Incoming Feed Items

Profit vs priceless heritage: the fight to save Murujuga

— Organisation: The Australia Institute — Wednesday 4th June 2025

On this episode of Follow the Money, Walkley Award-winning journalist Stephen Long and Elinor Johnston-Leek discuss the Federal Government’s decision to sign a provisional extension to Woodside’s North West Shelf gas project and the impact that will have on the irreplaceable Murujuga rock art.

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.

Host: Stephen Long, Stephen Long, Senior Fellow and Contributing Editor, the Australia Institute // @StephenLongAus

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

Show notes:

The fight to save Murujuga, the Australia Institute (May 2025)

Gas export approval puts gas corporations before Australians, the Australia Institute (May 2025)

Theme music: Blue Dot Sessions

Impact Report – EOFY 2025

— Organisation: Per Capita — Wednesday 4th June 2025

View our 2025 End of Financial Year Impact Report here.

Our 2025 End of Financial Year Impact Report looks summarises Per Capita’s work over the past 12 months, including policy changes we have helped secure, the Community Tax Summit we hosted, research projects we have worked on, our media coverage and public events.

May 2025 marked the beginning of a new era, both for Per Capita and for Australian progressive politics.

At Per Capita we farewelled our long-standing Executive Director,Emma Dawson. Emma’s commitment and expertise have built Per Capita into the respected, influential think tank we are today. As we enter a new era, our staff and board have a renewed commitment to our vision for a more equal Australia, under the leadership of newly appointed Acting Executive Director, Sarah McKenzie.

Nationally, the recent federal election has returned the Labor Party for a second term, opening new opportunities to advance a progressive policy agenda. Labor must view this emphatic result as a mandate for bold reform: to tackle the housing crisis head on, to spearhead meaningful action on climate change, to reorient the economic future of Australia’s younger generations through tax reform, and to restore Australia as the land of the Fair Go.

Unfettered gambling advertising means young Australians are losing big

— Organisation: The Australia Institute — Wednesday 4th June 2025

Free-to-air TV shows more than a million gambling ads a year – and this is not to mention the online torrent.

If 85 per cent of 12-17 year olds have seen a gambling ad on TV in the past month, is it any wonder that young people talk about betting odds like they once did player stats?

The $244.3 billion in bets made by Australians in in 2022-23 makes us the world’s biggest gamblers, and the saturation level of advertising is probably one reason that since 2019, average gambling losses have increased to almost $2500 a year – that’s more than the average home pays for a year’s worth of electricity.

As a nation we lost a collective $31.5 billion, which is comparable to the size of the entire Northern Territory economy ($33.1 billion), and greater than the $21 billion lost to gambling in all of Las Vegas.

As if the harm gambling causes to adults isn’t bad enough, analysis by the Australia Institute shows that large numbers of Australians start gambling well before they reach the legal minimum age of 18.

Almost one in three (30 per cent) 12-17-year-olds gamble, and this increases to almost half (46 per cent) when young people turn 18. More than 900,000 teenagers (aged 12-19) gambled in the past year.

Minimum wage rise appropriate reward for low-paid workers

— Organisation: The Australia Institute — Tuesday 3rd June 2025

This will ensure that the real wages of workers on award wages will rise at a time when the overall real wages of all Australian workers are also recovering.

The cost-of-living increases of the past three years have been most acutely felt by those on low incomes – especially due to sharp increases in rents and mortgages.

This will provide some much-needed relief.

Australia Institute research shows the real value of award wages has fallen nearly 4% below September 2020 levels. This increase will still see award wages 1% lower than they were five years ago.

“Our research has shown that over the past 30 years, there has been no connection between increases in award wages and inflation,” said Greg Jericho, Chief Economist at The Australia Institute.

“As a result, any claims from business groups that this will drive inflation are without foundation.”

Australia must resist US bullying to increase military spending

— Organisation: The Australia Institute — Tuesday 3rd June 2025

He told regional leaders that they bludged off America’s generosity, getting security on the cheap and leaving it to America to do the heavy lifting of containing China by maintaining the strategic balance – whatever that might be. All they needed to do was invest much more in defence to help the US maintain its primacy. And behind his shrill calls for more money on bombs and their delivery systems was a growing US alarmism directed at China.

