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There is a salamander so rare, you can find it only in the Ozarks. It is born wide-eyed and willing, eager to explore its surroundings: blue streams, green forests.

One day, the salamander wanders into a crack in the earth. This is the most fateful decision it will make. The world darkens, but the salamander keeps going: down, down, down, until no light remains. Over time, its skin begins to mutate. A film grows over its eyelids and fuses them shut.

The salamander is now blind. But it does not know. It will live, and die, in the eternal darkness of a subterranean cave.

I spent No Kings Day in a cave because I wanted to see the salamander. But I also wanted to ensure no film comes to cover my own eyes. A cave 250 feet underground has no cell service and no surveillance. It has no AI or GPS. Lone light shines from lanterns held by humans. They reveal a labyrinthine land of stone, not dead but slow growing. I go to caves to reset my senses. They show me the peace I am missing.

On the drive to the Ozarks, I saw a photo on social media. A protester held a handmade sign with a warning I wrote years ago: “THIS IS A TRANSNATIONAL CRIME SYNDICATE MASQUERADING AS A GOVERNMENT.”

The Wrap with Amy Remeikis

One of the problems with hope is that it’s often left to fend for itself. People might work to maintain their hope that things will get better, but hope without action is essentially just delusion.

When hopes are dashed, the flip side is usually despair.

Which makes sense – you don’t have to do anything to despair. You just kind of slide into it.

It’s easy to hope. It’s just as easy to despair. Neither truly require you do anything except throw your hands up in the air and hope that someone will do something. And if that person who does the thing, does the wrong thing, well then you can despair. You had hope, it was dashed. Now you can be bitter. Despair. Because obviously you can’t do something. Right?

Recently I underwent surgery and when I came to, sore and hazed, my mind feeling as though it was coated in molasses, muscle memory had me reaching for my phone. I saw two things. Anthony Albanese again refusing to sanction Israel, despite rightly acknowledging Israel’s on-going blockade of aid to Gaza as an “outrage” and Labor approving the North West Shelf extension.

I did not feel despair. I felt rage. Not because I didn’t see it coming, but because we know they know better.

Despite being the official measure of price changes, the Consumer Price Index (CPI) is not useful for tracking changes in housing costs or rent increases. It does not include land prices or mortgage payments, and significantly underestimates rent increases.

The post Silly Housing Statistics 3: The CPI – Official silliness, or just misunderstood and misused data? appeared first on Greg Ogle's After Dinner Political Economy.

"Priced Out", the Everybody's Home Coalition report on rental affordability is based in part on a flawed comparison of low incomes and median rents. This is a silly housing statistic which risks undermining the important advocacy of the report and the campaign.

The post Silly Housing Statistics 2: I am Priced Out of a renting a beachside house appeared first on Greg Ogle's After Dinner Political Economy.

Media reports that Adelaide rents have surpassed those in Melbourne are based on silly statistics, but the reasons why they are silly reveal a lot about how we (mis)understand (and misuse) basic housing data on rents, rent prices and asking rents.

The post Silly Housing Statistics: Is it more expensive to rent in Adelaide than in Melbourne? appeared first on Greg Ogle's After Dinner Political Economy.

Marianne Faithfull's classic song, The Ballad of Lucy Jordan, has been critiqued for its attack on the role of a housewife. Yet what is more remarkable is that such critiques have little place in a modern economy - and the question is why? A victory for feminism, or of neoliberalism?

The post The Political Economy of Lucy Jordan appeared first on Greg Ogle's After Dinner Political Economy.

For Anti-Poverty Week 2024, I invented "the Vegemite Curve", a graph plotting unit prices of an iconic Australian brand to demonstrate a poverty premium and how it costs more to be poor.

The post The Vegemite Curve: A curve becomes an index becomes a policy appeared first on Greg Ogle's After Dinner Political Economy.

Profits and operational surpluses are treated very differently in these two government-created "markets", with the result that NFP social service providers have limited ability to invest in organisational development and struggle with sustainability.

The post Social Services and Energy Distribution: The Treatment of Surpluses and Profits in Pseudo Markets appeared first on Greg Ogle's After Dinner Political Economy.

The most recent SA state budget shows interest payments increasing as a proportion of government expenditure, creating an opportunity cost for other expenditure possibilities. This should create an argument for tax reform to increase the revenue base, but the historic record for change is not good.

The post State Tax Reform: A South Australian Perspective appeared first on Greg Ogle's After Dinner Political Economy.

Justin O’Connor’s book, Culture Is Not An Industry, critiques the arts sector embrace of the description of itself as a “creative industry”. Yet the not-for-profit social service sector has similarly embraced broader economic-industry descriptors, so O’Connor’s critique is relevant there too – albeit in a different context. In particular, the foundational economy approach in O’Connor’s book raises questions about anti-poverty advocacy.

The post If Culture Is Not An Industry, What About Social Service? appeared first on Greg Ogle's After Dinner Political Economy.

