Research
-
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
October 2019
Collective Bargaining “Reform”
Coalition leaders hardly mentioned industrial relations topics during the recent federal election campaign, but now that the party is back in power, an aggressive and wide-ranging agenda for changing Australia’s labour laws has been quickly assembled—with the enthusiastic backing of business lobbyists.
NSW Government must defend law and climate from coal industry attacks
The open letter signed by 47 experts co-ordinated and published by the Australia Institute Climate & Energy Program and complete list of signatories is reproduced in full below. View full media release here. An open letter to the Government of New South Wales Allowing new coal mines in NSW is incompatible with the NSW Government’s
The Future of Work for Australian Graduates
The Centre for Future Work has released a major new report documenting the new challenges faced by Australian university graduates in finding jobs that are stable, rewarding, and utilise their newly-developed skills. The report was prepared in conjunction with Graduate Careers Australia.
Messing With Success
The Centre for Future Work has released new research estimating the negative impacts on wages and spending power of the Victoria government’s proposed 2% cap on wage increases for the state’s large public sector workforce.
Rank Hypocrisy: Where Australia ranks on ‘renewables per capita’
At the UN General Assembly the Prime Minister claimed Australia has the highest renewable energy investment in the world in per capita terms. This claim is contradicted by multiple data sources including those the government cites, and is misleading. The recent boom followed a collapse caused by the government cutting the Renewable Energy Target. Investment
Over Reactor
Adequacy of Newstart – Submission
‘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
Dam shame
Taxing debate on land in SA
Aggregating the land portfolios of property investors in South Australia, so that they pay tax on their investments as a whole, is a fair reform that will help to raise the revenue required to fund public services. Drastically reducing land tax rates in a way that primarily helps property investors with portfolios valued over $1
Coal calling
New coal mine proposals in Tasmania appear to be aimed more at increasing the value of the company and extracting government subsidy than at developing a mine that could deliver value for the Tasmanian community.
Government for the people
The Australia Institute welcomes the opportunity to make a submission to the Joint Standing Committee on Electoral Matters. The Committee’s Report on the conduct of the 2016 federal election recognised compulsory voting as a cornerstone of Australia’s democracy and recommended a review of the penalty for not voting. This review appears not to have been
September 2019
National Energy Emissions Audit – September update
Providing a comprehensive, up-to-date indication of key electricity trends in Australia. + Energy productivity has increased very little since the introduction of the National Energy Productivity Plan in 2015. + Australia is falling further behind the main aim of the NEPP; to achieve a 40% improvement in Australia’s primary energy productivity by 2030. + Energy
Monetary policy is spent: It’s fiscal policy or bust
Monetary policy is recognised as being less effective as official interest rates approach zero. There are two main reasons. First, spending in Australia on investment is not very responsive to reductions in interest rates. Second, any reduction in official interest rates is mediated by the banks and other financial institutions. For practical reasons deposit rates
Monopoly money
Just to cap it off
Polling – Formula E
New research from The Australia Institute has shown that more than half (51%) of South Australians want Adelaide to host a fully electric Formula E Championship race, while just 11% of people oppose the idea.
Class ACT: How the Australian Capital Territory became a global energy leader
The ACT will soon become the first Australian jurisdiction to achieve a transition from a fossil fuel based supply to 100% renewable electricity. Just seven other jurisdictions have achieved this, in Germany, Austria and Spain.
Submission to the Senate Standing Committee on Education and Employment
Despite its deafening silence on industrial relations issues during the recent election, the re-elected Coalition government is charging ahead with an aggressive plan to change Australia’s labour laws. And business lobbyists are lining up to endorse its direction. First out of the gate is a plan to amend the Fair Work Act, in the cynically mis-named “Ensuring Integrity” bill, to introduce harsh new sanctions on unions and union officials.
Submission: Offset Upset
WA LNG projects are pushing up Australia’s emissions.
Submission to NSW IPC: United Wambo coal mine, scope 3 emissions
The Australia Institute welcomes the opportunity to comment on proposed conditions of the United Wambo coal mine project relating to climate change. The Independent Planning Commission is to be commended for raising the elephant in the room of Australia’s climate policy – our coal exports and the scope three emissions that they create. In the
Climate of the Nation 2019
The annual Climate of the Nation report has tracked Australian attitudes on climate change for over a decade. Climate of the Nation 2019 is the second report produced by The Australia Institute, continuing the work of The Climate Institute (2007-2017). Key findings include: 81% of Australians are concerned that climate change will result in more
August 2019
Mulga Rock uranium project
The proposed Mulga Rock uranium mine is unlikely to be in the WA community interest. Aside from the environmental risks inherent in uranium mining, the feasibility study for the proposal uses improbable market scenarios and does not illustrate a credible range of project outcomes.
Coffin it up: Submission to NEPM air quality review regarding cost benefit analysis
The Australia Institute made a submission to the National Environment Protection Council (NEPC) regarding national ambient air quality standards for ozone, nitrogen dioxide and sulphur dioxide. The economic assessment of the proposed standards is not fit for purpose. The benefit-cost analysis underestimates the benefits of improved air quality while overstating the costs of improvements. In
National Energy Emissions Audit: August 2019
Welcome to the August 2019 issue of the NEEA Electricity Update, with data updated to theend of July 2019. The Electricity Update presents data on electricity demand, electricitysupply, and electricity generation emissions in the National Electricity Market (NEM), pluselectricity demand in the South West Interconnected System (SWIS). Since the start of 2018 we have been charting
Oil in the Great Australian Bight – 2019
Norwegian oil company Equinor is planning exploratory drilling for oil and gas in the Great Australian Bight beginning in late 2020. Modelling commissioned by the oil and gas lobby shows that South Australia is unlikely to receive any noticeable benefit from tax payments as a result of oil and gas production in the Great Australian