Hegseth spoke about the imminence of the China threat. America may well need an enemy to define its ambition and to sustain its sense of insecurity. But the question is: do we? The countries of south-east Asia have made their position pretty clear: they just do not believe it. Nor do they want to get sucked into a contest between titans. As the proverb has it, “when elephants are dancing, grasshoppers get out of the way”.

Hustlers evidently do not appreciate irony. Notwithstanding the claims of massive increases in China’s defence spending, it runs a defence budget that hovers around 1.7% of GDP, compared with America’s 3.4%. In dollar terms, China spends around USD 300bn per annum. America spends around USD 900bn, accounting for about 40% of global arms spending.

These expenditures dwarf everyone else’s. In the US case, they contribute to a deficit overhang bigger than its GDP. For our part, without any additional defence spending, we are already the 12th largest contributor to the global industrial-military complex.

Bottom-Up Shorts: How To Humbly Observe Where People Struggle

— Organisation: Strong Towns — Tuesday 3rd June 2025

More Immigration Won’t Lead to a Higher Birthrate

— Organisation: The Claremont Institute — Tuesday 3rd June 2025

Real estate agents often say, “It’s always a good time to buy a house”—because they earn their commission whether or not it’s actually a good time to buy a house.

In the same vein, over at the Wall Street Journal it’s always a good time to increase immigration. The paper’s editorial page—notorious for repeatedly advocating a constitutional amendment saying, “There shall be open borders”—recently ran a column by Jason Riley, a member of the editorial board, entitled “Want to Raise Birthrates? Immigration Is the Key.”

Curiously for a newspaper focused on business and economics, the column contains no numbers to back up this assertion.

Now, falling birthrates are an issue for almost all countries, developed or otherwise. The way this is usually expressed is the total fertility rate, or TFR. This represents the number of children the statistically average woman is likely to have in her lifetime. To maintain a stable population, a nation needs a TFR of slightly above two—one for mom, one for dad, and an additional fraction to account for child mortality.

Trump Always Chickens Out? Maybe, But Wall Street isn’t Out of the Woods Yet

— Author: Nathan Tankus — Publication: Notes on the Crisis — Tuesday 3rd June 2025

Trump Always Chickens Out? Maybe, But Wall Street isn’t Out of the Woods Yet

It has been some time since I’ve provided detailed analysis of the Trump Tariff situation. Others are covering the details of the Tariffs themselves quite well. The best coverage of the tariff details comes (unsurprisingly) from Joey Politano. I especially recommend checking out this piece as well as last week’s piece on the car tariffs. As usual then, I want to cover the underdiscussed aspects of this drama. This starts where I left off, writing about how the tariffs were putting the financial system under intense stress. Volatility, as measured by the “VIX” index peaked April 8th, and has been declining ever since. My last commentary on this topic was in my interview with Paul Krugman published last month. In it, I focused in on the desperate desire of financial traders to “see past” Trump’s erratic and destructive behavior:

The Design That’s Failing Phoenix—One Crash at a Time

— Organisation: Strong Towns — Tuesday 3rd June 2025

Video Report: The Fight to Save Murujuga

— Organisation: The Australia Institute — Tuesday 3rd June 2025

The Murujuga Rock Art is a unique 40,000-year-old collection of rock engravings on the Dampier Archipelago in the Pilbara region of Western Australia.

These irreplaceable petroglyphs are twice as old as France’s Lascaux cave paintings and eight times older than the pyramids.

Murujuga is nationally heritage-listed and could soon be recognised by UNESCO for its world heritage value.

But it is facing destruction from acid rain caused by nearby gas processing. Gas processing that does not need to happen at Murujuga.

The new Australian Environment Minister Murray Watt, however, decided to approve a 50-year extension to Woodside’s North West Shelf gas project. This could have devastating consequences for the rock art.

