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Economics
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December 2023
Bush Firefighter Reserves?
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.
Submission to the Senate Community Affairs Legislation Committee on the Paid Parental Leave Amendment (More Support for Working Families) Bill 2023
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.
Mid-Term Review of Albanese Government’s Labour Policy Reforms
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.
A Better Future for Self-Employment
This report considers and challenges two common myths about self-employment.
Ensuring equitable access to Voluntary Assisted Dying
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.
November 2023
Polling: Cost of Living
The Australia Institute surveyed a sample of 1,379 Australians about their wages growth and the cost of living over the past year.
Christmas Waste 2023
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.
Jobs and Trees
Forestry represents just 1% of Tasmanian jobs and Tasmanian forestry production is largely based on plantation timber rather than native forest logging.
Short Changed
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.
Research integrity watchdogs: Lessons from Denmark and Sweden
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.
Polling: Climate Change and Health
The Australia Institute surveyed a sample of 1,535 Australians about their concerns regarding the impacts on human health from fossil fuel projects.
Research Misconduct in Australia: Part 2
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.
Research Misconduct in Australia: Part 1
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.
Small Fish, Big Pond
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.
Ending native forest logging without market mechanisms
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.
October 2023
Majority Support for water buybacks across Basin States, Party Lines and Regional Australia
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
University Councils, Transparency and the Adelaide University Merger
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.
Submission to the Senate Education and Employment Legislation Committee Inquiry into the Fair Work Legislation Amendment (Closing Loopholes) Bill 2023
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.
A Better Stage 3
The Stage 3 cuts are a high-cost, inequitable policy.
September 2023
Going Backwards
The disability support workforce is central to the effectiveness and sustainability of the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS).
Profit-Price Inflation: Theory, International Evidence, and Policy Implications
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.
Food Waste in Australia
Australia wastes 7.6m tonnes of food each year, costing households $19.3 billion.
Climate of the Nation 2023
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.
NeuRizer underground coal gasification project – economic considerations
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.
August 2023
The Case for Investing in Public Schools
Education has long been recognised as a vital determinant of both personal life chances and broader economic and social performance.
The Tip of the Iceberg: Measuring unemployment in Australia
The Reserve Bank of Australia’s decisions on interest rate increases rely on the concept of balancing inflation and unemployment.
Get Your Skates On: Tasmania’s Next State of the Environment Report
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.
Emissions from the Tamboran NT LNG facility
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.
Money Talks: The Australia-America Economic Relationship – Where From and Where To
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.
Manufacturing the Energy Revolution
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.