The big four banks make $229,000 in profit on the average 30-year home loan for owner-occupiers. An analysis of the data suggests big banks profit disproportionately from housing loans to owner occupiers.

Australians living in non-urban areas are dying younger, often from preventable diseases. These deaths could be avoided if these communities had access to timely and affordable healthcare. With access to care, including primary, specialist, and allied health services, diseases can be diagnosed, managed, and even prevented.

Medical misogyny, where systemic, conscious, or unconscious gender biases affect how a patient is treated by the healthcare system, can create significant gendered imbalances in healthcare.

The Wood Mackenzie modelling is mostly irrelevant to the gas industry in Australia. They modelled a gas project that doesn’t exist, a tax proposal no one is asking for, and claimed that it would lead to a country no one would invest in.

The Australia Institute commissioned polling on voters’ attitudes towards rights for people employed in Australia as part of the PALM visa scheme, including the right to change employer. A national poll was conducted by YouGov, which surveyed 1502 Australians between 12th Mar to 19th Mar 2026, using an online polling methodology.

Australia’s gas exporters pay little tax and royalties, employ few people, push up gas and electricity prices for Australian families and businesses, and worsen the climate crisis. If the Albanese government again delays major reform to the taxation of Australia’s gas export industry, these costs to Australian taxpayers will continue to mount. Refusing to tax

The Australia Institute commissioned polling on voters’ attitudes towards tax concessions for property investors, like the capital gains tax discount and negative gearing. A national poll was conducted by YouGov, which surveyed 1502 Australians between 12th Mar to 19th Mar 2026, using an online polling methodology. UComms conducted a survey of 1184 voters in the

Updated analysis by the Australia Institute reveals that a fair and appropriate increase to the minimum wage, and accompanying increases to award rates, would not have a significant effect on inflation. The analysis examines the correlation between minimum wage increases and inflation going back 30 years, and finds no consistent link between minimum wage increases

Artists, authors, musicians and other creatives have a huge impact on Australian culture, how Australians see themselves, and how the world sees Australians. Australia’s arts and culture cannot be produced overseas, and cannot be moved offshore. It must be made here. 

Five news polls conducted for The Australia Institute reveal an overwhelming majority of Australians want a gas export tax to fund improvements in services like health and aged care.

Australia’s wealth of natural gas reserves mean that the Commonwealth could be benefitting from the high prices caused by conflicts in Ukraine and Middle East. If a 25% tax on Australia’s natural gas exports had been enacted in 2022 it would have already raised $63.8 billion, which could fund a range of social services for

Fossil fuel subsidies cost Australian governments $16.3 billion in 2025–26, an increase of 9.4% on the previous year. This is a larger increase than the 7.6% growth of the National Disability Insurance Scheme. Growth in fossil fuel subsidies is driven by the federal government’s Fuel Tax Credit Scheme, which cost $10.8 billion in 2025–26. Growth

War in the Middle East will likely increase global energy prices. Australian Government choices will determine how hard this price spike hits Australian households, how huge gas export company profits are and how much tax revenue Australia will collect.

UComms conducted a survey of 1,281 members across the Federal Seat of Farrer on behalf of the Australia Institute. Three quarters (77.7%) agreed or strongly agreed that Australia exports too much gas. 75% of voters strongly agreed (48.1%) or agreed (26.9%) with the statement Gas export corporations should pay a flat 25% tax on gas

Australia’s productivity debate focuses on cutting taxes and undermining workers, while ignoring the negative productivity impacts of climate change, defence spending and privatisation. Meanwhile, productivity growth has continued to fall. Refocusing the debate and taking lessons from successful high-productivity, egalitarian countries will help boost Australian productivity.

Low-income workers are suffering the most from falling real wages. LITO changes could give them a $2,300 tax cut. This would be fully paid for by a 25% tax on gas exports. Key beneficiaries would be young people and those in regional areas, with National Party electorates benefiting the most.

Inflation is rising again and, unfortunately, so are interest rates. The Reserve Bank of Australia’s recent decision to raise the cash rate from 3.6% to 3.85% involves a misreading of the factors driving inflation. Analysis of wage, inflation and productivity data during 2025 and RBA’s own forecasts for 2026 and beyond reveals that rising wages

Australians are suffering from climate disasters that are accelerating as climate change worsens. Climate change is spurred on by the historical and present emissions of the fossil fuel industry. A levy on fossil fuel exports could make the fossil fuel industry pay for the harms it has caused and raise up to $100 billion every year.

Do beer drinkers pay more tax than gas companies? Yes, they do! Independent Senator David Pocock recently asked Treasury officials whether beer excise raised more money than a key tax on the gas industry, Australia’s Petroleum Resource Rent Tax (PRRT). A video of the response – that yes, more money comes from beer excise than

Redbridge, on behalf of The Australia Institute, surveyed a nationally representative sample of 2,010 Australians about their knowledge of, and opinions on, Australia’s gas exports. One Nation voters are more likely to correctly respond that more than 59% of gas is exported and are among the most supportive of taxing Australian gas exports.

Participants in Australia’s temporary worker program for the Pacific and Timor-Leste – the Pacific Australia Labour Mobility (PALM) scheme – generate almost $1 billion in economic value, but less than $200 million ends up going home with them. This submission to the Joint Standing Committee on Migration’s Inquiry into the value of skilled migration to

Australia has one of the world’s most privatised high school systems. These schools charge families high and rising fees and receive significant government funding, all without delivering substantially better results.

The CGT discount has made housing unaffordable, increased inequality, distorted lending, and is reducing investment and productivity. It should be scrapped.

Labour mobility is a significant contributor to Pacific Islands’ economies. Australia and New Zealand’s temporary labour migration schemes for Pacific workers have expanded into more industries including personal care work in aged care. This has led to the loss of skilled health workers from Pacific Island countries, including registered nurses, to lower-skilled personal care jobs

The Albanese Government has acknowledged Australia’s gas export problem. However, rather than implement a tax that would reduce domestic prices, raise revenue and help the climate, the government looks to be weighing options that favour either Santos or its rivals Origin and Shell.

The Environmental Protection Reform Bill 2025 would weaken environmental protection by replicating the problematic NSW biodiversity offsetting scheme. The Bill establishes a ‘payments to destroy’ fund that transfers responsibility for nature destruction from project proponents to the public, creating time lags in responding to environmental impacts and reducing the likelihood that such responses will replace

Despite long standing international commitments to spend 0.7% of national income on foreign aid, Australia’s support for developing countries has declined significantly over the past fifty years. In recent years, Australian governments have begun to shift their emphasis away from their failure to meet promised Official Development Assistance (ODA) and towards poorly defined commitments to

Widespread dissatisfaction with paid work hours, and employees working excessive unpaid overtime, are two of the key findings of the 2025 Go Home on Time Day (GHOTD) survey. The annual survey, undertaken by the Centre for Future Work at the Australia Institute in early September, asked 1,001 Australian workers about their paid working hours and

The Australia Institute analysed the accounts of the University of Newcastle. It found that despite claims of a $16.3 million deficit, the audited accounts show a $61.3 million surplus, and net assets worth more than $1.8 billion at the end of 2024, up $150 million from the previous year. The university’s Vice-Chancellor dismissed the conclusion

Over half (54%) of Australians believe that the current primary purpose of universities is to make a profit, despite just 3% believing that should be the primary purpose of universities.