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Travers McLeod (Brotherhood of St Laurence), Kasy Chambers (Anglicare Australia), Elly Desmarchelier (Disability Rights Advocate) and Jenny Davidson (Council of Single Mothers and their Children) discuss the ways Australia’s tax and transfer system is impacting those most vulnerable in our community.

Recorded on the 20th of February as part of Per Capita’s Community Tax Summit, at Solidarity Hall at Victorian Trades Hall, Melbourne. The Community Tax Summit bought together Australian NFPs, Think Tanks, Advocacy Groups and more to kick off a “big conversation” about Australia’s tax and transfer system. There our panels of experts and those with lived experience demonstrated that there is an genuine appetite for tax and transfer reform, which is both needed and wanted in the next term of Parliament.

The post Welfare and Social Assistance appeared first on Per Capita.

Bennelong MP Jerome Laxale has vowed to fight for renters at an Everybody’s Home town hall designed to spotlight Australia’s deepening housing crisis ahead of the federal election. 

On Tuesday, Everybody’s Home kicked off its series of online forums with incumbent MPs from key electorates, beginning with Mr Laxale.  

Mr Laxale said: “There has been a huge shift in housing perception … It’s because of groups like [Everybody’s Home], and advocates … who are fighting for renters, like I do.

“It’s not always politicians who need to change their minds, the community also needs to change their mind. Politicians have a role to play but as important a role is to get a community-led campaign to advocate for more change, that comes down to persistence and passion.”

Mr Laxale also warned against proposals for first homebuyers to pay for a deposit through their super.

“People under the age of 40 don’t have $50,000 in their super to raid. It will mean the country and the individual will be worse off by withdrawing from their super,” Mr Laxale said.

“Super is for retirement, it’s not a piggy-bank on the side…we know from world experience across the ditch that it doesn’t help with housing affordability and will leave individuals worse off in the long run.”

Mr Laxale said Labor’s main housing priority is to build more homes.

“It’s been a rocky road to get housing policies through parliament … but our focus is the delivery of homes and we will do what we can,” he said.

Ozge Akinci, Martin Almuzara, Silvia Miranda-Agrippino, Ramya Nallamotu, Argia Sbordone, Greg Simitian, and William Zeng

While the Trump Administration is considering taking Greenland and Canada under its wing, there’s another foreign country America should watch over, in the way that a parent cares for a child: California.

If the Golden State were a nation, it would have the fifth-highest GDP globally: $3.8 trillion (more than India, and more than New York and Florida combined). It’s the most populous state, officially home to 39 million residents—eight million more than Texas. It has the most members of the House (52) and the most Electoral College votes (54).

California’s farms supply more than half of America’s fruits and vegetables, half our dairy, and every almond. The Central Valley, which spans 450 miles from Redding in the north to Bakersfield in the south, has 1% of U.S. farmland but produces 25% of Americans’ food.

California’s market power means that its laws affect 49 other states. In 2016, California adopted a “History Social Science Framework” for K-12 education to “feature the contributions of diverse peoples of all sorts to the story of California and the United States.” Publishers like McGraw Hill updated their textbooks nationwide to avoid printing a separate California edition. “LGBT” appears 21 times in the framework.

[Note: As readership of Heidi Says has grown, it has been brought to my attention that some background on me might be useful. I’ve expanded the “About” page accordingly.]

The scale and pace of Republican Fascist activities escalates daily. Bizarre, sadistic, dangerous measures spew from Trump, his overlord Musk, and the puppets in his Cabinet. It makes it difficult to focus. Yet we cannot effectively oppose this utterly rogue federal executive branch if we succumb to disorientation. My advice, based on what works for me: don’t chase every new bit of breaking news. Find the issue or area that most concerns or interests you and follow that closely. Find a couple of commentators or publications you trust and read them regularly.

Do not forget that we are in a long, hard slog. It will take decades to reverse this country’s slide into corrupt fascism. It can only be done through the accretion of small efforts, none of which may seem efficacious in the moment. Do what you can when you can. Go to a meeting of a local progressive organization. Write a letter to the editor. Make phone calls to your members of Congress. Participate in economic boycotts of companies selling out to Trump. Speak truth in public. There are millions of Americans who want to change the country for the better. No one of us is going to make it happen and even all of us trying will not make it happen quickly.

Ozge Akinci, Martin Almuzara, Silvia Miranda-Agrippino, Ramya Nallamotu, Argia Sbordone, Greg Simitian, and William Zeng

My grandmother had a “joke” (really more of a parable) about a guy who sees a pie cooling in the window, and steals it. Unfortunately, he leaves a perfect handprint on the sill, so he sneaks into the house in order to wash off his handprint. But then it’s obvious that the sill has been washed, since it’s so much cleaner than the wall. So he washes that wall.

