The national roll-out of the NDIS holds the prospect of a significant enhancement in both the resources allocated to disability services in Australia, and the autonomy and flexibility of service delivery for people with disability. But it also constitutes an enormous logistical and organisational challenge. And the market-based service delivery model built into the NDIS is exacerbating those challenges, by unleashing a widespread fragmentation and casualisation of work in disability services.

The Australia Institute welcomes the opportunity to make a submission to the South Australian Select Committee on the findings of the South Australian Murray Darling Basin Royal Commission and the Productivity Commission’s five-year assessment of the Plan. Public commentary frequently blames the Basin Plan for the economic, social and environmental demise of much of the

New research from The Australia Institute’s Centre for Future Work estimates that Australian workers are currently working an average of 4.6 hours of unpaid overtime each week, which translates to 6 weeks of full time work without pay, per employee, per year – with an annual worth of $81.5 billion for Australian employers.

New research from the Centre for Future Work shows that scheduled increases in employers’ minimum statutory superannuation contributions would have no negative effects on future wage growth, and that Australia’s economy can afford both higher wages and higher employer contributions to superannuation.

The Australia Institute made a submission to the Legal and Constitutional Affairs Committee’s inquiry into nationhood, national identity and democracy. The submission outlines how the Australia Institute’s existing research applies to each of the committee’s terms of reference.

New research from The Australia Institute has found strong support amongst South Australians for land tax aggregation, funding for affordable housing and measures that would require politicians to reveal personal interests before voting on land tax legislation.

For the last generation macroeconomic policy in Australia has been based on the assumption that unemployment must be maintained at a certain minimum level in order to restrain wages and prevent an outbreak of accelerating inflation. Now, after six years of record-low wage growth – which weakened even further in the latest ABS wage statistics – it is time for that policy to be abandoned.

The Centre for Future Work has partnered with HESTA, the industry super fund for workers in health care and community services, to prepare a comprehensive report on the economic and social status of women in Australia today. The report shows that while progress has been made in some key areas, women continue to confront systematic barriers to their full participation in paid work, fair pay, retirement security, safety, and recognition.

The Australia Institute made a submission to the Senate Economics References Committee’s inquiry into Australia’s oil and gas reserves. The submission highlights our existing research on Australia’s oil and gas and how they relate to the inquiry’s terms of reference. Update Read our second submission to the Senate Economics References Committee’s inquiry into Australia’s oil and

If Norwegian company Equinor is given permission to drill for oil in the Great Australian Bight, it will likely pay the Norwegian Government more than it will pay in Australian Government taxes and up to 27 times more than they will pay to the South Australian Government, a new report from The Australia Institute has

Welcome to the October 2019 issue of The Australia Institute’s National Energy Emissions Audit (the Emissions Audit).The Emissions Audit tracks Australia’s emissions of greenhouse gases from the combustion of fossil fuels every quarter; this issue contains data up to the end of June 2018. The Emissions Audit will therefore give readers the most up to date

The Australian National Audit Office is investigating so-called strategic water purchases in the Murray Darling Basin. These purchases were counter to government policy on reducing consumptive use, have not brought balance to the Commonwealth’s water portfolio, were not value for money and did not meet guidelines on transparency, accountability and ethical procurement. The Australia Institute

Coalition leaders hardly mentioned industrial relations topics during the recent federal election campaign, but now that the party is back in power, an aggressive and wide-ranging agenda for changing Australia’s labour laws has been quickly assembled—with the enthusiastic backing of business lobbyists.

The open letter signed by 47 experts co-ordinated and published by the Australia Institute Climate & Energy Program and complete list of signatories is reproduced in full below. View full media release here. An open letter to the Government of New South Wales Allowing new coal mines in NSW is incompatible with the NSW Government’s

The Centre for Future Work has released a major new report documenting the new challenges faced by Australian university graduates in finding jobs that are stable, rewarding, and utilise their newly-developed skills. The report was prepared in conjunction with Graduate Careers Australia.

The Centre for Future Work has released new research estimating the negative impacts on wages and spending power of the Victoria government’s proposed 2% cap on wage increases for the state’s large public sector workforce.

At the UN General Assembly the Prime Minister claimed Australia has the highest renewable energy investment in the world in per capita terms. This claim is contradicted by multiple data sources including those the government cites, and is misleading. The recent boom followed a collapse caused by the government cutting the Renewable Energy Target. Investment

‘Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing, and medical care and necessary social services’. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Article 25

Aggregating the land portfolios of property investors in South Australia, so that they pay tax on their investments as a whole, is a fair reform that will help to raise the revenue required to fund public services. Drastically reducing land tax rates in a way that primarily helps property investors with portfolios valued over $1

New coal mine proposals in Tasmania appear to be aimed more at increasing the value of the company and extracting government subsidy than at developing a mine that could deliver value for the Tasmanian community.

The Australia Institute welcomes the opportunity to make a submission to the Joint Standing Committee on Electoral Matters. The Committee’s Report on the conduct of the 2016 federal election recognised compulsory voting as a cornerstone of Australia’s democracy and recommended a review of the penalty for not voting. This review appears not to have been

Providing a comprehensive, up-to-date indication of key electricity trends in Australia. + Energy productivity has increased very little since the introduction of the National Energy Productivity Plan in 2015. + Australia is falling further behind the main aim of the NEPP; to achieve a 40% improvement in Australia’s primary energy productivity by 2030. + Energy

Monetary policy is recognised as being less effective as official interest rates approach zero. There are two main reasons. First, spending in Australia on investment is not very responsive to reductions in interest rates. Second, any reduction in official interest rates is mediated by the banks and other financial institutions. For practical reasons deposit rates