The Australia Institute welcomes the opportunity to make a submission to Treasury’s Review of the Petroleum Resource Rent Tax (PRRT). The review occurs at a time when Australia is set to become the world’s largest gas exporter, yet PRRT revenues are declining. Several major gas projects are unlikely to pay PRRT for decades, according to

A full third of the benefit of a company tax cut would be enjoyed by just 15 companies in Australia. Once phased in the cut would be worth $6.7 billion per year to these companies. Most of these companies are ‘oligopolies’ that dominate their markets and have little incentive to reinvest proceeds of a tax

“…do you know any foreigners you want to give 5% of our national company income to? Any deserving cases out there?” The available evidence suggests that Keating is indeed correct — Australia is on the brink of handing a large gift to foreign investors while the evidence suggests Australia will not get even the dubious

Economic insecurity is one of the greatest factors inhibiting victims of domestic violence from escaping violent situations at home.  To address that problem unions and employers have developed paid domestic violence leave provisions which allow victims to attend legal proceedings, medical appointments, or other events or activities related to the violence they have experienced, without

The unit price of aluminium is more than 50 times greater than the unit price of bauxite.  Yet Australia is growing its presence at the lower-value end of this industry – while perversely shrinking its presence in an industry whose output sells for 50 times as much.  In recent years, Australia’s downstream capabilities in aluminium

This paper looks at the effect that the fall in tax revenue post Global Financial Crisis (GFC) had on the Commonwealth’s budget. It does this by modelling what would have happened if revenue had instead remained at the government’s tax revenue target of 23.9 per cent of GDP. The difference between what actually happened and

The Forest Products Commission (FPC) is a statutory body wholly owned by the Western Australian government. Its primary function is to conduct forestry activities on a commercial basis in state-owned forests, including softwood plantations, sandalwood and native forests. The FPC is responsible for most of Western Australia’s (WA) native forestry, which occurs in the state’s

The NAIF will spend $5 billion of public funds in Northern Australia on infrastructure that is unable to attract commercial financing, which could include subsidising the controversial Adani Carmichael coal mine.  Australians don’t want their money funding infrastructure for coal and gas companies under the $5 billion Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility (NAIF), national polling released

The Australia Institute has assessed the proposal for a $5 levy on iron ore in Western Australia. The policy should be supported as a pragmatic alternative to a resource rent tax. The analysis finds that if the $5 levy had been imposed on relevant production over the last five years it would have raised $11.5

Australia sends asylum seekers to offshore camps wherethey are detained indefinitely and subjected to well documented abuses, in violation of their human rights. The Australian Government outsources the operations at the camps, and Spanish company Ferrovial has responsibility for the system’s largest operational contracts, through its wholly-owned subsidiary, Broadspectrum. Investors in Ferrovial, including the Norwegian

Remember when Prime Minister Turnbull and Immigration Minister Dutton blamed unionized construction workers for the high cost of housing in Australia? The idea that workers (not property speculators or bankers) are to blame for the property bubble is pretty far-fetched — in fact, it sparked a viral storm on social media, using the #blameunions hashtag.

The focus of this year’s Go Home on Time Day is the threat to the “Great Aussie Holiday.”  Thanks to the rise of precarious work in all its forms, a growing share of Australian workers (about one-third, according to our research) have no access to something we once took for granted: a paid annual holiday.

The focus of this year’s Go Home on Time Day is the threat to the “Great Aussie Holiday.”  Thanks to the rise of precarious work in all its forms, a growing share of Australian workers (about one-third, according to our research) have no access to something we once took for granted: a paid annual holiday.

Since Malcolm Turnbull replaced Tony “coal is good for humanity” Abbott, the Adani Carmichael Mine, the Galilee Basin and environmental “Lawfare” has been out of the news. An increase in the coal price and Turnbull’s apparent change of view means the Coal Wars are back. Download the Coal Hard Facts guide below.

