Last night’s passing of amendments to the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act weakens the protection of our natural treasures, rammed through by a government which promised greater protection.
The amendments increase the likelihood that Australian native species will become extinct, driven by a government which promised no extinctions under its watch.
The amendments are designed to protect the destructive, foreign-owned commercial salmon industry in Tasmania.
But the changes could stop anyone – from local community groups to Federal Government Ministers – from reviewing projects like coal mines, gas exploration, land clearing or other destructive practices.
“This bill has ramifications for industries that goes well beyond salmon. It will affect all industries governed by this legislation,” said Eloise Carr, Director, The Australia Institute Tasmania.
“Labor and Coalition MPs described what they were trying to achieve as ‘fixing a flaw’ in the EPBC Act. There was no flaw in the law.
“For once, just as our nature law was about to do what it is supposed to – protect world heritage and species threatened with extinction – the major parties have changed the law.
“We have a parliamentary process to scrutinise laws before they pass. But not this time.”
Ten years ago, Anthony Albanese described similar changes proposed by the coalition government as an act of environmental vandalism.
The Centre for Future Work’s research team has analysed the Commonwealth Government’s budget, focusing on key areas for workers, working lives, and labour markets.
As expected with a Federal election looming, the budget is not a horror one of austerity. However, the 2025-2026 budget is characterised by the absence of any significant initiatives.
There is very little in this budget that is new, other than some surprise tax cuts, which are welcome given they mostly benefit people on low incomes
There are continuing investments in some key areas supporting wages growth where it is solely needed and for rebuilding important areas of public good. However, there remains much that needs to be done in the next parliament, whoever is in government.
“The budget does deliver a welcome tax cut targeted towards those on low incomes” Chief Economist Greg Jericho notes, “but the lack of new spending and initiatives highlights the need for policies from all political parties in the coming election campaign that address inequality and the needs of people who have been most hurt by cost of living rises over the past three years.”
Read our full budget briefing paper for more information
Here are resources from the Reset Reading Group which was a bookclub set up by the Commons Library during the time of COVID lockdowns. This reading group was an opportunity to develop shared ideas and visions for a just future together. It ran from April – July 2020.
Everything is being Reset… How things unfold from here is up to us.
Each fortnight leading progressive thinkers shared materials for reflection, discussion, and potential action on key themes central to a just future. The program consisted of readings, films and podcasts draw from philosophers, political theorists, educators, agitators and artists as well as the collective wisdom of participants. The discussions focused on how we can build a better world, and what that better world would look like.
The readings from different curators are still available for you to read.
Reset Reading Group resources for discussion curated and introduced by Karrina Nolan from Original Power. Includes Indigenous Principles for Just Transition, interviews, videos, podcasts, campaign links and prompts for discussions.
National housing campaign Everybody’s Home has acknowledged the federal government’s housing measures in tonight’s budget but warns they fail to tackle the scale of the crisis.
With housing stress and homelessness deepening as sky-high rents continue to price Australians out, Everybody’s Home is urging all parties to deliver bold, ambitious commitments ahead of the election.
Everybody’s Home spokesperson Maiy Azize said: “This federal budget has measures that may make housing more affordable for a small number of people but it doesn’t deliver solutions that will make housing more affordable for everybody.
“Expanding the Help to Buy scheme may help some, but it will not move the needle on the housing crisis which is affecting millions of Australians.
“The housing crisis is deepening and hurting more and more Australians. We need a response that matches the scale of the crisis. We need leaders that will take bold leaps forward.
“The election is an opportunity for the federal government to offer the ambitious, visionary, and transformative solutions that voters are crying out for.
Well, everyone who earns more than $18,200. Everyone gets a tax cut – up to $268 in 2026-27 and another one in 2027-28. It’s a smart tax cut – mostly benefitting those earning less than $45,000.
People who go to the doctor/use the PBS – as was previously announced – cheaper PBS medicine, cheaper GP visits (hopefully) and the energy rebate is extended for another 6 months (tune back in 6 months to see if it gets extended again).
Beer drinkers – the Government will pause indexation on draught beer excise and excise equivalent customs duty rates for a two‑year period, from August 2025 – also previously announced.
Gas companies who are projected to pay less PRRT over the next 4 years – $1.95bn than $1.8bn then $1.65bn then $1.45bn. As a result, beer drinkers – even with the pause of excise indexation will still pay $4.8bn more than gas companies do on PRRT over the next 4 years.
Wealthy people who live using the superannuation system to avoid paying tax – no changes to the super tax concessions.