The 2024-25 SA State Budget significantly increased government concessions payments. This result shows the importance of campaigning for change.

The post Campaigning for Concessions: Reflections on Success and the Bigger Picture appeared first on Greg Ogle's After Dinner Political Economy.

Fears of inflation, coupled with political imperatives to provide relief to households, leads governments to argue that particular budgetary expenditures, such as the Energy Bill Relief rebate are not inflationary (as they bring the CPI down). That would be magical, but this fairytale mistakes the measure (CPI) for the thing (inflation), as can be seen by tracing the actual impact of the rebate at the household and macroeconomic level.

The post Energy Bill Relief and the Inflation Dragon: A Fairy Tale? appeared first on Greg Ogle's After Dinner Political Economy.

This interview is also available on podcast platforms and Rumble.

The ultra-wealthy hover above the realities of the world around them like extraterrestrial aliens. Their material reality physically separates them from the rest of society with gated communities and private jets but paradoxically, their very wealth also severs them psychologically, unable to understand the reality of the 99%.

President Donald Trump, like the American Founders, believes that this republic is constituted to protect the citizenry against all enemies, foreign and domestic. When it comes to foreign affairs, we are not obliged to fight and die for anyone but our fellow citizens. Our social compact is with one another as Americans. Whatever we do militarily and strategically is first and foremost to preserve the freedom and well-being of the American people.

President Trump thinks this is just common sense.

There is a disagreement now over what America’s role should be, if any, in supporting Israel after its preemptive strike on Iran. President Trump has authorized the use of American air defenses to stop Iranian attacks on American assets and citizens: our military bases in the region, our consulate in Tel Aviv, and the Americans living in the surrounding area. This is not an endorsement of the Israeli strike on Iran’s nuclear facilities and personnel. It is designed to protect the lives of Americans; the U.S. is well within its right to do so. It should be noted that we do not have an embassy in Iran, and for good reason.

This article was originally published, in slightly different form, by the Emerging New Urbanists in their monthly newsletter, The ENU Exchange. It is shared here with permission.

How Australian unions shaped modern Australian society

Unions are making a comeback. Labour disputes around the world have hit the headlines as unions take action to challenge inequality. But while media coverage has increased, understanding of unions has not. In this lively history of Australian unionism Liam Byrne seeks to illuminate what unionism means, exploring why successive generations of working people organised unions and nurtured them for future generations.

Foregrounding the pioneering efforts of women workers, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander workers, culturally and linguistically diverse workers, and LGBTIQA+ workers as central to the union story today, Byrne uses case studies of worker action and struggle to better understand the lived reality of unionism, its challenges, and its contribution to Australian life.

No Power Greater is the compelling story of the acts of rebellion and solidarity that have shaped Australia’s past and shows that unions are far from history.

Liam spoke at Per Capita’s John Cain lunch in June 2025. Watch the recording here:

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.

No Kings, No Congress | The Roundtable Ep. 272

On this episode of Follow the Money, Allan Behm joins Ebony Bennett to discuss the Trump administration’s decision to review the AUKUS submarine deal, why Australia doesn’t need American Virginia-class boats anyway, and why the Australian and American governments have shared interests but not shared values.

You can sign our petition calling on the Australian Government to launch a parliamentary inquiry into AUKUS.

Our independence is our strength – and only you can make that possible. By donating to the Australia Institute’s End of Financial Year appeal today, you’ll help fund the research changing Australia for the better.

Guest: Allan Behm, Senior Advisor in International & Security Affairs, the Australia Institute

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

Show notes:

AUKUS is a disaster for Australia. Trump has given us an out – let’s take it by Emma Shortis, The Sydney Morning Herald (June 2025)

Policy Hive is Per Capita’s early career policy network for policy professionals, students and anyone interested in learning more about how they can influence policy and politics to build an Australia based on fairness, shared prosperity and social justice. (Long time policy wonks also welcome!)

On Wednesday 18 June 2025, we heard from Gavan McFadzean from Australian Conservation Foundation on climate policy. Watch the recording below.

Following graduating with a degree in Economics and Politics at Monash University, Gavan McFadzean has had a 30-year career in environmental and climate activism. During a 12-year stint at The Wilderness Society, Gavan ran the Victorian Branch, the Northen Australia Program and the National Forest Campaign. He’s also been Campaign Director for the Leader’s Office of the Australian Greens under Richard di Natale. He is a recipient of Wild Magazine’s Environmentalist of the Year Award, a board member for Climate Action Network Australia, and has represented the movement in international negotiations at three climate COPs, the World Heritage Committee and as Australian Committee to the International Union for Conservation and Nature (IUCN). He is currently Program Manager – Climate and Energy for the Australian Conservation Foundation.