A video report presented by Stephen Long, Senior Fellow, and Contributing Editor at the Australia Institute on Ngarluma land.

Cinematography and Editing by Elinor Johnston-Leek, Senior Content Producer at the Australia Institute

Featuring:

Australians should be proud of our preferential voting, but there is an alternative

— Organisation: The Australia Institute — Tuesday 3rd June 2025

They exceed those voting for the Liberal and National Coalition – which is, at least theoretically, the “alternative government”.

At 33.6 per cent of the vote, independent and minor party voters are almost as numerous as the 34.6 per cent who cast their first preference for the Labor government.

Of course, independent and minor party candidates represent a variety of ideologies, approaches and personalities – although, as the last fortnight has demonstrated, the same is true for major party candidates.

The Australian electoral system allows every voter to express their preferences, without reducing the effectiveness of their vote.

Some Greens voters prefer an independent to the Labor candidate; others prefer Labor. Some Liberal voters would settle for a non-Labor candidate such as a Green or independent; others will plump for Labor if the Liberal doesn’t make it to the final two.

This system, called full preferential voting, is why you must number every box on your ballot paper. You must express a preference between every candidate running to be your local member.

It means that in most cases you do not need to worry about voting “tactically” – your vote will still help decide between the final two candidates.

The trade-off is that counting votes takes a bit longer than it does in the US or Britain, where they use “first past the post” voting.

Searching for Bobbie Gentry

— Author: Sarah Kendzior — Tuesday 3rd June 2025

It was the 30^th of December, and I was driving the Natchez Trace Parkway, looking for Bobbie Gentry.

I didn’t want to find her. I only wanted to know she was out there, eluding everyone.

I wanted her to outwit every man who did her wrong. Many are dead: Bobbie Gentry is in her 80s. She hasn’t appeared on stage since 1981, when, after a series of music industry disputes, she left public life behind with a steadfastness unrivaled.

I was not the first to explore Chickasaw County, Mississippi and other Gentry haunts, hoping for a glimpse of the singer. For over forty years, no stranger has tracked her down. Gentry wanted to disappear and she got her way. She is rumored to be happy. I am likely angrier about the treatment of Bobbie Gentry than Bobbie Gentry is.

It’s only fair when a trailblazing woman gets burned that younger women pick up the torch.

Hasan Piker and Chris Hedges Discuss Gaza and Our Descent into Fascism

— Author: Chris Hedges — Tuesday 3rd June 2025

Buy my new book “A Genocide Foretold"

The Elements of a City: Structures, Conduits, and Interfaces

— Organisation: Strong Towns — Tuesday 3rd June 2025

This article was originally published, in slightly different form, by Strong Towns Chairman Andrew Burleson on his Substack The Post-Suburban Future. It is shared here with permission. Images provided by the writer.

To warm up our minds, let’s start by thinking about a building. What makes a building a building? We all know it when we see it…. And yet, defining things like this can be tricky.

Is a bridge a building?

An Open Letter to Border Czar Tom Homan

— Author: Betsy Phillips — Monday 2nd June 2025

Homan recently appeared on Fox News to talk about ICE coming to Nashville to 'flood the zone in the neighborhoods to find the bad guy'

Why you shouldn’t be scared of these super changes

— Organisation: The Australia Institute — Saturday 24th May 2025

There seems to be an endless supply of news articles on this topic, ranging from concerned tutting to full-blown doomsaying and accusations of class war. Almost all this coverage misses the mark; these changes, while modest, are an important first step in reforming Australia’s broken and unequal superannuation system.

So, what’s changing?

Currently, most people get a tax concession on their superannuation earnings (the money made by your super investments). Rather than being taxed at your marginal tax rate, the money made from your super investments is only taxed at 15 per cent. That is a lot less than the top income tax rate of 45 per cent (plus the Medicare levy).

But the government is proposing to raise the tax on superannuation balances of over $3 million. These people will pay an additional 15 per cent on earnings.

Importantly though, it is only on the amount above $3 million. For instance, if you have $4 million in super, you will only pay additional tax on a quarter of your earnings.

