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This article was reposted, in slightly different form, from the Practice of Place blog, which focuses on the art and science of creating thriving public and shared places. It is shared here with permission. All pictures were provided by the author.

Families with a female reference person generally have lower incomes than those with a male reference person. The two charts below show the profile of each income group by the gender of the household reference person. 

2019-20

This chart shows that a clear majority (70%) of households in the highest 20% income group had a male reference person.

2017-18

This chart shows that the majority (71%) of households in the highest 20% income group had a male reference person.

New research by ACOSS and UNSW Sydney reveals the widening wealth gap between people with the most and least, even as income inequality slows.

The latest report from the Poverty and Inequality Partnership, Inequality in Australia 2024: Who is affected and how? shows the average household wealth of Australia’s highest 10% growing much faster than the lowest 60%, from $2.8 million to $5.2 million (an 84% increase) over the past 20 years. Meanwhile, the average wealth of the lowest 60% has risen from $222,000 to $343,000 (a 55% per cent increase).

Nearly half (45%) of the increase in household wealth since 2003 went to the highest 10% (those with at least $2.6 million) and half of this increase to wealthy older people (over 64 years).

Wealth inequality is also growing among households aged under 35, even though they hold just 5% of all wealth. The average wealth of the highest 10% rose from $928,000 to $2 million (an increase of 126%) since 2003. At the same time, the average wealth of the lowest 60% of younger households – largely excluded from home ownership – rose just $68,000 to $80,000 (39%).

The report also shows wage inequality falling between 2021 and 2023, when unemployment dropped below 4%. During that time, wages growth for the lowest 10% (up 4.9%) outpaced the highest 10% (up 3.3%).

This chart shows the responses in our Community attitudes towards poverty and inequality survey 2023 to the idea that Poverty is a big problem in Australia today.

It shows that 69% of people in Australia agreed that poverty is a big problem in Australia today.

Read the full report here: https://bit.ly/communityattitudes2023

This chart shows the responses in our Community attitudes towards poverty and inequality survey 2023 to the idea that People who receive unemployment payments do not deserve to live in poverty.

It shows that 59% of people in Australia agreed that people who receive unemployment payments do not deserve to live in poverty..

Read the full report here: https://bit.ly/communityattitudes2023 

This chart shows the responses in our Community attitudes towards poverty and inequality survey 2023 to the idea that Unemployment payments should be enough so that people don’t have to skip meals.

It shows that 86% of people in Australia agreed that unemployment payments should be enough so that people don’t have to skip meals.

Read the full report here: https://bit.ly/communityattitudes2023

This chart shows the responses in our Community attitudes towards poverty and inequality survey 2023 to the question whether respondents would be able to live on the current rate of unemployment payment

It shows that 58% of people in Australia said they could not live on that amount and 19% were unsure. Only 23% agreed they could live on the current rate. 

Read the full report here: https://bit.ly/communityattitudes2023

This chart shows the responses in our Community attitudes towards poverty and inequality survey 2023 to the idea that Australia should be a country that looks after those in need.

It shows that 83% of people in Australia agreed that Australia should be a country that looks after those in need.

Read the full report here: https://bit.ly/communityattitudes2023 

This chart shows the responses in our Community attitudes towards poverty and inequality survey 2023 to the idea that People can find themselves needing unemployment payments through no fault of their own

It shows that 78% of people in Australia agreed that people can find themselves needing unemployment payments through no fault of their own.

Read the full report here: https://bit.ly/communityattitudes2023

This chart shows the responses in our Community attitudes towards poverty and inequality survey 2023 to the idea that Unemployment payments should be enough for people to be able to see the doctor when they need.

It shows that 84% of people in Australia agreed that unemployment payments should be enough for people to be able to see the doctor when they need.

Read the full report here: https://bit.ly/communityattitudes2023

This video is a recording of a talk given by Chris Hedges at the Kairos Club London on September 11, 2024. Drawing on his intimate knowledge of resistance and repression, Hedges detailed the methods we need to adopt to defeat the powerful interests, including the fossil fuel industry and the animal agriculture industry, which have placed their profits above the protection of our species and all life on earth. 

Hedges’ talk is preceded by an audio intro from Roger Hallam. Hallam is part of the “Whole Truth Five,” who are five members of Just Stop Oil who were sentenced last month to the longest ever prison sentences for non-violent protest.

First, it’s not true.

Second, the gas expansion the industry wants would come at the cost of other things we need.

Australia already produces an abundance of gas — far more than we could use. The only reason there’s even a remote risk of a shortfall is that we allow gas companies to export as much as they want.

More than 80 per cent of the gas produced in Australia is exported or used to liquify gas (a hugely energy intensive process) so that it can be shipped overseas.

Australia exports about 35 times more gas than would be needed to cover any potential shortfall of supply on the east coast in coming years.

And the gas giants use more gas each year to liquify gas for export than the gas used by Australia’s entire manufacturing industry.

Government could ensure supply at home by requiring gas companies to set aside gas to meet domestic needs, using laws and policies already in place.

Instead, gas companies want to develop new, expensive gas for the domestic market so they can sell gas that’s cheaper to extract overseas.

Professor Terri Givens joins Dr Emma Shortis on this episode of After America to discuss race in American politics and whether the country is ready to elect a Black female president.

This discussion was recorded on Friday 13 September 2024 and things may have changed since recording.