Wealthy people who like using the tax system to speculate in the housing market. No changes to that nor negative gearing.
This article is read by Eunice Wong, a Juilliard-trained actor, featured on Audible's list of Best Women Narrators. Her work is on the annual Best Audiobooks lists of the New York Times, Audible, AudioFile, & Library Journal. www.eunicewong.actor
Globally, authoritarianism has been on the rise, and political freedoms have been steadily declining. This is a concern for us all – as authoritarian regimes rely on and fuel violence. These political actors deepen divisions, label vulnerable groups as enemies, and magnify people’s grievances – all to distract from unpopular or ineffective policies, including those that consolidate power in a single individual or political party.
Underlying this is a politics of us versus them: Narratives that construct a guilty and threatening “them” that endangers “our physical security,” “our way of life,” and “our women and children;” and a virtuous “us” in need of protection. This rhetoric dehumanizes marginalized groups, criminalizes opponents, and justifies political and identity-based violence that advances authoritarian goals.
Those who control the Democratic Party despise America, our Constitution, and our history. Their goal is a repressive society based on Marxist and intersectional ideologies. Their claim to be champions of democracy is hypocrisy of the highest order. Through subterfuge and force they have moved the United States to the precipice of the abyss. Their radical views, vitriol, and violence are intolerable. Only by the strongest medicine, intravenously administered, can we turn the tide.
Donald Trump’s goal is to restore individual liberties, a constitutional republic, and American exceptionalism. He is fallible, and his flaws have been exacerbated by a decade of political, legal, and financial attacks. Yet, blemishes and some dark impulses aside, there is a broad chasm between the hellscape sought by Democratic activists and leaders and the America Trump seeks.
Two frameworks for assessing the different kinds of policy and political spaces activists can engage in or create to effect change.
These frameworks are explained in Just Power: A Guide for Activists and Changemakers by JASS Just Associates. The excerpt below is from Chapter 6: Power and Strategy – Theme 5: Engaging and Resisting.
Engaging and Resisting
Policy and legal advocacy – focused on visible power – tend to dominate public perceptions about how change happens.
In many contexts, engaging with, reforming, and using the mechanisms of formal decision-making – whether through government, corporate, civil society, trade union, or religious structure (among many other examples) – remains a critical tool for influencing and changing power.
Policy and advocacy efforts may be strategic in specific moments or contexts, but not always.
Some movements choose not to get involved in formal lobbying or advocacy directed at governments and to focus instead on shifting power in other arenas, such as generating new narratives, investing in political education that challenges the dominant norms and beliefs of invisible power, building their own alternatives, creating autonomous communities – self-defined and self-governing groups – or resisting through protests, marches and occupations.
ODOT and WSDOT are over-estimating future traffic on the I-5 bridge because they’re over stated the willingness to pay for travel time savings
The result will be an under-utilized, over-built I-5 bridge, and congestion on I-205
Over-estimating the willingness to pay for travel time savings causes IBR to underestimate diversion and negative environmental effects from tolling I-5
Metro’s case for a $7.5 billion Interstate Bridge rests on a critical assumption that doesn’t survive serious scrutiny: how much local drivers value their time. This seemingly technical detail has massive implications for the entire project’s justification.
There are currently no tolled roads in the Portland area. Drivers react to tolls in an unsurprising way: if a road is tolled, drivers tend to use it less. That’s a key feature of the IBR project: project proponents count on tolling to manage the flow of traffic over a much expanded I-5 bridge. Without tolls, the phenomenon of induced demand means that a wider bridge would simply generate even more traffic, more pollution and more congestion. Project proponents claim that a tolled, but much larger bridge would attract less traffic. How much less?
When the then-coalition government sought to weaken the Environmental Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act, Mr. Albanese said “the right of citizens with standing to challenge their governments in court is a fundamental pillar of a robust democracy”.
Tomorrow, the Albanese government is planning to do exactly what Mr. Albanese warned against in 2015.
The government will introduce amendments to parliament tomorrow seeking to change subsection 78(3) and subsection 78C(1) of the EPBC Act, which will limit the ability to review decisions and have major consequences for our natural environment.
Science is constantly evolving. Australia needs laws which enable decisions to be reviewed based on the latest evidence. These amendments stop us from doing that.
Factors and questions to consider when shaping strategic choices in developing your campaign strategy. Factors are the trends, forces, and questions to consider in making strategic choices.
