New research from The Australia Institute has shown more voters want to see Government spending going towards supporting those looking for work and spending on infrastructure and services than for it to be used to hand out income tax cuts.

The failure of the Commonwealth to confirm that it will maintain funding for community service organisations could threaten up to 12,000 jobs in that sector, at a moment when those services are critical to Australia’s pandemic-damaged economy. That’s the conclusion of new research on the economic importance of Commonwealth pay equity funding, conducted by the

Bringing forward personal income tax cuts would see more than 50% of benefits go to the highest 10% of income earners and 79%-91% of benefits to the top 20% of earners. Just 3%-4% of the benefit would go to the lower half of all income earners. High income earners would save some or all of

In Australia, trust in Parliament and government is low and generally declining, and dissatisfaction with government and democracy is rising – apart from a COVID-19 related boost in public trust in government over the last few months. Events over the past 12 months – including police raids on journalists and the secret prosecution of intelligence

Workers in most industries and occupations worry about the effects of accelerating technological change on their employment security and prospects. New digital technologies are being applied to an increasingly diverse and complex array of tasks and jobs – including artificial intelligence and machine learning technologies which can exercise judgment and decision-making powers. Some studies suggest that as many as half of all jobs may be highly vulnerable to automation and computerisation in coming decades. The NSW Legislative Council has established a Select Committee to examine the impact of technological and other change on the future of work in NSW. The Centre for Future Work has lodged a submission.

Submission to the Select Committee on the Impact of Technological Change on the Future of Work

Startling new research from the Centre for Future Work has shown that Australia’s economy is now regressing in its use of new technology, with negative implications for productivity, incomes, and job quality.

The COVID-19 pandemic has ushered in an era of unprecedented disruption and transition. Increased public investment in the skills and earning capabilities of Australians will be critical to our post-pandemic recovery.

New research from The Australia Institute shows three in five South Australians (58%) do not trust Members of State Parliament when it comes to claiming their salary and benefits.

Australia’s fossil fuel exports are more than double direct domestic emissions in CO2 potential. Such ‘scope 3’ emissions should be reported and included in government accounting. Mining lobby objections do not stack up and are contradicted by the actions of many of their own members companies. Emissions data release should be insulated from the Minister

New research from the Centre for Future Work reveals that Australia ranks last among all OECD countries for manufacturing self-sufficiency. The COVID-19 pandemic has reminded Australians of the importance of being able to manufacture a full range of essential equipment and supplies; and the COVID recession has created a large economic void that a revitalised manufacturing sector could help to fill in coming years.

The ANZUS treaty has not passed its use-by date. Why? Because it never had one. While, at the time it was negotiated and signed, it had political and strategic moment, events in Asia and the Pacific quickly eroded its strategic significance – an erosion that was as much aided by the compounding nature of extended Asian

Why a “gas fired recovery” would increase emissions and energy costs and squander Australia’s COVID-19 recovery spending.

Rather than dumping JobKeeper, we can reform it in such a way that more of the payment is clawed back by the government and that can be done by making it taxable at a much higher rate than other business income. This can be achieved very quickly, merely by increasing the rate at which JobKeeper

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.

Australia’s federal parliamentarians have never been so thinly spread. Whereas at Federation there were 51,000 Australians per House of Representatives MP, there are now 170,000 Australians per MP. That leaves MPs stretched and voters disengaged. It is bad enough that there are 170,000 Australians per MP, but it is even worse that rounding the NT’s

A recent study claiming minimal impact of fracking on water and soil in Queensland’s Surat Basin is presented as CSIRO research, but is actually by an alliance dominated by gas companies. The study is based on a sample of just six wells, all chosen by Origin Energy. Its results say little about the other 19,000