The tax is projected to raise $2.3 billion in its first full year, and $40 billion over a decade.

If $3 million in super sounds like a lot of money; that’s because it is. Very few of us have anywhere near that amount of super. According to Treasury, the tax will initially affect 80,000 people or one in 200 (0.5 per cent) super account holders. For comparison, according to the most recent Tax Office data, less than half of people in their 60s have more than $250,000 in super.

Coalition’s on-again, off-again ‘situationship’ has even those closest baffled

— Organisation: The Australia Institute — Thursday 22nd May 2025

Because, after blowing up the show on Tuesday with his own Groucho Marx “principles” (“those are my principles, and if you don’t like them, well, I have others”), David Littleproud has announced that the Coalition’s divorce is on hold.

In modern parlance, the Coalition has been reduced to a situationship.

Liberal leader Sussan Ley had been due to announce her shadow ministry on Thursday, while Littleproud was to announce the spokespeople for his little party. Both put their announcements on hold after deciding to re-enter negotiations for the new Coalition agreement.

Ask anyone inside the Nationals what happened and you’ll get different versions. They all agree that there was a meeting to decide portfolio spokespeople. That suddenly the spokespeople were told to hold their fire. That party heavyweights, current and former, had spent 48 hours pressing for calmer heads to prevail. That doubts began to creep in immediately when it became clear the response to the party room decision was not one of back, but forehead, slapping.

Party elders immediately began urging Littleproud and those pushing the split, including Victorian senator Bridget McKenzie, to reconsider. The panic button was hit as it became clear the shadow ministry was about to be announced.

“The moment Sussan announced her cabinet, it would be over for us,” one Nationals MP said.

Scholarly Communication Landscape Scan and Update: Dr Danny Kingsley

— Organisation: Open Access Australasia — Tuesday 3rd June 2025

Joining the Dots: Exploring Australias Economic Links With the World Economy

— Organisation: Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) — Tuesday 3rd June 2025

Speech by Sarah Hunter, Assistant Governor (Economic), Economic Society of Australia (Queensland) Business Lunch.

Protecting your ABC | Alex Sloan

— Organisation: The Australia Institute — Monday 2nd June 2025

On this episode, Paul Barclay talks with Alex Sloan about the importance of independent public broadcasters, why they need to be well-funded in an increasingly privately-owned media landscape, and how they are the barometer of a strong democracy.

This discussion was recorded on Wednesday 19 March 2025, and things may have changed since the recording.

Order What’s the Big Idea? 32 Big Ideas for a Better Australia now, via the Australia Institute website.

Guest: Alex Sloan, former ABC broadcaster and award-winning journalist and interviewer

Host: Paul Barclay, Walkley Award winning journalist and broadcaster // @PaulBarclay

Show notes:

Submission: An independent ABC for a strong democracy by Benjamin Walters and Bill Browne, the Australia Institute (November 2023)

Royal Commissions and inquiries prompted by ABC journalism by Bill Browne, the Australia Institute (August 2023)

Current ScholarshipJustMoney Online Workshop: Financial Market Infrastructure (Morgan Ricks)

— Organisation: Just Money — Monday 2nd June 2025

June 12 (Thursday), 2025 at 11:00 am EST

Home Truths

— Organisation: The Claremont Institute — Monday 2nd June 2025

Home ownership is declining across the West. In America, the rate continues to fall, down 3.5 percentage points since its peak. Australia is down 3 points, Great Britain is down nearly 7 points since, and so on.

These might look like only small drops, but they’re part of a worsening trend. In America, people under 35 have seen the largest decline in home ownership of any cohort, with their real rates falling by 12 points since 1990. Not long ago, the average age of a first-time buyer was around 30. Today it is almost 40 years old. The housing crisis, in other words, is disproportionately a younger person’s crisis.

Another delay for higher IBR costs

— Publication: City Observatory — Monday 2nd June 2025

IBR is once again delaying releasing a new cost estimate for the Interstate Bridge Project. It’s an ominous sign that the cost is going to be much, much higher.

