Business Council of Australia? [This op ed was first published in the Australian Financial Review
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