Australia has no independent body to investigate allegations of misconduct in scientific research, unlike most countries with developed research sectors. Research institutes largely investigate allegations themselves, leading to potential conflicts of interest. A research watchdog is needed to ensure the integrity of Australian science.

Australian Bureau of Statistics data suggests that salmon farming in Tasmania provides between 1,100 and 1,700 jobs, less than 1% of the state’s employment.

Logging in Tasmania’s native forests should cease as soon as possible. The transition away from logging should not involve the use of carbon credits; the examples in this paper show that market mechanisms are at best a distraction from, and at worst a hinderance to, an effective transition.

Under the Restoring our Rivers Bill 2023, changes proposed by the Government include a return to water buybacks, which had been capped by the previous Liberal-National Government in favour of subsidies for water-saving projects. The Australia Institute has found that the use of buybacks, additional water recovery to compensate for Basin Plan delays and reducing

Howard-era reforms to higher education have led to a lack of transparency and democratic accountability within the councils that govern Australia’s public universities.

Experts from the Centre for Future Work recently made a submission to the Senate committee studying the “Closing Loopholes” bill, which would make several reforms to the Fair Work Act.

The Stage 3 cuts are a high-cost, inequitable policy.

The disability support workforce is central to the effectiveness and sustainability of the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS).

New research confirms that corporate profits in Australia, despite recent moderation, remain well above historic norms, and must fall further in order to allow a rebuilding of real wages in Australia that have been badly damaged by recent inflation.

Australia wastes 7.6m tonnes of food each year, costing households $19.3 billion.

The Australia Institute’s annual Climate of the Nation report provides a comprehensive account of Australian attitudes towards climate change, its causes and impacts, and the integrity of Australia’s current and proposed climate solutions.

The Australia Institute welcomes the opportunity to make a submission on the Syngas and Power Generation, Stage 1 Commercial Development, NeuRizer Urea Project, which is currently open for public comment under the Environmental Protection and Biodiversity Conservation (EPBC) Act Public Portal.

Education has long been recognised as a vital determinant of both personal life chances and broader economic and social performance.

The Reserve Bank of Australia’s decisions on interest rate increases rely on the concept of balancing inflation and unemployment.

Tasmania has not published a State of the Environment Report since 2009. Nationally, alarming declines of natural and cultural values are underway. Without a state-focused analysis, Tasmanians are in the dark about the scale and detail of concerns and government decision-makers are flying blind.

The NT LNG facility aims to produce up 20 million tonnes of LNG per year for export using gas fracked from the Northern Territory’s Beetaloo Basin.

The Australia-America economic relationship is one of the world’s most consequential relationships, worth over $2 trillion, yet few understand its depth and scale.

Australia needs to respond quickly to powerful new incentives for sustainable manufacturing now on offer in the U.S. and several other industrial countries, or risk being cut out of lucrative new markets for manufactured products linked to renewable energy systems.

Stronger public universities are vital to the success of dynamic, innovative economies, and more inclusive labour markets. But decades of fiscal restraint and corporatization have eroded the democratic governance and equitable delivery of public higher education in Australia. There are widespread concerns among both university staff and the broader Australian community regarding many higher education issues: including funding, governance, the insecurity of work in universities, the quality of education, and the affordability of attending university.

After decades of ignoring evidence of overfishing, the Tasmanian Government is finally playing catch-up on the state’s depleted fish stocks, resetting fishery rules in the context of out-of-date legislation and the absence of relevant policies.

Native bird hunting benefits few South Australians and imposes costs on many. Only 5% have ever shot ducks or quail, and of those people, just 40% intend to do so again. 76% of South Australians support a ban, including 48% who “strongly” support the idea. The economic impact of ending native bird hunting would be

The gigification of care is creating insecure work, undermining gender inequality and damaging workforce sustainability.

The Commonwealth government’s 2023-24 budget reveals a progressive government seeking to help lower paid workers and those struggling to pay bills, support public health care, and pursue investments towards a net zero economy. But it is very much a first step, and leaves much more work to be done to repair past harms done to workers, low-income Australians, public services and infrastructure, and the environment.

In 2022–23, Australian Federal and state governments provided a total of $11.1 billion worth of spending and tax breaks to assist fossil fuel industries.

The Commonwealth Treasury has released the report of a three-person panel charged with reviewing the structure, governance, and effectiveness of the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA). Treasurer Jim Chalmers accepted in principle all 51 of the panel’s recommendations, ranging from creating a separate board to make decisions on interest rates, to giving the Bank a simpler dual mandate to pursue both price stability and full employment.

Key results The Australia Institute surveyed a nationally representative sample of 1,002 Australians about their attitudes towards the Federal Government’s response to the housing crisis. The results show that: Two in three Australians (68%) disagree that the Federal Government is doing enough to tackle the housing crisis, including 65% of Labor voters, and 83% of

This report provides an overview of workplace and job-related factors found to act as barriers to sustainable and inclusive employment for people in groups likely to experience labour market disadvantage. Key findings are that job quality, working arrangements, inclusivity and opportunity for participation at work all matter for inclusive and sustainable employment, along with individual and external systemic and structural barriers to work.

New research from the Centre for Future Work at the Australia Institute has revealed how rises in the minimum wage have almost no impact on inflation and given the collapse in the value of the minimum wage in real terms over the past 2 years, a 7% increase is a necessary recompense for Australia’s lowest

The transition towards a low-carbon future is a pressing issue, and household electrification has emerged as a critical component of Australia’s ongoing shift in energy use. In response, The Australia Institute commissioned a research report to better understand current public sentiment towards home and vehicle electrification via new community research. This report provides a snapshot

The 20 electorates that will benefit the most from Stage 3 are all classified as metropolitan, with 10 in Sydney, five in Melbourne, three in Brisbane, and one in Perth and Canberra. Of the 20 electorates that benefit the least, 12 are classified as rural.