Modelling from the Centre for Social Research and Methods on income, wealth and gender distribution of negative gearing, CGT discount, super tax concessions and excess franking credits shows that these tax concessions overwhelmingly benefit high-income, high-wealth men.

23 new coal projects are proposed in NSW, with total production capacity equivalent to 15 Adani-sized mines. Ten Adanis’ worth of these projects are proposed for the Upper Hunter. Local and international factors mean not all of these projects can proceed. A moratorium should be placed on new coal approvals while a coherent regional planning framework is developed for the Hunter. This framework should be based around a world with net zero emissions in 2050.

In March 2020, the Government lifted almost half a million Australians (470,000) out of poverty, including 75,000 children, by introducing the coronavirus supplement worth $550 per fortnight.

The Australia Institute welcomes the opportunity to make a submission on the COAG Reform Fund Amendment (No Electric Vehicle Taxes) Bill 2020 (the No EV Tax Amendment).

This briefing note presents data on the gendered composition of the employment recovery since May. It shows women’s jobs returned on a more part-time and casualised basis than for men, and that the influx of women’s lower-earning jobs widened the gender pay gap between May and November 2020. While women were more likely to lose

A study of 33 OECD countries shows that Australia could substantially lift its unemployment payments without any meaningful disincentives for working. The Government has argued that Australia’s internationally low unemployment payments are needed, in part as an incentive to encourage the unemployment to look for and accept work. This briefing note tests the Government’s theory

Gas companies operating in Australia have announced major job cuts through the pandemic. ABS Labour Force figures show that average employment in oil and gas extraction has declined by over 10% from 2019 to 2020, despite record production. If all Australian industries had responded to the COVID-19 pandemic with equivalent job cuts, Australia would have

The Australia Institute made a submission to the “Rapid Assessment Framework” consultation, a process to reform parts of the NSW planning process.

In December 2020, the Senate of Australia launched an important inquiry into the federal government’s proposed Fair Work Amendment Bill.

Core features of the legislation include clarifying and expanding employer power to hire workers on a casual basis, obtain greater flexibility in the use of permanent part-time workers (adjusting hours up or down without penalty, much like casual workers), and exercise greater unilateral wage-fixing influence in enterprise agreement (EA)-making.

The federal government’s omnibus Industrial Relations bill proposes sweeping changes to labour laws which will generally enhance the power of employers to hire workers on a just-in-time basis, and will put further downward pressure on Australian wages (already growing at a record-low rate). One outcome of the bill will be an acceleration of enterprise agreements (EAs) written unilaterally by employers, without negotiation with any union. These non-union EAs will be favoured for several reasons if the omnibus bill is passed: EAs will be exempted from the current Better Off Overall Test, employer-designed EAs will be subject to less scrutiny at the Fair Work Commission, and employers will have less stringent tests to ensure their proposed EAs are genuinely approved by affected workers. All of these changes will lead to a significant increase in employer-designed EAs that reduce compensation and conditions, rather than improving them – signalling a return to the WorkChoices pattern of EA-making.

Australia’s labour market experienced unprecedented volatility during 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic and resulting recession. In the first part of the year, employment declined faster and more deeply than in any previous economic downturn, as workplaces were closed to control the spread of infection. Then, after May, employment rebounded strongly. The subsequent recovery has replaced over 80% of the jobs lost in the initial downturn. While considerable ground remains to be covered to complete the employment recovery, the turn-around in the quantity of work has been encouraging.

The Australia Institute surveyed a sample of 1,038 New South Wales residents about their position on whether voluntary assisted dying (VAD) should be available to people with terminal illnesses who are experiencing unrelievable suffering and who ask to die.

The Australia Institute surveyed nationally representative samples of over 1,000 Australians each month from August about what they think the most important national political issue is right now. In every month, more Australians identified the economy as the most important national political issue than any other issue (between 37% and 48%). Health was second-most likely

New research by the Centre for Future Work, commissioned by health care industry super fund HESTA, finds that a planned transition of Australia’s labour market away from fossil fuel jobs could occur without involuntary layoffs or severe disruption to communities—if governments focus on a planned and fair transition. That transition needs to include: a clear, long-term timeline, measures to facilitate inter-industry mobility and voluntary severance as fossil fuels are phased-out, and generous retraining and diversification policies.

A new study on the proposed Mulga Rock uranium mine in Western Australia relies on optimistic price and exchange rate forecasts. Details of claimed cost reductions have not been published, but costs still appear high relative to international competitors.

New research has confirmed that climate change is contributing to the growing problem of heat stress in a wide range of Australian workplaces.

2020 marks the twelfth annual Go Home on Time Day, an initiative of the Centre for Future Work at the Australia Institute that shines a spotlight on overwork among Australians, including excessive overtime that is often unpaid.

The Australia Institute made a submission to the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade’s Consultation on the Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) 2050 Strategy.

A new report from the Centre for Future Work highlights the continuing economic importance of Alcan’s aluminium smelter in Portland, VIC, and discusses the potential of new renewable energy technologies to underpin the facility’s rejuvenation and long-term viability.

A comparison of the impact on employment of child care expenditure and income tax cuts of an equivalent net cost to the budget. The clear superiority of childcare expenditure in stimulating economic activity reflects the concentration of the benefit on a cohort with much greater capacity for labour supply response.

New research by the Australia Institute’s Centre for Future Work analyses the economic effects of COVID-19 on Tasmania, and suggests how Tasmania can ‘build back better’ out of the COVID-19 crisis, making key recommendations to help Tasmania avoid the mistakes made at the Federal level. Ahead of Tasmania’s State Budget, set to be delivered on 12 November 2020, in this new report the Centre for Future Work has explored what the shape of Tasmania’s economy could look like, and how it can recover and reconstruct after this pandemic.

Budgets are a key part of Australia’s democratic system, with budget papers giving the public a valuable opportunity to see how much money is spent and on what. Some items in federal budgets are not made public, however, and are marked ‘not for publication’ or ‘nfp’. Often, items claimed as nfp are still being negotiated,

Bringing forward stage 2 of the tax cuts is ineffective stimulus. Up to 12 times as many jobs could be created if an equivalent amount of money was spent on labour intensive industries.

This discussion paper was presented at a roundtable on the future of Australian Official Development Assistance (ODA), arguing that Australia has long had deep national interests in the provision of development assistance in the Asia-Pacific region, regional security concerns being not the least of them. If Australia is to “step-up” its aid in the Pacific

In times of crisis, governments have a responsibility to their citizens to maintain and expand their role in the economy – for both economic and social reasons. This responsibility has never been clearer than during the current COVID-19 pandemic, and its associated economic downturn. Australians are counting on their governments to protect them from the pandemic, support them through the resulting recession, and play a leading role in rebuilding a stronger, healthy society in the aftermath of this unprecedented catastrophe.

It has been claimed that higher levels of taxation weaken the economy but a comparative study of 188 economies shows that higher levels of taxation are correlated with higher average income. The positive correlation also exists with other measures of economic wellbeing. Please note: this report was updated on 8th December 2020, correcting an error

The Australia Institute and FearLess support the rescheduling of psilocybin and MDMA from Schedule 9 to Schedule 8 of the Poisons Standard. The potential risks from this change are small while the benefits are potentially large. Academic studies recognise the low level of harm caused by these substances. Despite researchers finding “easy to very easy”