Recorded on the 20th of February as part of Per Capita’s Community Tax Summit, Dr Ken Henry AC gave the opening keynote address in the Solidarity Hall at Victorian Trades Hall, Melbourne.

Currently, Chair of the Nature Finance Council, the Australian Climate and Biodiversity Foundation and Wildlife Recovery Australia, and a non-executive director of Accounting for Nature Ltd and the Digital Finance CRC, Dr Henry served as the Secretary to the Treasury from 2001 to 2011. He chaired the Howard Government’s tax review taskforce in 1997-98, the Rudd Government’s tax review published in 2010, and the Gillard Government’s White Paper on Australia in the Asian Century (2011 and 2012).

The Community Tax Summit bought together Australian NFPs, Think Tanks, Advocacy Groups and more to kick off a “big conversation” about Australia’s tax and transfer system.

There our panels of experts and those with lived experience demonstrated that there is an genuine appetite for tax and transfer reform, which is both needed and wanted in the next term of Parliament.

The post Ken Henry: Keynote Address appeared first on Per Capita.

Recorded on the 20th of February as part of Per Capita’s Community Tax Summit, Per Capita’s Emma Dawson, ACOSS CEO Cassandra Goldie, Professor Roger Wilkins and Professor Sharon Bessell lead a discussion on Inequality of Wealth Income and Opportunity in the Solidarity Hall at Victorian Trades Hall, Melbourne.

The Community Tax Summit bought together Australian NFPs, Think Tanks, Advocacy Groups and more to kick off a “big conversation” about Australia’s tax and transfer system.

There our panels of experts and those with lived experience demonstrated that there is an genuine appetite for tax and transfer reform, which is both needed and wanted in the next term of Parliament.

The post Inequality of Wealth, Income and Opportunity appeared first on Per Capita.

Recorded on the 20th of February as part of Per Capita’s Community Tax Summit, Dr Angela Jackson, CPSU National Secretary Melissa Donnelly, Professor Fran Baum AO speak on the importance of social infrastructure, care, and service industries and how they have been overlooked and neglected for too long. Recorded at Solidarity Hall at Victorian Trades Hall, Melbourne.

The Community Tax Summit bought together Australian NFPs, Think Tanks, Advocacy Groups and more to kick off a “big conversation” about Australia’s tax and transfer system.

There our panels of experts and those with lived experience demonstrated that there is an genuine appetite for tax and transfer reform, which is both needed and wanted in the next term of Parliament.

The post Social Infrastructure, Care and Services appeared first on Per Capita.

Recorded on the 20th of February as part of Per Capita’s Community Tax Summit, Economist’s Saul Eslake, Alan Kohler, Anglicare Australia’s Maiy Azize, and Prosper Australia’s Tim Helm discuss the current housing crisis in relation to the tax and transfer system. Recorded at Solidarity Hall at Victorian Trades Hall, Melbourne.

The Community Tax Summit bought together Australian NFPs, Think Tanks, Advocacy Groups and more to kick off a “big conversation” about Australia’s tax and transfer system.

There our panels of experts and those with lived experience demonstrated that there is an genuine appetite for tax and transfer reform, which is both needed and wanted in the next term of Parliament.

The post Housing – The Great Australian Divide appeared first on Per Capita.

Professor Miranda Stewart’s keynote address on Australia’s tax and transfer system and directions for reform. Recorded on the 20th of February as part of Per Capita’s Community Tax Summit, Solidarity Hall at Victorian Trades Hall, Melbourne.

Miranda Stewart is a Professor specialising in taxation law and policy at the Melbourne Law School, University of Melbourne and an Honorary Professor at the Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University. In 2024, Miranda was a visiting fellow at the Australian Treasury. Her most recent book is Tax and Government in the 21st Century (Cambridge University Press).

The Community Tax Summit bought together Australian NFPs, Think Tanks, Advocacy Groups and more to kick off a “big conversation” about Australia’s tax and transfer system. There our panels of experts and those with lived experience demonstrated that there is an genuine appetite for tax and transfer reform, which is both needed and wanted in the next term of Parliament.

The post Miranda Stewart: Keynote Address appeared first on Per Capita.

This interview is also available on podcast platforms and Rumble.

The Holocaust is the quintessential example of human evil for people in the West. In the rest of the world, especially in the Global South, the atrocity of the Holocaust — genocide — has had a closer proximity both in time and place. Colonialism in Africa, destructive wars in Asia and most recently, genocide in the Middle East, have shaped the lives of billions of people.