IBR leaders have known since January of 2024 that costs were going to be even higher–but repeatedly they’ve delayed releasing a new estimate.

In April, IBR project director Greg Johnson announced that there would be yet another delay, until at least September 2025– in telling the Oregon and Washington Legislatures and the public how much the IBR project will cost.

The IBR cost estimate, which jumped from a maximum of $4.8 billion in 2020 to as much as $7.5 billion in 2022, has grown increasingly stale.

Expect the total cost of the project to exceed $9 billion.

Meanwhile, Washington state has upped the amount of debt it can issue for the project to $2.5 billion, and the federal government now seems hostile to making an hoped for contribution of $1 billion for light rail transit.

A Chronology of delayed cost estimates for the IBR

In January, 2024, the Interstate Bridge Replacement (IBR) project acknowledged that costs were rising, and that a new estimate would be done in about six months. IBR Director Greg Johnson says “costs are going up. We are going to be reissuing an overall program estimate probably later this summer.”

That didn’t happen.

4 Ways To Build Homes and Expand Opportunity, With Cullum Clark

— Organisation: Strong Towns — Monday 2nd June 2025

After Another Fatal Crash, He Drew a Crosswalk. Now He Might Face Jailtime.

— Organisation: Strong Towns — Monday 2nd June 2025

The golden age

— Organisation: The Australia Institute — Monday 2nd June 2025

On this episode of After America, Matt Duss joins Emma Shortis to sort the signal from the noise in the Trump administration’s foreign policy. They discuss Trump’s approach to the Middle East, its negotiations with Iran, and the continued influence of China hawks in his Cabinet.

This discussion was recorded on Wednesday 28 May 2025 and things may have changed since recording.

Order After America: Australia and the new world order or become a foundation subscriber to Vantage Point at australiainstitute.org.au/store.

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: Matt Duss, Executive Vice President, Center for International Policy // @mattduss

Host: Emma Shortis, Director, International & Security Affairs, the Australia Institute // @emmashortis

Photo: The White House/Flickr (U.S. Government work)

Mario Tronti, Workers and Capital

— Publication: Progress in Political Economy — Monday 2nd June 2025

Like Capital one hundred years before it, Mario Tronti’s Operai e capitale has served as a bible for generations of militants. From Silvia Federici and Toni Negri’s iterations on the theme of operaismo to John Holloway making the primordial ‘scream of negation’ his own, and Harry Cleaver’s authorship of the extraordinarily useful, Reading Capital Politically, the line continues into the present. “Within and Against” is everywhere if one knows how to look.

How Much Does Immigration Data Explain the Employment‑Gap Puzzle?

— Organisation: Federal Reserve Bank of New York — Publication: Liberty Street Economics — Monday 2nd June 2025

Richard Audoly and Roshie Xing

Governing Like Caesar with Jesus in Mind: Why Cities Fail When They Plan Top-Down and Hope Bottom-Up

— Organisation: Strong Towns — Monday 2nd June 2025

Bitcoin is Not A Bubble

— Author: Nathan Tankus — Publication: Notes on the Crisis — Sunday 1st June 2025

Bitcoin is Not A Bubble

Hello readers. As discussed at the beginning of this week, there are a lot of exciting things coming out of Notes on the Crises quite soon. At least a couple of them are coming this coming week. In the meantime however, I thought it was a good time to start running premium pieces from the Notes on the Crises archive on the weekends that newer readers might not be familiar with. This piece, published almost exactly four years ago, is an important one that I think has stood the test of time. Of course, we now know that the major players in Bitcoin are seeking to sustain it with the support of public money- a major inversion of Bitcoin's original raison d'être. I wrote about that in my piece near the end of February "A Scam Built Atop an Accounting Gimmick Wrapped in Bullshit: Why Visiting Fort Knox Is Not About Selling Gold but is About Buying Bitcoin".