The choice and mix of strategies are shaped by many factors unique to every place, people, moment, set of issues and organisations. Careful (power) analysis of all of these determines the pathways for contesting and changing power. – Source
The factors below are from the JASS Power Guide. There is also a handout and an activity to explore as a group.
For years, I would repost studies on my private Instagram account. As more research emerged about what SARS-COV-2 was doing to the heart, brain, blood vessels and immune system, I shared citations. I didn’t want to come across as some ranting conspiracy theorist who’d fallen down a YouTube rabbit hole so, surely, I thought, linking to scientific studies would be persuasive.
I organized the studies into story highlights. COVID INFO was the first. Each highlight can only contain up to 100 stories, so when the first was full I moved on to MORE COVID INFO. Looking back now it appears I made it up to COVID INFO 6, alongside COVID ACTION and COVID RESOURCES and SUBSTACK (where I began posting links to my articles when The Gauntlet launched).
But at some point, somewhere between 500 and 600 research papers deep, I realized that studies could not compete with vibes. People either did not care, did not understand, or did not want to know. I stopped posting the information. Other than links to my own articles, I generally stay off Instagram these days.
Like any young right-winger, I follow Vice President JD Vance closely on X. He’s one of the most interesting and inspiring figures in the Trump Administration. Recently, he discussed an interaction he had with a Ukrainian American that got my attention. The gentleman accused Vance of abandoning “his” country, to which Vance retorted that his country is America. He then said a line that has stuck with me, something I had never heard a politician express before: “I always found it offensive that a new immigrant to our country would be willing to use the power and influence of their new nation to settle the ethnic rivalries of the old.”
What Vice President Vance succinctly outlined is a problem that naturally seems to come with empire building: becoming international waters. The United States has become a place where other nations fight to win money, power, and influence for themselves while the American people are left in the dust. Client states at the outer edges of our empire have become the constituency of our politicians and bureaucrats. Taxpayers of the empire suffer as they’re forced to fund the outer colonies, getting hardly anything tangible in return for their labors.
As Donald Trump and his cronies escalate their assault on client representation by attorneys, some lawyers and law firms are standing up to the Republican Fascist bullying and some are capitulating. I am proud of the heroes and utterly disgusted by the knaves.
An inside look at effective policy making, realised through hard-won public policy battles
What does successful public policy look like, and how has it been achieved in Australia? What strategies are needed to overcome petty partisanship and narrow self-interest? And who gets to decide what a ‘better Australia’ even looks like? In A Better Australia John Brumby, Scott Hamilton and Stuart Kells examine policy design, implementation and reform, and show what can be achieved when engagement is sincere and intent clear. Leading policymakers and political insiders – Julia Gillard, Malcolm Turnbull, Cheryl Kernot, John Hewson, Ken Wyatt, Christine Milne and more – dissect the development of successful policy in energy, gun control, natural resources taxation, disability insurance, marriage equality, gender equality in the workplace, superannuation, reproductive healthcare reform, Closing the Gap and the pandemic response. A Better Australia takes us behind the scenes of the hard-won policy battles, showing the wide-ranging effects of good policy.
John Brumby and Stuart Kells joined us for our March 2025 John Cain Lunch. Watch the recording below.
What Peter Dutton and the Coalition are offering Australian voters is a fiction.
It’s headlines without substance, chimeras and half-truths that never stand up to scrutiny, but comprehensively misdirects the media’s gaze.
The nation has been in election mode since the beginning of the year, when Anthony Albanese used his January press club address to remind voters of what he had spent the better part of the last three years doing.
Dutton fronted his own quasi election opening campaign launch in Victoria, the state he hopes will help deliver a Labor defeat, complete with a new slogan ‘let’s get Australia back on track’.
If it sounds as though someone in Coalition headquarters ran ‘Make America Great Again’ through ChatGPT with the instruction to make something similar for Australia, but different, congratulations – your neurons are firing in exactly the way someone receiving big money worked to manipulate.
But on the eve of the election being formally called, one has to ask – what track is a Dutton led Australia heading towards? An imaginary fantasy of the 1950s, when ‘strong’ men made decisions and women did what they were told, and migrants were indistinguishable from their neighbours, as long as their name wasn’t printed on the letter box?
In his address to Congress this month, President Trump boasted—and justly so—of his administration’s astonishing success in stopping illegal border crossings over just six weeks. “Since taking office, my administration has launched the most sweeping border and immigration crackdown in American history. And we quickly achieved the lowest numbers of illegal border crossers ever recorded.” This is no Trumpian bombast: A 94% year-on-year reduction in illegal entries really is an unprecedented accomplishment. It is also a popular one: a majority of Americans approve of controlling the border.
