The Australia Institute has called for a code of conduct for economic modelling in the wake of flawed and ridiculous BIS Shrapnel economic modelling of negative gearing. A code would require key assumptions to be revealed, context and comparison to be provided, and the identification of who, if anyone, commissioned the work. 

A new report by The Australia Institute outlines a solution to the twin problems of incentives for retirement of coal fired generation and funding rehabilitation liabilities.

A new report by Richard Denniss, Chief Economist at The Australia Institute, identifies an emerging economic risk of building ‘too many coal mines’. The report examines the potential economic harm flowing that a major expansion and construction of new coal mines can result cause, including: Lower coal prices associated increased supply (and associated reductions in

The emergence of ridesharing services like Uber and Lyft offer a potentially useful addition to Canberra’s urban transport options. Canberra faces unique transport challenges. Car ownership rates are higher in the ACT than in most states, despite almost all of the population living in the Canberra urban area. But with population predicted to almost double

The Australia Institute made a presentation to the Planning and Assessment Commission for the Warkworth Continuation Project in Singleton on December 18 2014. Independent assessment has shown several times that the benefits of the Warkworth Project do not outweigh its considerable environmental and social costs. Judges, peer reviewers and the wider community have found deep

The Renewable Energy Target (RET) requires electricity retailers to purchase a specified amount of renewable energy (the target) from certified generators of renewable energy. At present burning native woodchips or other biomass, is not a certified form of renewable energy under the RET. Including biomass burning in the RET will cause a number of direct

Former Prime Minister of Australia John Howard described work/life balance as a “BBQ-stopper” in 2001. Since then, the term “work/life balance” has been part of the Australian lexicon, but just how well are Australians achieving it? National Go Home on Time Day was launched by The Australia Institute in 2009 as a light-hearted way to

The Australian government is currently willing to boost the retirement incomes of wealthy Australians by providing low cost ‘reverse mortgages’ through Centrelink. The Pension Loan Scheme (PLS) allows eligible Australians to receive payments equivalent to the full age pension paid into their bank account on a fortnightly basis, borrowed from the government and secured against

The Mount Thorley-Warkworth mine complex is a large open cut coal mine operation near Singleton, in the Hunter Valley, NSW, owned by multinational mining giant, Rio Tinto. The mine achieved notoriety in April 2013 when the NSW Land and Environment Court ruled that it should not be approved as the benefits of the project did

This paper focuses on the solar industry in Australia. It provides a brief overview of the size, growth and prospects for the Australian solar industry and argues that as the number of solar panels installed continues to rise, the cost of installation and maintenance will continue to fall. The paper argues that the productivity of

Inequality between those with the most and those with the least is rising in Australia. Australia is one of the wealthiest countries in the world, but there are many people in our society who are falling behind. The nature and extent of inequality is the choice of policy makers. We have the capacity to either reduce

State governments are more usually associated with the provision of health, education and law enforcement than industry assistance. So it might surprise taxpayers to learn that state government assistance for the mineral and fossil fuel industries consumes significant amounts of their money. Each state provides millions of dollars’ worth of assistance to mining industries every

This paper is written in partnership with Australia21. Australia has a long and proud tradition of equality, but in recent decades the benefits of strong economic growth have flowed disproportionately to the rich. In the wake of a declining resources boom, there is a growing gulf between those in the top range and those in the lower ranges of wealth

The Australia Institute recently made a submission to the Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade Committee on the Trade and Foreign Investment (Protecting the Public Interest) Act 2014 which seeks to protect Australian laws by banning investor-state dispute settlement provisions. This submission looks not only at ISDS but also other elements of trade agreements which impact

Governments are not like businesses. They provide services because the citizens demand them, not because delivering them is profitable. They collect taxes from citizens, not charge prices from customers. While a business has a legal responsibility to maximise the dividends it pays its shareholders, it makes no sense for a government to generate a surplus

As Australia’s population ages, government policies that assist retirement will become even more essential. Superannuation tax concessions and the age pension are the two key government policies that assist the ageing, but they are becoming increasingly expensive. Increasing costs have prompted the Treasurer, Mr Joe Hockey to suggest the pension age be increased to 70.

The Australia Institute’s submission on the Newcastle T4 project focuses on the economic assessment and highlights a number of flaws in the economic modelling.  The assessment included the use of export growth rates up to 12 times greater than through the mining boom, estimates of coal exports out to 2083, and inflated estimates of coal

Investments in coal, oil, and gas increase financial risk without increasing returns, according to the new report Climate proofing your investments: Moving funds out of fossil fuels published by The Australia Institute. To meet the internationally-agreed two degree global warming limit, fossil fuel businesses must leave in the ground two-thirds of the reserves currently on their books.

Submission to the Senate Inquiry into Minerals Resource Rent Tax Repeal and Other Measures Bill 2013. 

Problems getting enough work, breaking back into the workforce or getting a break from overwork are taking their toll on millions of Australian workers, making us sick and leading to less productive and enjoyable workplaces. Whether employees are overworked, underworked or out of work, millions are feeling stressed and their mental health and general health

In November 2013 The Australia Institute made a submission on the application to modify the consent conditions of Rio Tinto’s Warkworth mine, near Singleton in the Hunter Valley, NSW. This modification allows the mine to expand into areas that the Land and Environment Court had disallowed, as the economic benefits of doing so did not

Most politicians claim that creating jobs is top of the agenda – but public sector jobs are a different matter. The Coalition has promised to cut at least 12,000 jobs in the public sector if it wins government, hoping to portray these jobs as superfluous and implying that getting rid of them will make everyone

Superannuation is unlike any other product in Australia. There is no other product that all employees are forced to spend nine per cent of their income buying. In fact, the proportion of income spent on compulsory superannuation is to rise to 12 per cent by 2020. But it is not just individuals that spend a

Australians spend more money each week on superannuation fees than they do on electricity, yet only a small portion of those with superannuation pay close, if any, attention to the decisions made on their behalf by their superannuation ‘trustees’. Similarly, while Australian households now hold nearly $1 trillion in institutional superannuation funds few, if any,

Some industries have far more political influence than others, and some political systems are more susceptible to the influence of industries than others. In Australia, the Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) is currently investigating evidence of the links between the previous NSW Labor Government and the mining industry. In the words of Geoffrey Watson, QC,

Australians work some of the longest hours in the developed world – substantially longer than their counterparts in Denmark, The Netherlands and Norway. For many Australians though, work stress is related not to the number of hours worked, but a mismatch between the workers’ desired and actual hours of work, and the inflexibility of these arrangements. This is true for workers across the earning spectrum.

Eight in every ten Australians are a member of a co-operatively owned, or mutually owned enterprise (co-ops and mutuals) such as a road side assistance organisation (NRMA, RACV), a member-owned superannuation fund (AustralianSuper), a mutually owned bank (such as bankmecu) or a consumer cooperative (Co-op Bookshop). Similarly, large businesses such as the dairy co-operative Murray

The introduction of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) in July 2000 by the Howard Government was, we were told, likely to lead to a significant reduction in the size of the ‘cash’ or ‘black’ economy. The 2003 report to the then Tax Commissioner from the Cash Economy Task Force stated: The new tax system

An analysis of the economics of duckhunting in Victoria.