Learn about transformational reforms like paid parental leave, the NDIS, the Apology to the Stolen Generations, and revolutionising pensions from Labor’s Jenny Macklin, with insights from Julia Gillard, Ross Garnaut, Bill Kelty, Brian Howe, and Tanya Plibersek.

Is big policy reform still possible? Does Australia have the political will to tackle generational issues such as climate change, the housing crisis, rising inequality and Closing the Gap? Legendary Labor policymaker Jenny Macklin believes that if Australia wants to remain prosperous and fair, big policy reform is not just possible, it’s essential.

Making Progress takes us into the policy engine room and details how Macklin went about developing transformational initiatives such as the Apology to the Stolen Generations, paid parental leave and the National Disability Insurance Scheme, as well as delivering pension reforms that lifted one million Australians out of poverty. She explains how she became a policy wonk, and interviews key policymakers such as Julia Gillard, Brian Howe, Bill Kelty, Tanya Plibersek and Ross Garnaut, who share how they war-gamed ways to turn good policy ideas into reality.

Part policy memoir, part war-room drama, part field guide, Making Progress: How Good Policy Happens is a political book with a message-and a method.

Jenny Macklin and Joel Deane, authors of ‘Making Progress: How good policy happens’ spoke at Per Capita’s John Cain Lunch in May 2025. Watch the recording here:

The parliament has lost confidence in Liberal Premier Jeremy Rockliff, and so next month Tasmanians will go to the polls for the second time since March last year.

This is the system working as intended.

In the Westminster democracy Australia inherits from the United Kingdom, the government of the day and its ministers are responsible to parliament.

They answer to the representatives of the people.

The awesome powers Australians vest in their governments – unlimited by a bill of rights and granted without a direct popular vote – are supervised by the democratically elected parliament.

That said, Tasmanians are entitled to feel surprised that this term of power-sharing government ended so abruptly.

Most power-sharing parliaments are stable and see out the full term, according to the Australia Institute’s research.

NSW has its third power-sharing government in a row, as Labor governs with three independents in the Minns government, which followed the Perrottet and Berejiklian Coalition
governments without incident.

In the ACT, Labor and the Greens have collaborated for over 15 years – even as the details of the arrangement have changed.

The Gillard Labor government was very productive either in spite or because of power-sharing, making more laws than other governments, including ground-breaking reform like the NDIS, clean energy future package, cigarette plain packaging and expanding Medicare to dental for children.

Polling conducted by YouGov for the Australia Institute shows that twice as many people support the federal government’s proposed changes as oppose them.

Some 52 per cent want the tax concessions on the earnings from these super-sized super balances cut back, compared to just 26 per cent who don’t, the poll shows. A little more than one in five were undecided.

That’s despite ubiquitous media coverage of the wailings of the worried wealthy. The media’s focus on complaints from the tiny proportion of Australians impacted – about 80,000 people – has failed to produce widespread concern among the more than 99 per cent of Australians who have less than $3 million in super.

That’s not surprising when one considers just how far most people are from that level of retirement savings. According to ATO data, the average super balance is a mere $182,000 for men and $146,000 for women. For those between 60 and 65, it’s just over $400,000 for men and $318,000 for women.

Despite this, people tend to overestimate the likelihood they will be affected by the change. About one in five of those surveyed thought it would impact on their retirement plans. The reality is only one in 200 have super balances above the level that attracts the higher tax rate.

The tumultuous and exhausting 12-year pontificate of the Argentinian Jorge Bergoglio, better known to the world as Pope Francis, came to an end in April. Francis was a paradoxical pope if there ever was one. He openly promoted disruption in the Catholic Church, which he did not hesitate to call causing “a mess,” as if unclarity about doctrine and the Church’s moral teaching could somehow serve constructive purposes. He spoke endlessly of mercy and the Church as an immense, nonjudgmental “field hospital” for the lost and broken. But Pope Francis rarely called for the repentance that is the crucial prerequisite for the healing of the soul. He occasionally criticized abortion and gender ideology, and in no uncertain terms, even as he tolerated and promoted those inside and outside the Church who indulged these grave evils.

The Australia Institute is saddened to hear of the passing of the Honourable Stephen Charles AO KC.

Stephen was a former judge of the Victorian Supreme Court of Appeal and member of the National Integrity Committee, which, under the auspices of The Australia Institute, made the case for effective anti-corruption commissions.

Stephen worked tirelessly toward the creation of a federal anti-corruption watchdog. He was ultimately successful when the Parliament passed the National Anti-Corruption Commission Act in 2022 – although the NACC remains restricted in its ability to hold public inquiries, an unnecessary restriction Stephen warned against in 2018.

Last year, with his daughter Lucy Hamilton, he wrote an essay in Meanjin reflecting on the Indigenous Voice to Parliament and Australia’s democracy crisis titled “The Year in Truth-telling”.

Our thoughts are with Stephen’s family.

The post Vale — The Honourable Stephen Charles AO KC appeared first on The Australia Institute.