Diving Into the Mystery of a Mt. Ararat Gravestone

— Author: Betsy Phillips — Wednesday 28th May 2025

A headstone carved by William Edmondson points to a story many decades in the making

The Week Observed, May 30, 2025

— Publication: City Observatory — Friday 30th May 2025

What City Observatory Did This Week

Still Unaccountable: Oregon’s highway department has a cost overrun problem, so naturally they hired consultants to fix it. The twist? Those same consultants have their own impressive track record of blowing budgets and breaking rules.

The new “roadmap for accountability” comes courtesy of AtkinsRéalis-Horrocks, whose principals Shane Marshall and Joshua Laipply recently departed Utah and Colorado DOTs (respectively)—both agencies with spectacular cost problems during their tenures. Marshall oversaw Utah’s I-15 expansion, which doubled from $1.7 billion to $3.7 billion after legislative approval. Laipply’s Colorado DOT spent twice the national average on consultants and violated state contracting laws.

Let’s Not Do That Again

— Organisation: The Claremont Institute — Friday 30th May 2025

In the first months of 2025, Donald Trump played a game of Russian roulette with the American economy and survived. Although the president had never hidden his enthusiasm for tariffs, the way he went about implementing them on taking office sowed confusion. Targeting not just geostrategic competitors like China but also allies like Canada and Britain, issuing demands that economists struggled to explain, reversing world-shaping policies from one hour to the next, and doing all of this on doubtful constitutional authority, sent markets into a tailspin.

And just when the president had been enjoying a honeymoon. In the last days of January, a majority of Americans had declared themselves—for the first time—Trumpians. They were particularly optimistic about his economic plans. But their enthusiasm diminished as the rumble of artillery from the trade war grew louder. By mid-April, fewer than 40% backed the president’s policy, and Trump was less popular than he had been at the same point in his first term.

Breaking News: Grassroots Bench Builders Score a Win in Bay Area

— Organisation: Strong Towns — Friday 30th May 2025

Your Returns Are Getting Trashed

— Organisation: Climate Town — Friday 30th May 2025

This Tool Makes Municipal Finance… Fun?

— Organisation: Strong Towns — Friday 30th May 2025

Join Me in California This Weekend To Discuss My New Book: ‘A Genocide Foretold’

— Author: Chris Hedges — Friday 30th May 2025

San Diego Information (buy tickets here):

Sanctuary Churches Undermine Our Nation

— Organisation: The Claremont Institute — Thursday 29th May 2025

In January, the Department of Homeland Security rescinded a policy enacted by the Obama Administration, and expanded by the Biden Administration, that barred immigration law enforcement from making arrests in “sensitive” areas, namely churches and schools. According to Biden DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, this had become “fundamental” agency practice, which is something like so-called “super precedent”—that is, rules that progressives prefer.

“Criminals will no longer be able to hide in America’s schools and churches to avoid arrest,” declared President Trump’s DHS. “The Trump Administration will not tie the hands of our brave law enforcement and instead trusts them to use common sense.” To most Americans this seems like common sense. If fugitives are exploiting lenient policies to avoid arrest and deportation, then those policies need adjusting.

Noah Roth: How Animation Can Build Strong Cities

— Organisation: Strong Towns — Thursday 29th May 2025

How Uncertain Is the Estimated Probability of a Future Recession?

— Organisation: Federal Reserve Bank of New York — Publication: Liberty Street Economics — Thursday 29th May 2025

Richard Crump and Nikolay Gospodinov

The Lost Vortex

— Author: Sarah Kendzior — Thursday 29th May 2025

Three years have passed since I contemplated writing this story. I kept changing my mind. What’s the point of a story in which nothing happens, and no answer is found?

Then again: does anything sum up the middle of 2022 better than that?

In November 2016, the weekend before the election, I took my children to southern Illinois on what I came to call “the last good day.” They were five and nine. We drove three hours and back from St. Louis to show them the southlands of our neighboring state. We visited Shawnee National Forest, home to the Garden of the Gods: giant towers of rock where even small children can climb on cliffs of arboreal splendor.

