Oil and gas extraction in South Australia employs just 833 people, 0.1% of SA jobs. Petroleum royalties make up 0.4% of the state budget. On oil and gas production worth $1.7 billion in 2021-22, the industry paid at most $99 million in federal tax, of which Santos paid zero. Despite this, the industry has significant

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is transforming the way we work and the jobs we do. AI innovations in workplaces can have positive benefits, including through productivity gains. However, AI applications can also have significant risks for workers and for job quality. AI applications, including automated decision making, are not neutral processes. Software can be designed and

A workplace delegate is a worker chosen to represent workers who are union members in dealings with management. Delegates are volunteers who perform their union duties on an unpaid basis in addition to their normal job at work. Delegates spend their time undertaking vital tasks for workplace representation.

One in six Australian children live in poverty, yet there is no official poverty line or monitoring of poverty in place.

The Australia Institute surveyed a nationally representative sample of 1,005 Australians about their willingness to pay for nuclear energy.

Housing cooperatives run on a non-profit, collective ownership model in which the costs of buying or building a dwelling are shared, and decisions about how it is run are made based on a ‘one member, one vote’ system. This means that tenants who buy into a cooperative get the right to have a say in the housing they pay for.

The Australia Institute surveyed a nationally representative sample of 1,005 Australians about the prosecution of Julian Assange. Respondents were asked if they think the Federal Government is doing too much or too little to secure the release of Australian citizen Julian Assange. One in three Australians (34%) think that the Federal Government is doing too

Super tax concessions exacerbate income and gender inequality.

The Australia Institute surveyed a nationally representative sample of 1,005 Australians about Australia’s anti-siphoning laws.

War in Ukraine has seen oil and gas export revenue out of Australia increase from $40 billion in 2020-21 to $107 billion in 2022-23. Lobby group forecasts of $17 billion in 2023-24 payments to government should be considered in this context.

For many years competition has been enshrined as a goal of economic policy.

According to the Australian Government’s Future Gas Strategy, gas is “critical” to the nation’s economy.

Every year, over 300,000 tonnes of clothing is either sent to landfill or exported from Australia. To respond to the growing textiles waste problem, the Commonwealth has proposed policies intended to create a ‘circular economy.’ However, a genuinely circular economy depends on drastically reducing the rate at which textiles are produced and consumed, banning the

In 2019, the Australia Institute published Canberra: Laboratory of democracy, which described innovative, politically controversial policies from the Australian Capital Territory that were popular across the country.

Royalty revenue from WA gas exports has halved in the past two years and now makes up just 1.5% of budget revenue.

The existing NSW Koala Strategy fails to recognise or address the immediate and systemic impacts of logging, fossil fuel production and climate change on koala populations.

Commonwealth Treasurer Jim Chalmers delivered his 2024-25 budget to Parliament. While it booked a surplus for 2023-24 (the second consecutive surplus), it increased total spending for future years, and forecasts continued small deficits. In the wake of the economic slowdown resulting from RBA interest rate hikes, this new spending is needed and appropriate.

This discussion paper describes the evolution of key democratic reforms in Tasmania, principles for a healthy democracy, and details 16 reforms that Tasmanian parliamentarians
– Liberal, Labor, Independent and minor party – could pursue in the 51st Tasmanian Parliament.

Australia’s subsidies to fossil fuel producers and major users from all governments totalled $14.5 billion in 2023–24, increase of 31% on the $11.1 billion recorded in 2022–23.

The Fuel Tax Credits Scheme costs the Federal Budget nearly $10 billion per year and largely benefits iron ore and coal miners.

Even though Australia needs to transition to a net zero emissions economy as a matter of urgency, the tax system continues to encourage fossil fuel investment.

WA is a globally significant gas exporter, but gas is insignificant in the WA economy.

Despite being named the “Net Zero Economy Authority” (NZEA), the proposed NZEA has no plan, no powers and no budget to deliver a “Net Zero Economy”.

One of the most common misconceptions about Australia’s tax system is that it is over-reliant on income tax.

If buildings shifted one third of their peak electricity consumption to the middle of the day, this would save $1.7 billion annually and add additional peak capacity equivalent to 52% of Australia’s existing coal generation fleet. It would reduce Australia’s greenhouse gas emissions from electricity by 1.9% (2,780,000 tonnes) per year and accelerate decarbonisation by

The Australia Institute made a submission to the NSW Department of Planning, Infrastructure and Housing on the proposal to convert the defunct Redbank coal-fired power station to run on woodchips and other biomass. Redbank is located in the Hunter Valley, NSW.

The Red Imported Fire Ant (RIFA) has the potential to become one of Australia’s most noxious invasive species and Australia’s national eradication program is not sufficiently resourced.

The NSW education system is increasingly inequitable. Private schools receive public funding and tax concessions that have enabled multimillion dollar developments and salaries in excess of $1 million, while public schools struggle.

The Australian supermarket sector continues to be dominated by a duopoly of two firms: Coles and Woolworths. There is increasing evidence that this duopoly has used its market power to propagate and magnify recent inflationary shocks. Supermarket profits have increased in recent years and there is now evidence that margins have also increased. Food retailers

NSW political donations laws are opaque; truth in political advertising laws are missing; and donation caps, spending caps and public funding overwhelmingly favour incumbents over new entrants.