On this episode of The Chris Hedges Report, essayist and novelist Pankaj Mishra joins host Chris Hedges to discuss his latest book, “The World After Gaza.” Mishra argues that the shifting power dynamics in the world means the Global South’s narrative on atrocity can no longer be ignored and the genocide in Gaza is the current crux of the issue.

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.

Press Pass Fail | The Roundtable Ep. 256

On this episode of Follow the Money, Dr Emma Shortis and Ebony Bennett discuss Trump’s efforts to “rinse” Ukraine for its resources, the administration’s moves to dismantle significant portions of the Federal Government, and how the Australian Government can use its significant bargaining power to push back against the American President.

This discussion was recorded on Tuesday 25 February 2025 and things may have changed since recording.

Subscribe to After America now on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your favourite podcasts.

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

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

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

Show notes:

On this episode of Dollars & Sense, Greg and Hayden discuss the latest monthly inflation data, the proposed improvements to Medicare, and Australia’s misguided obsession with federal budget surpluses.

This discussion was recorded on Thursday 27 February 2025 and things may have changed since recording.

Subscribe to Between the Lines, The Australia Institute’s fortnightly newsletter.

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

Host: Greg Jericho, Chief Economist, the Australia Institute and Centre for Future Work // @grogsgamut

Host: Hayden Starr, Digital Media Manager, the Australia Institute // @haydenstarr

Show notes:

Hunter L. Clark

With new tariffs on China back in the headlines, this post seeks to offer some perspective on how much China’s exports have really been affected by multiple rounds of U.S. tariffs and export restrictions over the past seven years. The key takeaway is that U.S. imports from China have decreased by much less than has been reported in official U.S. statistics. As a result, the recent tariff increase on China could have a larger impact on the U.S. economy than is suggested by official U.S. data on the China import share, especially if favorable tariff treatment for direct-to-consumer imports is ended.

But new research by The Australia Institute’s Centre for Future Work has found that sacking public servants actually costs the country money and makes providing services less efficient.

The new briefing paper – Restoring Public Sector Capability Through Investment In Public Service Employees – debunks several of the myths promoted in the political debate around the size of Australia’s public service. One such myth is that Australia’s public service is “bloated” or “inefficient”.

The research found that, despite claims to the contrary, most of the public service jobs created since 2022 were not based in Canberra.

It also found:

Thank you, subscribers, for all your thoughtful questions! I answered most of them and tried to address the main points of the questions I didn’t list. I apologize that I ran out of space before I could get to them all!

If you’d like to submit a question, become a paying subscriber. You can do that here:

A Scam Built Atop an Accounting Gimmick Wrapped in Bullshit: Why Visiting Fort Knox Is Not About Selling Gold but is About Buying Bitcoin

 — Author: Nathan Tankus — Publication: Notes on the Crisis — Wednesday 26th February 2025

Notes on the Crises pivoted on February 1st into around the clock coverage of the Trump-Musk Treasury Payments Crisis of 2025. Today is Day Twenty Seven

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How a Popular Development Practice Backfires on Homeowners

 — Organisation: Strong Towns — Wednesday 26th February 2025

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Housing in Plain Sight: City Helps Homeowners Turn Empty Spaces Into Homes

 — Organisation: Strong Towns — Tuesday 25th February 2025

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Bottom-Up Shorts: How to Build Momentum as a Local Advocate

 — Organisation: Strong Towns — Tuesday 25th February 2025

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MAGA, the German Far Right, and the Transnational Assault on Democracy

 — Author: Thomas Zimmer — Tuesday 25th February 2025

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Aussie voters want affordable homes over investor tax breaks, polling shows

 — Organisation: Everybody's Home — Tuesday 25th February 2025

New polling in key federal electorates reveals voters strongly prefer spending on affordable homes over investor tax breaks like negative gearing, by a ratio of 2.5 to 1.

Commissioned by Everybody’s Home, uComms polled more than 2,500 voters across Bennelong (NSW), Brisbane (Qld), Cowan (WA) and Kooyong (Vic), in February, highlighting a strong disconnect between voter priorities and political solutions to the housing crisis.

 The poll shows:

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The housing crisis is turning into an inequality crisis

 — Organisation: The Australia Institute — Tuesday 25th February 2025

Wealth inequality in Australia has dramatically worsened over the past 20 years, mainly being driven by investment properties (excluding the family home).

The richest 10% have seen their property assets grow by an average of $2.2 million per household over the last two decades.

