Research
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Economics
- Banking & Finance
- Employment & Unemployment
- Future of Work
- Gender at Work
- Gig Economy
- Industry & Sector Policies
- Inequality
- Infrastructure & Construction
- Insecure & Precarious Work
- Labour Standards & Workers' Rights
- Macroeconomics
- Population & Migration
- Public Sector, Procurement & Privatisation
- Retirement
- Science & Technology
- Social Security & Welfare
- Tax, Spending & the Budget
- Unions & Collective Bargaining
- Wages & Entitlements
- Young Workers
- Climate & Energy
- Democracy & Accountability
- Environment
- International & Security Affairs
- Law, Society & Culture
February 2013
Culture of resistance
This paper looks at how Australian governments have responded to anti-microbial resistance (AMR) since the problem became evident in the 1980s. Of particular importance in Australia’s response was the 1999 establishment of the Joint Expert Technical Advisory Committee on Antibiotic Resistance (JETACAR), which was set up to provide independent expert scientific advice on the threat
Corporate power in Australia
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,
December 2012
The case against cutting the corporate tax rate
It is often argued that reductions in the corporate tax rate are necessary to create employment, increase investment and deliver a range of other benefits to the Australian community. However, despite the widespread support for this view, particularly among the business community, the theoretical and empirical case for such an expensive change in policy is
Tasmanian Forest Agreement 2012: Who is the winner?
On 22 November 2012, the timber industry and environmental non-government organisations released the Tasmanian Forest Agreement 2012 (TFA). The agreement includes a number of components, the most significant of which are the support for the creation of an additional 504,012 ha of forest reserves, a reduction in the high quality sawlog guarantee from 300,000 m3
The rise and rise of the big banks
The Australian banking industry is the most concentrated in the world and also the most profitable. In fact the ‘big four’ Australian banks make up four of the eight most profitable banks in the world. The big banks have conceded that they are not highly competitive but have argued that their market power provides benefits
Carbon credits from Western Australia’s multiple use public native forests: a first pass assessment
The object of this report was to analyse the carbon credits that could be generated by stopping all harvesting in the public native forests covered by the Conservation Commission of Western Australia’s Draft Forest Management Plan 2014-2023 (FMP forests). These forests cover an area of ~850,000 ha and have produced 300,000-500,000 m3 yr-1 of logs
November 2012
An unhealthy obsession: The impact of work hours and workplace culture on Australia’s health
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.
Beating around the bush
Summary Since the beginning of the mining boom Australia’s rural sector has lost $43.5 billion in export income. This includes $14.9 billion in 2010-11 alone. These losses have occurred because the mining boom has forced the Australian dollar to historic highs. The damage the mining boom is doing to other sectors has created what has
October 2012
Who knew Australians were so co-operative? The size and scope of mutually owned co-ops in Australia
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
Cash-in-hand means less cash for states
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
September 2012
Out for a Duck
An analysis of the economics of duckhunting in Victoria.
August 2012
Measuring Fugitive Emissions: Is coal seam gas a viable bridging fuel?
With increasing awareness of the dangers of climate change, the world is hunting for other forms of power generation that produce lower emissions of greenhouse gas. While gas is not a zero emissions energy source, it has come to be seen by some as a ‘bridging fuel’. In Australia an increasingly important source of gas
The profit in home lending
The purpose of this brief is to estimate the profit earned on mortgages by the ANZ Bank, the Commonwealth Bank of Australia, the National Australia Bank and the Westpac Banking Corporation known as big four banks. The method here is to estimate the average profit margin on bank home loans and then to apply that
Can the taxpayer afford self-funded retirement?
Australian taxpayers contributed $30.2 billion to the private accounts of that portion of the population with superannuation 2011-12. By 2015-16 this sum is projected by Treasury to rise to more than $45 billion by which time it will be, by far, the single largest area of government expenditure. By 2015-16 the taxpayer contribution of $45
The liquor industry
This study aims to present a broad outline of the liquor industry in Australia and the influences on it.
Inquiry into the allowance payment system for jobseekers and others
On 26 June 2012 the Senate referred the following matter to the Senate Education, Employment and Workplace Relations Committees for inquiry and report”” The adequacy of the allowance payment system for jobseekers and others, the appropriateness of the allowance payment system as a support into work and the impact of the changing nature of the
James Price Point: An economic analysis of the Browse LNG project
The Western Australian government together with Woodside proposes to build the Browse LNG precinct on James Price Point in the Kimberley region of Western Australia (WA). The evidence to support the state government’s claim that the precinct will deliver economic benefits is virtually non-existent. Indeed, a close reading of the scant evidence that is available
July 2012
June 2012
Climate of the Nation 2012: Australian attitudes on climate change
This Spotlight Report provides an objective benchmark of attitudes to the issue of climate change in 2012 in Australia and a rigorous analysis, qualitative and quantitative, of the pros and cons of climate change and its solutions.
All the lonely people: Loneliness in Australia, 2001-2009
Loneliness is the disconnect felt between desired interpersonal relationships and those that one perceives they currently have. While the subjective nature of this experience makes measuring loneliness difficult, understanding loneliness is important for the development of a range of social policies. The availability of longitudinal Household Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) Survey data
May 2012
Submission on Arrow Energy’s Gladstone LNG Plant proposal
Arrow Energy plans to build a Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) plant in Gladstone to export coal seam gas (CSG) from its reserves in the Surat and Bowen Basins. This construction project is proposed to occur at the same time as a large number of other projects in Gladstone such as the Yarwun Alumina Refinery Expansion,
April 2012
Are unemployment benefits adequate in Australia?
The role of unemployment benefits is to insulate people from the severe financial hardship of going to work one day and discovering that they no longer have a job. Few people earning $60,000 per year, raising children and attempting to repay their home loan can afford to remain unemployed for more than a few months
Pouring Fuel on the Fire
The mining industry is receiving substantial assistance from Australian taxpayers worth more than $4 billion per year in subsidies and concessions from the Federal Government alone. Amazingly, this is at a time when the industry is earning record profits. Significantly, these subsidies and tax concessions do not even include the cost of providing the mining
Match making: Using data-matching to find people missing out on government assistance
One of the tools used by the government in pursuit of ‘welfare cheats’ is data-matching. The Data-matching Program cross-checks income and personal details held by one agency against similar data held by other agencies, primarily the Australian Taxation Office. The focus of this program is identifying overpayments amongst existing welfare assistance recipients (the difference between
Showing their helping hand: The selective promotion of government assistance
Although Australia has a long tradition of providing welfare support, in recent times the promotion of available support has been at best selective. In recent years, campaigns to raise awareness have focused on promoting new forms of assistance, often those that are initiatives of the current government. The Education Tax Refund (ETR) is an example