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The Wrap with Dr Emma Shortis

What a missed opportunity.

Last night, the Australian Prime Minister had the chance to face reality. His address to the nation was a recognition that Australians are deeply worried about the state of the world – as they should be. Our world is in real trouble, and there is every indication that the trouble is going to get worse.

What the prime minister did not say is that this trouble lies at the feet of the President of the United States.

Photo: AAP Image/Lukas Coch

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— Dr Emma Shortis is Director of The Australia Institute’s International & Security Affairs Program.

On this episode of Dollars & Sense, Greg and Elinor discuss the prime minister’s national address on the impacts of the US-Israel war on Iran, policy responses to fuel price hikes, Australia’s gas giveaway and Greg’s visit to a gas conference.

This discussion was recorded on Thursday 2 April 2026.

Check out our Australia’s Gas Giveaway live tracker.

Host: Greg Jericho, Chief Economist, the Australia Institute // @grogsgamut

Host: Elinor Johnston-Leek, Senior Content Producer, the Australia Institute // @elinorjohnstonleek

Show notes:

Prices skyrocket but major fuel shortages “very unlikely”, Follow the Money (April 2026)

Australia’s land value has gone through the roof. Where does that leave young people who want to buy a home? by Greg Jericho, Guardian Australia (April 2026)

Spencer Klavan’s thoughtful reflections on America and its future are measured and understated, reflecting the general mood of ambivalence and uncertainty surrounding the nation’s 250th birthday. Those of us old enough to remember the 1976 Bicentennial have been struck by the dissimilarity in the public mood. Julie Ponzi, writing for Chronicles, noticed this back in 2024: “The hype surrounding both the 1976 Bicentennial and the 1987 Bicentennial of the U.S. Constitution was so intense that both events inspired in me an intense interest and curiosity about American history.” Now that the semiquincentennial year is officially upon us, the lack of enthusiasm is even more evident. We don’t seem to know what we should be celebrating, or even whether we should.

The American Mind’s ‘Editorial Roundtable’ podcast is a weekly conversation with Ryan Williams, Spencer Klavan, and Mike Sabo devoted to uncovering the ideas and principles that drive American political life. Stream here or download from your favorite podcast host.

Congress Take the Wheel | The Roundtable Ep. 311

The post Albanese Government introduces Unfair Trading Prohibition appeared first on CPRC.

Matt Grudnoff and Ebony Bennett discuss Australia’s relatively strong position in global energy supply chains. Matt explains why some petrol stations have run low despite overall fuel supplies remaining steady, how the price hikes are fuelling inequality, and why Scott Morrison’s 2021 claim about an electric vehicle policy putting an “end to the weekend” now looks even more absurd than it did at the time.

This episode was recorded on Tuesday 31 March.

You can sign the Australia Institute’s petition calling on the federal government to make gas exporters pay their fair share.

Guest: Matt Grudnoff, Senior Economist, the Australia Institute // @mattgrudnoff

Host: Ebony Bennett, Deputy Director, the Australia Institute // @ebonybennett

Show notes:

Fuel costs and RBA hikes equal to a 90 basis point rate rise: ‘this is brutal’ by Greg Jericho, The Point (March 2026)

Most Australian voters want the government to reduce tax breaks for property investors and put more money into social housing, according to new polling.

It comes as new analysis from Everybody’s Home also found that these tax breaks have fuelled a landlord boom with more than one million now reaping the benefits, yet housing affordability has never been worse.

The polling conducted for The Australia Institute in March found of the 1,502 Australians surveyed:

Lily Gordon and Lee Seltzer

Editor’s note: The fifth and sixteenth paragraphs have been revised for technical accuracy. April 8, 2026, 5:00 p.m.

It is a pleasure to respond to Spencer Klavan’s graceful and inspired reflections on the prospects for America as we move closer to the 250th anniversary of the founding. He admirably eschews polemics and avoids an excessively narrow preoccupation with the most heated issues of the day, concerning himself with broader and deeper matters. At the same time, he writes as a partisan of the American project and the broader civilization—Western civilization—of which it has been a particularly vital and noble expression. Klavan raises big questions without succumbing to fashionable, or once-fashionable, theses such as “The End of History” or the ideological temptation of Year Zero-ism, which distort the past and present, as well as the prospects for the future.

As AI continues its explosive growth, data centers are becoming the primary target of backlash. From rural Louisiana to the suburbs of Arlington, Virginia, Americans are showing up at zoning and permitting boards to challenge their construction. Bernie Sanders has called for a nationwide data center moratorium, while Republicans in Florida propose regulating their energy and natural resource use.

The criticisms so far have centered on claims about the data centers’ water consumption, electricity demand, noise pollution, land use, and overall disruption—issues that tech companies like Meta are working to address with new practices and community investments. Yet something more needs to be done on the political front to ameliorate Americans’ growing concerns about data centers.

Gender equality at work has barely improved over the past ten years, with paid work opportunities held back by women doing the bulk of unpaid work in the home, new research shows.

Stubborn gaps in pay and career progression, alongside deep division between the types of jobs women and men do, are holding back business and the economy, despite decades of efforts by governments, employers and unions.

To help understand and address these gender gaps, the Australian Centre for Gender Equality and Inclusion at Work has developed a unique tool to measure and track equality at work.

The first Gender Equality @ Work Index provides a comprehensive, national snapshot of gender equality at work over ten years.

Our research shows many of the unequal features of the Australian labour market, such as the concentration of men and women in different industries and occupations, have barely shifted in three decades.

Improvement, but at a glacial pace