It was a perfect day, a free day, the kind you keep in your mind to revisit in darker times. After we climbed the rocks, we took the kids to the Ohio River. I have photos of them skipping stones near an old bandit cave, clapping in joy as they skimmed the surface, unaware of the future behind them.

“I want to go back,” I told my husband in 2022. “I want another perfect day.”

What do these cities in Wisconsin and Texas have in common? They ditched parking mandates.

— Organisation: Strong Towns — Thursday 29th May 2025

May 2025 Newsletter

— Organisation: Open Access Australasia — Thursday 29th May 2025

The Shared Mythological History of Israel and the US (w/ Joan Scott) | The Chris Hedges Report

— Author: Chris Hedges — Thursday 29th May 2025

This interview is also available on podcast platforms and Rumble.

The narratives surrounding Israel and their genocidal campaign against the Palestinians took decades to create and embed into the West’s psyche. The Holocaust, decades after its end, became a central part of the Jewish and Israeli identity. Enemies of the Israeli state were conflated with Nazis. The physical location of Israel became essential to Christian evangelicals who believe the second coming of Jesus Christ was to take place there.

The American Mind Podcast: The Roundtable Episode #269

— Organisation: The Claremont Institute — Thursday 29th May 2025

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.

Putting DOGE Down | The Roundtable Ep. 269

Rates are down (Elinor still can’t afford a house)

— Organisation: The Australia Institute — Thursday 29th May 2025

On this episode of Dollars & Sense, Matt Grudnoff joins Elinor to discuss how the Government could help first home-buyers by restricting the ability of investors to borrow, what the fuss is about ‘unrealised gains’, and why the Government’s proposed superannuation tax changes are “a good first step.”

This discussion was recorded on Thursday 29 May 2025 and things may have changed since recording.

Order After America: Australia and the new world order or become a foundation subscriber to Vantage Point at australiainstitute.org.au/store.

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.

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

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

Show notes:

05/28/2025 Market Update

— Organisation: Applied MMT — Wednesday 28th May 2025

The Terrible Ideas Just Keep Coming

— Publication: CityNerd — Wednesday 28th May 2025

The NEA Deserves This

— Organisation: The Claremont Institute — Wednesday 28th May 2025

News broke a few weeks ago that President Trump would seek to eliminate the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) in his next budget proposal, along with several other federal cultural agencies. Hours later, it was also widely reported that some of our current grants were being withdrawn and canceled with immediate effect.

These announcements have caused fear, anger, and bewilderment inside our agency. I find myself (as the historian for the NEA) in the unique position of explaining to my fellow employees how matters have reached this dire pass.

When I arrived at this agency in 2004, in the first years of the George W. Bush Administration, the staff was mostly composed of Democratic Party supporters. But they were also cognizant of the near-death experience that the NEA suffered during the so-called “culture wars” (which stretched from 1989-1998), when the agency was widely lambasted for providing sub-grants that were used for exhibitions which included Andres Serrano’s blasphemous work “Piss Christ,” as well as Robert Mapplethorpe’s sado-masochist and homosexual pornography.

The result of that foolish grantmaking was the restructuring of the NEA so that from then on 40% of our total budget was automatically awarded to state arts agencies, while an independent council was created to oversee the entire grants authorization process as a watchdog appointed by the executive branch.

Gas export approval puts gas corporations before Australians

— Organisation: The Australia Institute — Wednesday 28th May 2025

With a huge majority and a climate-friendly Senate, this government is in an optimal position to stop the expansion of gas and coal and to plan a phase-out.

Australia Institute research shows:

The North West Shelf project has caused WA gas and electricity prices to triple since it was granted access to domestic gas in 2020.
The extension will see around $215 billion worth of gas given away royalty-free.
No gas exporter has ever paid petroleum resource rent tax and most pay zero royalties.
Gas exporters have made $100 billion in windfall profits exporting Australian gas since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

“This term of parliament will not be about politics, it will be about Labor’s priorities,” said Rod Campbell, Research Director at The Australia Institute.

“The government can use its historic majority to prioritise expanding the export gas industry, or it can take real action on climate, protect the country and its people.