An even larger majority—some 76%—approve of his policy of deporting undocumented aliens who have committed felonies. Even some on the Left like Jon Stewart have been wondering: if ICE knew exactly where to find all those murderers, rapists, drug dealers, and human traffickers, as clearly they did, why then did the Biden Administration never act to deport them? Good question.
It is exhausting to live in a country in turmoil. With the Trump regime and the Republican Fascists wilding and so many elite institutions bending the knee, it can be overwhelming to pay attention. But I believe we must, if only to keep a record for the future. When it comes time to rebuild a federal state that is a constitutional democracy committed to rule of law and secular pluralism – and I have no doubt that time will come – the people rebuilding need to know who tried to protect these things and the steps they took. For us now, it is important to pay attention to who is trying and what they are doing: we must know who to support, protect, and join with. This brings me back to Judge Boasberg, the federal district court judge hearing J.G.G. v. Trump.
If you are an organiser, a movement builder, a community leader, an ‘artivist’, a student, a social justice NGO worker, a philanthropist, or someone from any other part of the social change ecosystem – this Guide is for you!
This Guide, Just Power: A Guide for Activists and Changemakers, by JASS is based on decades of experience in and alongside movements, and is by and for change-makers of all kinds.
Based on two decades of movement accompaniment and strengthening, the Just Power Guide combines provocative thinking and concepts with tried and tested activities for groups. Several years in the making, this cutting edge Guide supports activists, organizations and movements to be strategic as they navigate increasingly hostile contexts. It provides movement allies and donors with conceptual frameworks and analysis to understand what movements are facing and what they need.
This Guide is intended for use by a wide range of people and groups. We believe that there are many roles to play in terms of creating change. We think about this in terms of an ecosystem, in which movements define and lead change and many others contribute and play important roles.
While it is great to open this sort of debate, it is crucial, first and foremost, to clarify what is being argued. My article in JAPE should not be characterised as making an argument for ‘green growth’ – which is a position I reject as being poorly formulated, overly rigid and lacking in qualification and nuance. The key arguments I put forward in the JAPE article were actually as follows:
This workbook, Love Notes to Our Social Justice Leaders: A Workbook to Support Your Reflective Leadership Practice, introduces key leadership concepts, reflective leadership questions, inspirational and thought-provoking quotes, as well as resources you can use to deepen your leadership practice.
This workbook was authored by Elsa A. Rios and Surei Quintana and sponsored by Strategies for Social Change. It is organized into seven chapters by topic, covering subjects such as:
challenging the mythology of leadership
practicing emotional intelligence, and
leading in the context of racism and trauma.
Every chapter includes some foundational information on the topic as well as exercises to kickstart reflection, and quotes to spark inspiration.
This article was originally published, in slightly different form, by Iain Montgomery on his Substack Challenger Cities.It is shared here with permission. Images were provided by the writer.
That equates to $28,381 per minute, handed to some of the biggest, most profitable companies in Australia at a time when ordinary Australians are battling a long-running cost-of-living crisis.
As the federal election approaches, independent and minor party candidates have indicated that winding back these subsidies would be a key objective if they are elected into a hung parliament.
Key points:
Federal Government fossil fuel subsidies reached $12.6 billion, mainly due to the Fuel Tax Credit Scheme which refunds fuel tax to major diesel users
Major mining corporations are the key beneficiaries of federal subsidies, with the coal industry receiving $1.1 billion through the Fuel Tax Credit Scheme
State governments provided $1.2 billion worth of assistance measures such as cheap access to infrastructure, gas purchase commitments and handouts for research and development
“Fossil fuel subsidies harm the budget and make climate change worse,” said Rod Campbell, Research Director at The Australia Institute.
“Cutting back subsidies like these, which make the community and the climate worse off, should be a priority for the next parliament.
“It is pleasing to see crossbench members looking seriously at fossil fuel subsidies such as the Fuel Tax Credit Scheme.
“This is a major opportunity to redirect billions of dollars from mining companies like BHP and Glencore, and instead invest this money in health, education and other community services.”
An unexpected line to trace through Christopher Caldwell’s The Age of Entitlement underscores how post-1960s America—high on a new civil rights regime enforced by the federal bureaucracy—evolved into a culture of easy capital and low-accountability work. Caldwell’s warnings about limitless government spending, cheap credit, and extraordinary leniency on personal and corporate debt hint at a deeper transformation that I will make explicit: easy money ultimately begat easy jobs, embedding a sense of entitlement not just in civic life, but also in corporate America. Lax job performance and perpetual punting on profitability became commonplace, normalizing positions unattached to genuine operational needs.
