Australians want more public services that will require more government revenue. This paper summarises Australia’s tax system, its international context, and principles to guide its reform.

Key results The Australia Institute surveyed a nationally representative sample of 1,409 Australians about their views on the stage 3 income tax cuts. The results show that the stage 3 tax cuts are not widely supported. • Respondents were most likely to correctly identify that high income earners would benefit most from stage 3 income

The Safeguard Mechanism has to date safeguarded polluters. Extensive reforms are required to ban new gas and coal entrants, limit the use of carbon credits and develop an alternative fixed price payment to be directed by the Commonwealth to build climate solutions.

Australia’s proposed federal biodiversity market should not proceed. Both economic theory and lived examples show that it is likely to fail Australia’s threatened species and fragile environments.

The Australia Institute surveyed a representative sample of 616 South Australians about their political priorities and their satisfaction with the Premier, Peter Malinauskas, and with the Leader of the Opposition, David Speirs.

The Australia Institute surveyed 616 adults living in South Australia between the 11th and 20th of September 2022, online through Dynata’s panel, with representative samples by gender and age.

Seafarers perform difficult, often dangerous work that is essential to the operation of global supply chains, delivering all the merchandise we take for granted in modern life. Yet because of the legal vacuum governing international marine traffic, a lack of resources and attention for enforcement by national regulators, and the corporate strategies of shipping companies and their customers, seafarers are subject to some of the worst exploitation and abuse of any occupation in the world economy.

The Australia Institute’s Centre for Responsible Technology made a submission to the ACCC’s Digital Platform Services Inquiry – March 2023 Report on social media services Issues Paper. The submission highlights the lack of competition in social media services and the need for regulation of social media influencers.

Current work and care arrangements in Australia contribute to economic and social disadvantage for carers, the vast majority of whom are women. Patterns of labour force participation and employment provide clear indicators of the inequities inherent in Australia’s current care and work arrangements. These patterns show we do not have equitably shared care arrangements, nor equitable employment opportunities and outcomes for women. Australia requires much stronger support systems, more effective work and care policies and more secure and fairly-paid jobs to address these problems.

Tasmania’s Integrity Commission is weak and is losing public trust. It has never held a public hearing. It cannot investigate politicians’ conduct during election campaigns, nor can it investigate corrupt conduct of third parties seeking to influence public administration. It has the second lowest per capita budget of a state/territory commission. It has only ever referred two people for prosecution, the lowest number for any state. Tasmania’s Commission needs public hearings, more publicly released reports and more funding. Its jurisdiction needs to expand to include Members of Parliament during election periods, corrupt conduct of third parties and matters covered by Parliamentary privilege.

uComms conducted a survey of 901 residents in the federal seat of Boothby on behalf of The Australia Institute during the evening of 7 September 2022 using self-completed automated voice polling methodologies. Key Results: A majority of voters in the seat of Boothby (53.5%) believe that Australia has some responsibility for the pollution from Australian

Homeshare programs have the potential to make a significant contribution to improving Australia’s work and care systems, but are being held back by inter-agency issues, the transfer of disability and aged care to the Commonwealth and lack of resources.

The Australia Institute surveyed a representative sample of 1,005 people across Australia about their views on Territory rights and voluntary assisted dying (VAD), also known as voluntary euthanasia.

Tasmanian salmon companies have gone through a rapid period of growth that has outpaced regulation and science. Company profits have not led to commensurate growth in returns to the State Government or the community. Meanwhile communities bear the costs of the industry. The fast tracking of the salmon industry needs to end.

The Australia Institute surveyed a nationally representative sample of 1,003 Australians about whether advertising of certain controversial products should be permitted on television. The results show that Australians agree that junk food, gambling, alcohol and tobacco advertising on TV should be banned, and more agree than disagree that ads promoting fossil fuels should be banned.

Given the context in which the term “woke” is used in media commentary, it may surprise readers to discover – for example – that only one in five people who described themselves as woke ahead of the 2022 federal election intended to vote for the Greens; less than the share of woke people who intended

The roles of profits, wages and costs in driving inflation has been widely discussed in recent months. Claims by the Business Council of Australia that profit shares are at a 20-year low are not supported by official data sources.

The Australia Institute surveyed a nationally representative sample of 1,003 Australians and 1,002 Taiwanese about their countries and the People’s Republic of China (PRC).

The Australia Institute welcomes the opportunity to comment on the Climate Change Bill 2022 and Consequential Amendments Bill 2022 (hereafter ‘the Bills’). The Bills are a valuable framework to ensure transparency and accountability of Australia’s greenhouse gas emissions reduction targets, including by ensuring the provision of evidence-based advice from the Climate Change Authority to inform

The Australia Institute made a submission to the Senate Standing Committee on Economics Inquiry into the Treasury Laws Amendment (Electric Car Discount) Bill 2022 [Provisions]. The Bill is a welcome first step to reducing transport emissions in Australia, but much more needs to be done.

The new Commonwealth government is hosting a major Jobs Summit in September 2022, bring together representatives from a range of stakeholder groups to discuss the challenges facing Australia’s labour market, and how to achieve strong employment, job quality and security, and better skills and training opportunities.

Australia has become an outlier in the global light vehicle market, with a comparatively inefficient and anachronistic vehicle fleet. In 2018, the average carbon dioxide (CO2) intensity for new passenger vehicles in Australia was 169.8gCO2/km compared to 129.9gCO2/km in the United States, 120.4gCO2/km in Europe and 114.6gCO2/km in Japan.

As tensions in the Pacific and war in Europe continue to escalate, Australia could play an important global role in reducing the spread and threat of nuclear weapons at an important upcoming conference in New York, according to a new research report. The Australian Government has been urged to adopt 4 key policy goals to

Key Findings: Australian families currently spend 20% of household income on childcare, far more than in most OECD nations. Swedish households spend just 5% of household income on childcare, Norway spends 8%, and Denmark 10%. Australia has the 3rd highest proportion of private childcare providers receiving government subsidies: 77% compared to 13% in Iceland, 17%

Key results The Australia Institute surveyed nationally representative samples of about 1,000 Australians in June and July 2022 about their attitudes towards a constitutionally enshrined Voice to Parliament for First Nations peoples as called for in the Uluru Statement from the Heart. The respondents were asked how they would vote in a referendum on enshrining

Key results The Australia Institute surveyed a nationally representative sample of 1,001 Australians about their attitudes towards a windfall profits tax on the oil and gas industry to support Australian households. The results show that: Two in three (67%) Australians support the introduction of a windfall profits tax on the oil and gas industry to

The Australia Institute welcomes the opportunity to appeal Report 1727 North West Shelf Project Extension Proposal. The role of the Western Australian Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) is to prevent, control and abate pollution and environmental harm. In recommending the approval of a 50-year extension of Australia’s most polluting fossil fuel project, the North West Shelf

Labour costs have played an insignificant role in the recent increase in inflation, accounting for just 15 percent of economy wide price increases while profits have played an overwhelming role, accounting for about 60 percent of recent inflation.

Women were 7-10 percentage points less likely to vote for the Coalition compared to men, according to Australia Institute research conducted from the evening of the May 21 federal election, and a subsequent poll taken in June 2022. Analysis of exit-polls also shows that Australians viewed the ‘treatment of women in politics’ as the second