In less than 20 years, the average HECS-HELP debt for people in their 20s has more than doubled.

Australia has a much higher poverty rate among people aged over 65 than Sweden and Norway. Unlike Australia, Sweden and Norway’s robust public pension systems ensure retirement security. Australia could reduce levels of poverty in retirement by increasing spending on the Age Pension. This could be funded by reducing the inequitable tax concessions on superannuation given to high income earners.

Traffic fines in Australia hit low-income earners disproportionally hard. One potential solution to this problem is traffic fines that are proportional to the income of the offender. This discussion paper outlines one way of applying this model – drawn from Finland –to Australia, including a breakdown for states.

A submission to the inquiry into Australia’s youth justice and incarceration system, summarising an earlier Australia Institute report.

One in six Australian children live in poverty, yet there is no official poverty line or monitoring of poverty in place.

In 2019, the Australia Institute published Canberra: Laboratory of democracy, which described innovative, politically controversial policies from the Australian Capital Territory that were popular across the country.

Key Findings: Australian families currently spend 20% of household income on childcare, far more than in most OECD nations. Swedish households spend just 5% of household income on childcare, Norway spends 8%, and Denmark 10%. Australia has the 3rd highest proportion of private childcare providers receiving government subsidies: 77% compared to 13% in Iceland, 17%

Modelling from the Centre for Social Research and Methods on income, wealth and gender distribution of negative gearing, CGT discount, super tax concessions and excess franking credits shows that these tax concessions overwhelmingly benefit high-income, high-wealth men.

A study of 33 OECD countries shows that Australia could substantially lift its unemployment payments without any meaningful disincentives for working. The Government has argued that Australia’s internationally low unemployment payments are needed, in part as an incentive to encourage the unemployment to look for and accept work. This briefing note tests the Government’s theory

The Australia Institute modelled the impacts that removing the coronavirus supplement would have on the number of people in poverty. The national results and an explanation of the modelling are available in Poverty in the age of coronavirus. State specific figures can be found in the following reports: Poverty in the age of coronavirus –

Removing the coronavirus supplement in September will push over 600,000 people into poverty including 120,000 children and half a million people who rent or have a mortgage. This will have a profound impact on the lives of many children for the rest of their lives and significantly impact housing and banking in Australia.

The health response to COVID-19 has resulted in large increases in measured unemployment and underemployment as well as large falls in the total number of hours worked. While the size of these labour market effects has been widely discussed, the gender distribution of these impacts has not.

On Sunday 22 March the Prime Minister, Scott Morrison, and Treasurer, Josh Frydenberg, announced a package of measures as part of their Economic Response to the Coronavirus (ERC). That response included a new Coronavirus Supplement to the Jobseeker Payment (formerly Newstart) to be paid at $550 per fortnight. This is a significant and unprecedented increase in

New research from The Australia Institute has found that a majority of Australians (52%) want to see Newstart boosted to the rate of the Age Pension for the course of the Coronavirus crisis, while one in three Australians (34%) oppose the idea.

‘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

The Australia Institute and Homeshare Australia made a joint submission to the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety. The submission outlines the wide range of economic and social benefits homeshare programs provide, such as alleviating loneliness and avoiding entry into residential care. The Royal Commission has an opportunity to recommend government investment in

Leading up to the budget there has been a good deal of concern over the status of the NDIS, also known as DisabilityCare Australia. It is important to understand just what is going on and how secure the funding might be.

The Community Development Program (CDP) is remote Australia’s Work for the Dole (WFD) and “job assistance” scheme. In place since 2015, it operates across almost 75 percent of Australia’s area, an area with a population of just 304,000 people. Indigenous people are over 80% of the CDP’s 34,000 participants. In other words, CDP participants are

The Australia Institute made a submission to the discussion paper on Future reform – an integrated care at home program to support older Australians. The discussion paper includes no consideration of shared living programs. This is a serious oversight given the paper’s emphasis on reform and innovation in care-at-home services. The main shared living programs

Successful Homeshare programs in the balance as NDIS roll-out offers new risks and opportunities. A new report from The Australia Institute, released today at the Council on the Ageing national housing policy forum, identifies semi-formal shared living opportunities for older Australians and people with disabilities. —Full report available in PDF below— Homeshare models provide free

In the 2016 budget the government announced that it would close carbon tax compensation to new recipients of government welfare benefits.  This will have the effect of reducing the amount paid to welfare recipients. This will save the government $1.3 billion over the forward estimates. The clean energy supplement was not the only part of

A new national poll of more than 10,000 Australians has shown the continued strong support for minor parties and independents in Senate voting intentions. The poll also measured opinion on the proposal to cut Newstart. 55% of respondents said the Senate should vote down the cut, just 32% said the Senate should pass the government

New polling shows very low support for Government policy to cut welfare benefits by removing the clean energy supplement. The poll of 1,310 residents across Tasmania showed 60% opposed cutting Newstart, while just 25% supported the move. (see poll below) “There has been mounting evidence of the inadequacy of the unemployment benefits.  To cut them