The book’s climax spotlights Ronald Reagan’s decision to cut taxes and increase spending to buoy the Baby Boomers. Rather than halting the runaway habits of endless federal agencies, trimming spending, and repealing harmful laws from the prior generation, the Reagan Administration doubled down. The massive expansion of the administrative state—ostensibly to enforce civil rights—spilled into economic policy: free-flowing money, perpetual government growth, workless jobs, and inflated assets in both the public and private spheres. The federal government, alongside subsidized industries, sprawling corporate giants, and a host of NGOs, served as the unwitting backstop for this risky status quo.
Brisbane Greens MP Stephen Bates has warned Australia’s housing market is heading towards an economic cliff unless urgent national reforms are made to tackle soaring rents and a broken tax system.
Everybody’s Home hosted the third town hall in its online series with incumbent MPs on Tuesday, where Mr Bates described the crisis as “existential” and said it was impacting people across the country – including many in his electorate of Brisbane, where more than half are renters.
“No one is free from the housing crisis we’re facing in this country,” Mr Bates said. “We have people living out of their cars with their kids … these are public servants who are now in this position where they can’t afford the rent.”
Mr Bates said the current housing system was the result of decades of policy failure.
“This isn’t something that has just come out of nowhere, it’s something that has been building for decades now…we can trace a lot of it back to the slowdown in the build of public housing and tax reforms that were brought in under the Howard Government,” he said.
“We’ve transformed the idea of a house to be somewhere that you live and a home where you raise your family that is now something to be speculated on, and bought and sold … an investment class.”
Mr Bates said $176 billion is “essentially given out as a handout” to property investors in tax cuts while families are sleeping in their cars.
On this episode of Dollars & Sense, Greg and Elinor preview next week’s Federal Budget and why the Government doesn’t need to leave so much tax revenue on the table.
This discussion was recorded on Thursday 20 March 2025 and things may have changed since recording.
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.
Tren Wreck | The Roundtable Ep. 259
You’re fired. Trump, by executive order, has moved to terminate federal contracts with law firm Perkins Coie for its role in promoting the 2016 Russiagate conspiracy and otherwise influencing elections—sparking fervorous debate in and across the aisle. Meanwhile, the administration invoked the emergency powers of the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 to deport members of the violent Venezuelan Tren de Aragua gang, provoking an activist judge to obstruct the law’s use. Who rules: Congress or courts? The hosts sit down to discuss these ongoing legal battles in government, real battles abroad, and the absurd responses from the Left across the board. Plus, more media recommendations!
The changes to the Environmental Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act will reportedly be rammed through Parliament next week as a favour to the salmon industry in Tasmania. They would also benefit gas and coal mines.
The proposal would prohibit third-party civil society organisations like The Australia Institute and Environmental Defenders Office from challenging environmentally damaging projects.
“Weakening environmental laws doesn’t help the Australian community or the Australian economy. It simply boosts the profits of salmon corporations, coal companies and other corporate interests,” said Rod Campbell, Research Director of The Australia Institute.
“Any change that makes it harder for community groups to use Australia’s environment laws is, by definition, anti-democratic.
“This legislation appears to be in response to The Australia Institute triggering a review of the impact of salmon farming in Tasmania’s Macquarie Harbour, where salmon corporations are pushing the endangered Maugean skate towards extinction.
“This isn’t just The Australia Institute’s view, it’s the view of the Federal Environment Department. Documents released under freedom of information reveal that officials told Minister Plibersek that it was ‘likely’ salmon farming would have to stop while a full environmental assessment is done.
“The role The Australia Institute and other NGOs play in environmental decision-making fundamentally strengthens Australia’s democracy.
On this episode of After America, Dr Ruth Mitchell joins Dr Emma Shortis to discuss how Canada and Australia have responded to tariffs, what America’s decision to sell out Ukraine means for efforts to abolish nuclear weapons, and RFK Jr’s performance as Secretary of Health and Human Services.
This discussion was recorded on Thursday 13 March 2025 and things may have changed since recording.
“You need six months to break the habit, one year to build a new habit, and seven years for transformation.” In February 2023, Prime Minister Mia Mottley set out the need for a new economic and social transformation strategy in Barbados. Six months to deconstruct, one year to reconstruct, and seven years to transform.
