Gift giving is a long-standing Christmas tradition. Yet Australia Institute research shows that approximately 6.1 million adult Australians, expect to receive Christmas presents this year that they will never use or wear.

Forestry represents just 1% of Tasmanian jobs and Tasmanian forestry production is largely based on plantation timber rather than native forest logging.

Tasmania’s patchwork approach to marine management should be replaced with an integrated approach.

The Australia Institute surveyed a sample of 1,535 Australians about their concerns regarding the impacts on human health from fossil fuel projects.

Australian Bureau of Statistics data suggests that salmon farming in Tasmania provides between 1,100 and 1,700 jobs, less than 1% of the state’s employment.

Logging in Tasmania’s native forests should cease as soon as possible. The transition away from logging should not involve the use of carbon credits; the examples in this paper show that market mechanisms are at best a distraction from, and at worst a hinderance to, an effective transition.

Despite the claims to the contrary by the Northern Territory government, development of the Beetaloo Basin’s gas resources will be of little benefit to Territorians. Modelling used by the NT government itself shows that the development of the Beetaloo Basin will not diversify the NT economy, aid the transition to net zero emissions, provide cheap

Gas development has few economic benefits beyond those that flow to the gas industry itself. The industry is a small employer, systematic non-payer of tax and crowds out other industries.

Under the Restoring our Rivers Bill 2023, changes proposed by the Government include a return to water buybacks, which had been capped by the previous Liberal-National Government in favour of subsidies for water-saving projects. The Australia Institute has found that the use of buybacks, additional water recovery to compensate for Basin Plan delays and reducing

Australia wastes 7.6m tonnes of food each year, costing households $19.3 billion.

The Australia Institute’s annual Climate of the Nation report provides a comprehensive account of Australian attitudes towards climate change, its causes and impacts, and the integrity of Australia’s current and proposed climate solutions.

The Australia Institute welcomes the opportunity to make a submission on the Syngas and Power Generation, Stage 1 Commercial Development, NeuRizer Urea Project, which is currently open for public comment under the Environmental Protection and Biodiversity Conservation (EPBC) Act Public Portal.

Tasmania has not published a State of the Environment Report since 2009. Nationally, alarming declines of natural and cultural values are underway. Without a state-focused analysis, Tasmanians are in the dark about the scale and detail of concerns and government decision-makers are flying blind.

The NT LNG facility aims to produce up 20 million tonnes of LNG per year for export using gas fracked from the Northern Territory’s Beetaloo Basin.

This Bill appears primarily aimed at facilitating the Santos Barossa Project, its related Bayu-Undan carbon capture and storage (CCS) project and other fossil fuel projects off Australia’s northern shores. CCS is a technology that has failed for decades, a fact omitted by public agency submissions relating to this Bill.

Australia needs to respond quickly to powerful new incentives for sustainable manufacturing now on offer in the U.S. and several other industrial countries, or risk being cut out of lucrative new markets for manufactured products linked to renewable energy systems.

After decades of ignoring evidence of overfishing, the Tasmanian Government is finally playing catch-up on the state’s depleted fish stocks, resetting fishery rules in the context of out-of-date legislation and the absence of relevant policies.

The Australia Institute made a submission to the Senate Standing Committees on Environment and Communications’ inquiry into the Nature Repair Market Bill 2023. The Australian Government has provided no economic or environmental justification for the proposed Nature Repair Market (NRM). Instead, it has repeatedly referred to, and quoted figures from, a report by consultants PwC

Native bird hunting benefits few South Australians and imposes costs on many. Only 5% have ever shot ducks or quail, and of those people, just 40% intend to do so again. 76% of South Australians support a ban, including 48% who “strongly” support the idea. The economic impact of ending native bird hunting would be

The South-east Commonwealth Marine Parks Network is a patchwork of poor protection that provides minimal conservation benefits.

The economic assessment of the Lake Vermont project heavily understates its costs and overstates its benefits. At the USA Environmental Protection Agency’s central social cost of carbon estimate, the cost of the direct emissions alone is $4.1 billion, greater than the estimated royalty revenue – $1.1 billion.

The Safeguard Mechanism now requires stronger action to cut pollution from gas projects including full abatement of reservoir emissions.

The Australia Institute made a submission on the Boggabri coal mine’s latest expansion proposal.

The Draft Harvest Strategy Policy for Wild Fisheries is a significant step towards strengthening fisheries management in Tasmania. However, it does not commit to recover overfished stocks or prevent future overfishing.

The transition towards a low-carbon future is a pressing issue, and household electrification has emerged as a critical component of Australia’s ongoing shift in energy use. In response, The Australia Institute commissioned a research report to better understand current public sentiment towards home and vehicle electrification via new community research. This report provides a snapshot

uComms conducted a survey of 816 residents across Tasmania on behalf of The Australia Institute during the evening of 4th – 5th April 2023 using self-completed automated voice polling methodologies.

Key Results: The Australia Institute surveyed a nationally representative sample of 1,002 Australians about the plan to purchase nuclear-powered submarines. The results show that Australians are not clear about how the submarine program should be funded. Respondents were told that the Albanese Government and the Dutton Opposition have committed to building nuclear submarines, at an

If NSW had adopted Queensland’s progressive coal royalty system in 2021-22 it would have raised an additional $2.8 billion. For 2022-23 this figure is estimated at between $4.2 billion and $6.2 billion.

The draft Nature Repair Market Bill presents a fundamentally confused blueprint for a voluntary market in biodiversity conservation services. The Bill does not address the causes of biodiversity loss in Australia, and it remains unclear how many important details of the proposed market will operate. Further, the experience of the Clean Energy Regulator in administering

The Australia Institute made a submission on the Environmental Impact Statement of the Hunter Valley Operations coal mine expansion proposal. Our submission focuses on the economic assessment of the project, written by Ernst and Young (EY). EY’s assessment overstates the benefits of the project and understates its costs. It is not suitable for decision-making purposes.