Thank you for the opportunity to make a submission to the South Australian Murray-Darling Basin Royal Commission.  This submission is informed by research through The Australia Institute and as a former employee of the Murray-Darling Basin Authority (MDBA). I was employed by the Murray-Darling Basin Authority and its predecessor, the Murray-Darling Basin Commission from 2005

Since allegations of large-scale water theft were aired on Four Corners in 2017, a flood of media reports have shown that the $13bn Murray-Darling Basin Plan is not being well implemented: agency cover ups, political and regulatory capture, agencies with cultures of non-compliance, dodgy water deals, alleged fraud and unlawful amendments. [READ FULL REPORT]

The Australia Institute welcomes the opportunity to make a submission on the Long-Term Diversion Limit Extraction (LTDLE) factors. LTDLEs are required to determine how much water has been recovered to meet the government’s water recovery target under the Murray-Darling Basin reforms. LTDLE factors need to be resolved to bring certainty to communities and water licence

Competitive neutrality policy aims to ensure that government business activities do not have unfair advantages over private sector competitors, particularly in relation to cost or pricing advantages. Price-setting and user-charging are necessary criteria for a competitive neutrality issue to arise. These are not relevant to the ABC or SBS which provide services by which, for

Proposed changes to the Water Act reduce accountability, parliamentary oversight and facilitate changes to the Murray Darling Basin Plan that are based on political convenience rather than science. The bill should not be passed.

The Australia Institute routinely polls a representative sample of the Australian population on a variety of issues, including how they intend to vote at the next election. While other pollsters only ask about House of Representatives voting intention, our polling also asks specifically about Senate voting intention. In this new report series, to be released

Promotion of large-scale irrigation in the West Kimberley ignores the lessons of the East Kimberley. Census data shows that despite huge public subsidy in Ord irrigation, the major employers in both regions are health, education and services. Tourism, carbon farming, renewable energy and high-value niche agriculture are also avenues of potential development.Discussion paper

New polling released by The Australia Institute today shows that most voters support a long term boost to ABC funding and oppose funding cuts to the ABC and SBS.  The Australia Institute surveyed 1557 Australians with a series of questions about their attitudes towards the ABS. Key results: 70% agreed a “strong, independent ABC is

A large post-Budget poll of the division of Longman shows the proposed flat personal tax rates are rated as unfair and company tax cuts remain deeply unpopular among voters due to head to a by-election in the seat of Longman. The Australia Institute commissioned ReachTEL to conduct a survey of 1,277 residents across the federal

A proposed amendment to the Murray-Darling Basin Plan would use ‘supply measures’ to change the Sustainable Diversion Limits and increase water use by irrigation. The proposed supply measures are inconsistent with the Basin Plan and likely to be unlawful.

A new national poll has asked 1,557 Australians what they think large companies are likely to do with a company tax cut. A majority (61%) of respondents think that increasing worker’s pay would be the very bottom of the list of priorities for large companies receiving a tax cut. 63% think increasing executive pay, and

The Australia Institute’s National Integrity Committee of corruption fighters and retired judges has today released the next stage in the design of a National Integrity Commission. The National Integrity Committee’s Blueprint provides analysis on: The appointment of an independent Commissioner nominated by bipartisan committee The need for a National Integrity Commission to have a broad

The Australian Government bought 29 gigalitres of water for $80m in the Condamine-Balonne valley. The vendors originally insisted on $2,200 per megalitre. But after negotiation, the Government paid a higher price – $2,745 per megalitre. Worse, the water has no legal status outside the farm gate and shouldn’t be counted towards the water recovery target.

On the 10 year anniversary of Bear Stearns collapse, Wayne Swan, with the GFC+10 project, launches report on executive pay in Australia. GFC+10 is a research program and series of events marking the ten-year anniversary of the Global Financial Crisis. It was launched by then Economic Secretary to the Treasury in the UK, Ed Balls,

The Australia Institute welcomes the opportunity to make a submission to the Royal Commission into Misconduct in the Banking, Superannuation and Financial Services Industry. We expect the Royal Commission to be swamped by submissions that relate to specific examples of misconduct. Our submission tries to take a step back and consider the extent to which