By 2050, the amount of plastic consumed in Australia will more than double. Despite government policies aimed at creating a ‘circular economy’, just 14% of plastic waste is kept out of landfill. Recycling plastic is inefficient, expensive and hazardous, and there is little demand for recycled plastics. Policies to cap or phase down the use of plastics, including a plastics tax, are needed.

Australia’s meat processing and agricultural industries are employing an increasing number of temporary workers on the PALM Visa scheme from Pacific Island nations and Timor-Leste.

An overwhelming majority (85%) of Australians support better conditions for volunteer firefighters through an Army Reserve style model in the face of longer and more ferocious bushfire seasons.

This joint submission by the Centre for Future Work and the Nordic Policy Centre argues for immediate further reform to bring Australia’s Paid Parental Leave (PPL) scheme up to international best practice standards.

A review of the Albanese government’s labour and industrial relations reforms at the mid-point of its term in office concludes that the government deserves “positive marks” for several measures taken to strengthen collective bargaining and accelerate wage growth.

This report considers and challenges two common myths about self-employment.

The Australia Institute is grateful for the opportunity to make a submission to the review of the Voluntary Assisted Dying Bill 2023. The ACT Government and Minister for Human Rights Tara Cheyne should be commended for introducing this bill.

The Australia Institute surveyed a sample of 1,379 Australians about their wages growth and the cost of living over the past year.

Gift giving is a long-standing Christmas tradition. Yet Australia Institute research shows that approximately 6.1 million adult Australians, expect to receive Christmas presents this year that they will never use or wear.

Forestry represents just 1% of Tasmanian jobs and Tasmanian forestry production is largely based on plantation timber rather than native forest logging.

This year marks the fifteenth annual Go Home on Time Day (GHOTD), an initiative of the Centre for Future Work at the Australia Institute that shines a spotlight on the maldistribution of working hours and the scale of unpaid overtime worked by Australians.

Denmark and Sweden are home to two of the world’s best research integrity watchdogs. This is because these nations have implemented legislation that provides their watchdogs with the power to effectively handle cases of ‘research misconduct’, which is when researchers intentionally manipulate or falsify data to gain a competitive edge over their peers.

The Australia Institute surveyed a sample of 1,535 Australians about their concerns regarding the impacts on human health from fossil fuel projects.

Australia needs a research integrity watchdog, but what would a best-practice regulatory body look like? Using world-leading examples from five nations, this report makes nine recommendations for the design of an independent research integrity watchdog that would enable Australia to effectively tackle research misconduct.

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.