Around the world, governments are recognising the benefits of wide-scale electric vehicle use and are supporting their uptake through policy.  Thanks to its compact geography, Tasmania would encourage people to purchase electric vehicles by providing even just a handful of public vehicle charging stations. This paper explores two options for providing coverage to a large

When the Climate Institute has closed its doors, The Australia Institute was honoured to be selected to carry forward some of The Institute’s work as part of our new Climate & Energy Program. One of the important initiatives being carried forward under The Australia Institute’s Climate & Energy Program is the Climate of the Nation report on

The McArthur River zinc-lead mine in the Northern Territory imposes significant environmental costs on the local community. Claims that it could produce government revenue of over $1.5 billion are based on flawed economic modelling that estimates tax revenues over a 1,000 year period.

Political donations in Australia are difficult to monitor as many go unreported. Only donations over $13,000 are disclosed to the Australian Electoral Commission. The majority of donations are likely to be under this disclosure threshold or hidden through other means, such as through associated entities or party fundraising events. Despite these shortcomings, the disclosures that

Australia’s mining industry is 86% foreign owned and has spent over $541 million in the last ten years on lobbying Australian governments through its peak lobby groups, which are dominated by foreign interests. Spending on lobbying by individual mining companies is not public information, but would bring this number up significantly. This report finds that:

The Australia Institute has released the Electricity Update of the National Energy Emissions Audit (The Audit*) for August 2017. The report, by renowned energy analyst Dr Hugh Saddler, shows flat demand across the National Energy Market (NEM). “Total annual demand for electricity in the NEM is dead flat. With both national economic activity and population

What we do and don’t know about mines, closures and rehabilitation in Victoria. Little data is available to the public on the clean-up from the mining boom. State government agencies often lack basic information on how many mines are in operation, with still less published on closures and abandonments.

Queensland government will be “substantially involved” in any loan to Adani under the Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility (NAIF), as outlined by the Department that helped design the NAIF, in its submission to the Senate NAIF inquiry. This account has been confirmed by the Queensland government’s own submission, which notes that Queensland’s “roles and responsibilities… through

The Australia Institute made a submission to the Senate Economic Committee’s Inquiry into the governance and operation of the Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility (NAIF). Over the past year The Australia Institute has investigated the governance and operations of the NAIF. NAIF is entrusted with $5 billion of public funds and has an important role in

The Australia Institute made a submission to the Senate Environment and Communications Legislation Committee regarding the inquiry into the Environment and Infrastructure Legislation Amendment (Stop Adani) Bill 2017 (the Bill). Our submission notes the merits of the Bill’s proposed amendments, in relation to the Adani coal mine but also more broadly, as the new tests would apply

The Palaszczuk government’s special royalty deal with Adani remains secret after Treasury blocked a Right to Information request. 2000 pages relating to the ‘clear’ and ‘transparent’ royalty framework were almost entirely redacted. Public servants expressed concerns about analysing the deal after it has been offered. The Queensland Treasury has refused to release the royalty subsidy

The Australia Institute released a report Electricity Costs which finds that electricity prices have increased at three times the rate of CPI. The report finds that companies have been ‘gold-plating’ financial assets and passing those costs onto consumers. Between December 1996 and December 2016 Australian electricity prices increased by 183 per cent—almost three times the overall increase

Australian governments are proposing to fund and build billions of dollars’ worth of new electricity generation capacity as the solution to our energy security crisis Regardless of whether investments like Snowy 2.0 or ideas for ‘clean’ coal power stations go ahead, these supply-side solutions will require many years to build and will have no impact on security of

The Australia Institute has released the Electricity Update of the National Energy Emissions Audit (The Audit*) for July 2017. The report, by renowned energy analyst Dr Hugh Saddler, reveals a stunning correlation between domestic electricity prices and gas prices, despite gas making up only 10 percent of electricity generation. Australian gas prices have risen significantly,

As Fiji prepares to chair climate talks in late 2017, Pacific leaders are gathering in Suva to consider what policies to push for. One should be a moratorium on new coal mines. Australian government ministers are actively promoting subsidies to the world’s largest new coal mine, Adani’s Carmichael project. When Pacific leaders have called for

The Hume Coal project should be rejected on economic grounds. It is a relatively small, high-cost, greenfields mine far from major markets. It is unlikely that it can be financially or economically viable as currently proposed. It is already imposing economic costs on the Southern Highlands community. Proceeding with the project, particularly with possible modifications

State governments are universally supportive of resource development. They provide considerable financial support to the sector, yet receive relatively little in return. We are unaware of any example of states using the HFE system to argue against resource development.

As the Adani mine proposal becomes a central issue in Australian politics, Prof John Quiggin looks in detail at the economic (non)viability of the mine, which has driven the company’s appeals for subsidies and government support. Prof Quiggin also suggests three reasons the unviable project is still being pursued by its supporters: The project is

**Following the closure of the Climate Institute on 30 June, its significant remaining funds and intellectual property will be transferred to the Australia Institute, to help carry forward the Australia Institute’s climate change-related research and advocacy.** The Climate Institute has now been conducting its Climate of the Nation attitudinal research for more than a decade. It is

The Australia Institute welcomes the opportunity to make this submission to the Special Review conducted by the Climate Change Authority (CCA) in conjunction with the Australian Energy Market Commission (AEMC). The Australia Institute agrees with the AEMC that fundamental market reform is needed, and with the CCA that energy efficiency should be a priority. By

The Jubilee Australia Research Centre and The Australia Institute welcome the opportunity to make a submission on the Export Finance and Insurance Corporation Amendment (Support for Commonwealth Entities) Bill 2016. The primary purpose of Efic under the original Export Finance and Insurance Corporation Act 1991 is to “assist the development of Australian export trade.” Efic

The Australia Institute welcomes the opportunity to make a submission to the Finkel Review. With the current state public discussion around energy issues, this review has the potential to steer Australia back towards a policy path that looks after the interests of energy consumers and the environment. Australia’s energy future should centre on renewable energy

Development of unconventional gas in the NT risks connecting the NT to the chaos in wider Australian gas markets. As the nation becomes a major gas exporter with record production there have been no winners.

Welcome to the first issue of the The Audit – Electricity Update, the companion publication to the National Energy Emissions Audit Report.   Each issue of Electricity Update will also contain a more detailed discussion of one or two particular topics relating to the electricity system which have assumed particular importance in the period prior

Download The Audit (June 2017) The Australia Institute has launched the National Energy Emissions Audit (The Audit), written by respected energy analyst and ANU Honorary Associate Professor, Dr Hugh Saddler, which tracks Australia’s emissions of greenhouse gases from the combustion of fossil fuels. The National Energy Emissions Audit will be published on a quarterly basis,

Report calls for Tasmania to become energy self-reliant and an exporter of renewable energy. A new report from Hobart-based think tank The Australia Institute Tasmania identifies an opportunity for Tasmania to take advantage of its unique energy assets which could deliver cheaper local electricity.  The report finds that Tasmania’s link to the National Electricity Market

The Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility (NAIF) is a $5 billion government fund for concessional financing to build infrastructure in northern Qld, NT and WA. The default financing mechanism is a loan. Adani has applied for a concessional loan of nearly $1 billion from the NAIF for a rail line so that it can export coal

The Australian Government has put $1.3 billion of taxpayers’ money towards Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) initiatives since 2003, with zero large scale operational projects to show for it. A new report from The Australia Institute’s, Money for nothing, has found that despite years of generous taxpayer funding, there are no large-scale CCS projects operating