Wealth is being taxed more generously than income, with $100 billion of tax concessions going to the three biggest assets: other property, superannuation, and the family home.

Key points:

• ‘Other’ property is the most concentrated with half of their increase over the last 20 years going to the richest 10%. This was worth $900,000 per household.
• The poorest half of Australian households got just 7% of the benefit ($24,000 over 20 years).
• Superannuation was the second fastest growing of the three major assets, with 37% of the last 20 years growth going to the richest 10%. The bottom half received 15%.
• Huge tax concessions worth $100 billion per year are going to the three major assets. These concessions reduce taxes on wealth and add to wealth inequality.
• Investment properties benefit from negative gearing and the CGT discount, with 73% of their benefit going to the top 10% of income earners.
• Cracking down on these tax concessions would reduce wealth inequality.

Research from The Australia Institute shows closing tax loopholes on wealth will make housing more affordable and reduce wealth inequality.

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Announcement“Financing Philadelphia’s Future” – Tom Sgouros on the role of pension funds in providing affordable housing

 — Organisation: Just Money — Monday 24th February 2025

February 25, 4:30 to 5:00 pm Live Streamed through Zoom


More “Announcement
“Financing Philadelphia’s Future” – Tom Sgouros on the role of pension funds in providing affordable housing”

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Anti-Harassment Training for the Swamp

 — Organisation: The Claremont Institute — Monday 24th February 2025

The Right has a rare opportunity to turn the tables on the administrative state—and also prepare the way for the great re-learning that America needs.

If you’re an American who works for a living, chances are good that between state and federal laws, insurance carrier requirements, and woke corporate Human Resources (HR) departments, you’ve had to endure “anti-harassment” trainings. These are delivered either in live group settings or via online modules that combine videos with quizzes, with only certain responses deemed acceptable. Some of the content has amounted to forced indoctrination in leftism to a captive audience—which was, of course, the point.

I work for the Claremont Institute, which leaders on the Right have called “America’s most consequential think tank”—and which even frequent critics such as the New York Times have had to admit is “a nerve center of the American Right.” Yet even on this island of sanity, we have had to devote multiple hundreds of staff hours to watching training videos that explain what is and is not acceptable to say and do in California’s woke legal environment.

It would be much more appropriate to stop the ideological chicanery and instead require employees in federal agencies to be trained on how to not harass American citizens.

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America Needs a New Housing Bargain. Here’s Why.

 — Organisation: Strong Towns — Monday 24th February 2025

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Republicans, Immigration, Brent Taylor and the Devil

 — Author: Betsy Phillips — Monday 24th February 2025

The Republican state senator said 'heaven has an immigration policy.' So I called up hell to ask a few questions.

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Thrown under the bus: Ukraine abandoned by the Trump administration

 — Organisation: The Australia Institute — Monday 24th February 2025

On this episode of After America, Dr Gorana Grgić joins Dr Emma Shortis to discuss Trump’s plans for Ukraine, the MAGA movement’s support for Europe’s resurgent far-right parties, and the new Cabinet’s approach to ‘prioritising’ China.

This discussion was recorded on Thursday 20 February 2025 and things may have changed since recording.

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

Guest: Gorana Grgić, Senior Researcher, Center for Security Studies, ETH Zürich // goranagrgic.com

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

Show notes: 

Bridges across regions: the effects of Euro-Atlantic and Indo-Pacific cooperation on European security architectures by Gorana Grgić, International Politics (January 2025)

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Blizzard of lawsuits

 — Author: Heidi Li Feldman — Monday 24th February 2025

Even for lawyers, keeping up with all the litigation filed against the Trump Executive Branch is hard. For nonlawyers, I imagine it is harder, especially because many of the suits make similar claims, seeking similar relief: injunctions – specific commands - to halt the conduct complained about. With the caveat that even ultimately successful suits may not produce compliance, I'm going to explain why individuals, unions, consumer advocacy associations, and the states are filing so many similar suits. The short answer is that those opposing Trump's turnover of the executive branch to Musk and the resultant mass firings, threats to data privacy and security, funding halts, and so forth are trying to bring the legal questions at stake to a head and soon.

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What political economy approach for the 21st century?

 — Publication: Progress in Political Economy — Monday 24th February 2025

In my latest open access article Confronting Multiple Global Crises: a political economy approach for the 21^st century, published in the journal Globalizations, I discuss the essential features of a political economy approach, which facilitates the conceptualisation of the internal relations between the current, multiple global crises including a crisis of global capitalism, a crisis of global labour relations, a crisis of global gender relations, a crisis of global race relations and a crisis of global ecology.

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