We’ve known for over two years that this day was coming.  But that won’t ease its economic and social pain.  The shutdown of Australia’s mass motor vehicle assembly industry is now upon us.  Ford’s assembly plant in Broadmeadows, Victoria, was the first to go dark: the final Aussie-made Ford has already rolled off the assembly

A nationally representative poll conducted by The Australia Institute through Research Now asked about attitudes towards implementing a super profits tax on Australian banks. The poll asked: A ‘bank super-profits tax’ would collect a higher rate of tax from banks on top of existing taxes, but levied only on especially high bank profits. Would you approve

New research from Canberra based think tank The Australia Institute supports the need for additional regulation of Australia’s banking sector. In some of the most comprehensive polling ever released into attitudes to the banks in Australia, polling of over 1400 Australians finds: 68 percent of respondents supported a Royal Commission or similar inquiry. Only 16 percent

The Australia Institute submission to the Economics Legislation Committee for its inquiry into the Budget Savings (Omnibus) Bill 2016 critiques the proposed savings on the grounds that they will increase inequality and harm innovation.

In the 2016 budget the government announced that it would close carbon tax compensation to new recipients of government welfare benefits.  This will have the effect of reducing the amount paid to welfare recipients. This will save the government $1.3 billion over the forward estimates. The clean energy supplement was not the only part of

A new national poll of more than 10,000 Australians has shown the continued strong support for minor parties and independents in Senate voting intentions. The poll also measured opinion on the proposal to cut Newstart. 55% of respondents said the Senate should vote down the cut, just 32% said the Senate should pass the government

Australian businesses have recently been implicated in serious labour abuses, both within and beyond Australia’s borders. Recent examples to capture public attention are slave labour in the production of surf products by Australian brands in North Korea, human trafficking and labour exploitation in Vietnamese, Chinese and Thai fishing industries (the top suppliers of prawns to

The state government of New South Wales recently awarded a contract for the purchase of 512 new intercity passenger rail cars to a consortium that will manufacture the equipment in South Korea.  The contract is worth $2.3 billion, including an unspecified sum to cover maintenance of the double-decker cars over an initial 15-year period.  The

Tasmania is home to a substantial aquaculture industry. Intensive salmon farming in particular has grown quickly, attracting growing concerns about the industry’s impacts, how it is regulated and its financial contribution to the state. The Australia Institute commissioned ReachTEL to conduct state wide polling, as a first assessment of Tasmanian attitudes to the issues around intensive salmon farming.

New polling shows very low support for Government policy to cut welfare benefits by removing the clean energy supplement. The poll of 1,310 residents across Tasmania showed 60% opposed cutting Newstart, while just 25% supported the move. (see poll below) “There has been mounting evidence of the inadequacy of the unemployment benefits.  To cut them

New research released by the Australia Institute today shows that government moves to cut unemployment benefits will put recipients at 32% below the poverty line. The research also highlights staggering inequality in Australia where the 10 richest Australian families have the same wealth as the poorest 3.9 million Australians combined.

Post-election polling of 2875 voters from across Australia showed the majority of Labor, Green and Independent voters prefer negotiations with cross bench MPs to form government rather than calling another election. 47.0% of all respondents support negotiations with independents and minor parties to form government while 46.3% said ‘call another election’. — Polling results in

New England is an electorate that has faced a rapidly rising unemployment rate over the last 3 years. It has seen unemployment rise 2.7% since the last election. Over the same period the national unemployment rate has risen 0.1%. The number of unemployed has increased by 2,094 since the last election. This rapid rise in

Are there really four dollars benefit for every one dollar company tax cut? Last year Treasury published a paper which purported to show that there was a four dollar benefit for every dollar cut in company taxes. In the paper accompanying the 2016-17 Budget, a new set of results was published which dealt directly with

The Australia Institute commissioned polling on a number of issues relating to refugee issues. In brief:  –          61% said that Australia should accept New Zealand’s offer to take 150 refugees from Manus Island and Nauru. This included 58% of Coalition voters and 62% of Labor voters. –          66% said it should be legal for doctors