Guest: Terri Givens, Professor of Race, Ethnicity and Politics, University of British Columbia

Host: Emma Shortis, Senior Research for International & Security Affairs, the Australia Institute // @EmmaShortis

Show notes:

‘Race, gender and politics: Is the United States ready for a Black woman president?’ by Terri Givens, The Conversation (July 2024)

‘Is America ready to elect a Black woman president?’ by Emma Shortis, The Conversation (September 2024)

The Roots of Racism: The politics of white supremacy in the US and Europe by Terri Givens (January 2022)

To mark PPE@10 this feature continues a series of posts to celebrate ten years of Progress in Political Economy (PPE) as a blog that has addressed the worldliness of critical political economy issues since 2014. 

A frightful hobgoblin stalks throughout Europe and North America. High-income countries are haunted by a ghost, the ghost of rentiers. Hence tropes have emerged about the Parousia of rentiers. Familiar nativity tales of capitalism conjure images of wealthy landlords reaping free gifts of nature due to hereditary title. Meanwhile, immiserated wage-labourers, cunning industrialists and wily merchants fire the crucible of a new society that rewards effort instead of accidents of birth.

Australia Institute research has shown that there is no shortage of gas in Australia, in either the short or medium term, and that it is gas exports that are putting pressure on domestic supply.

Continued attempts by the gas industry to claim a domestic shortage while expanding gas exports show that there is no shortage of either gas or corporate greed from the sector.

Key Findings:

• Australia is one of the biggest exporters of gas in the world, alongside Qatar and the USA.
• Around 80% of Australia’s gas is exported as liquefied natural gas (LNG).
• 90% of the gas processed in WA is either exported as LNG or used in LNG export processing.
• Over half (56%) of gas exported from Australia attracts zero royalty payments, effectively giving a public resource to multinational corporations for free.

“The gas industry is talking out both sides of its mouth — it is saying there will be domestic shortages if we don’t start opening up new gas fields, while at the same time advocating to expand export facilities like the North West Shelf proposal,” said Rod Campbell, Research Director at the Australia Institute.

“We produce, burn and export a staggering amount of gas in this country. The gas industry itself is the biggest user of gas in Australia due to the gas it burns to process LNG exports. To suggest there will be a gas shortage is absurd.

This article was originally published, in slightly different form, on Strong Towns member Michel Durand-Wood’s blog, Dear Winnipeg. It is shared here with permission. All images were provided by the author.

One of the biggest economic myths is that Australia is dependent upon mining for our prosperity. Yes, mining accounts for around 10% of Australia’s GDP, but almost all of that is its profits – and most of those either head overseas – especially so in the case of gas companies – or are delivered to the very wealthiest in Australia. The vast majority of Australians do not rely on mining at all.

This reality was made clear when BHP boasted last week that it paid “$5.6bn in wages, incentives and benefits paid to employees, $10.5bn in dividends to Australian shareholders”

But let’s be clear about who gets those dividends and profits – mostly it is the richest in Australia.

According to the latest taxation data from the ATO, just under 50% of the value of all dividends went to the richest 2.4% of Australians – those earning more than $250,000. Around 0.2% of Australians earned more than $1m a year, and yet that minuscule number received a quarter of all the dividends paid out by Australian companies. So while it might sound like that profit is helping “Australia” in reality, it’s mostly making the rich richer.

On this bonus After America, Nick Bryant, acclaimed author of The Forever War: America’s Unending Conflict with Itself and former BBC journalist, joins Dr Emma Shortis to reflect on the Harris-Trump debate.

This discussion was recorded live on Thursday 12 September 2024 and things may have changed since recording.

Guest: Nick Bryant, author and former BBC United States correspondent // @NickBryantNY

Host: Emma Shortis, Senior Research for International & Security Affairs, the Australia Institute // @EmmaShortis

Show notes:

‘Are you ready for it? What a Taylor Swift endorsement means for Kamala Harris’ by Emma Shortis, The Conversation (September 2024)

The Forever War: America’s Unending Conflict with Itself by Nick Bryant (June 2024)

When America Stopped Being Great: A History of the Present by Nick Bryant (August 2020)

Theme music: Blue Dot Sessions

The mining industry is now surely the biggest whinger in the Australian economy.

This week it launched an all-out assault on the federal government at Minerals Week in Canberra, with chief executive of the mining industry’s chief lobby group the Minerals Council, Tania Constable, warning the government: “Undermine it at your peril.”

Relative to its size, the mining industry pays nowhere near enough tax in Australia and, perhaps unsurprisingly, they want to keep it that way. It’s obvious the mining industry is trying to cow the federal government into ruling out any policy changes before the election. It wants cuts to taxes and royalties, and IR laws that make it easier to cut wages and fire people. And it would prefer to remove any environmental restrictions preventing mining companies from polluting or opening new gas and coal mines wherever and whenever they want.

But more than that, the mining industry demands Australians all bow at its feet in gratitude. BHP wants praise for paying its taxes, insinuating the public hospital system would collapse without it, while mining billionaire Gina Rinehart asked: “Where is the red carpet for the BHPs and Rios?” As if mining companies aren’t some of the most powerful and profitable companies on the planet, let alone in this country.

Like a toxic boyfriend who wants thanks for doing the dishes (when you remind him), the mining industry demands Australians be grateful for the taxes and royalties they pay.

The Wrap with Ebony Bennett

Mining lobbyists descended on Canberra for the annual Minerals Week. On Thursday morning, the Minerals Council CEO Tania Constable described on Radio National what she sees to be the problem – policy interventions and the looming ‘threat’ of onerous environmental approvals:

We’re seeing major changes in royalties at a state level…That’s a huge impost on the industry.

Let’s be clear, royalties are the price mining companies pay to mine and sell the resources like iron ore, gas and coal that Australians collectively own. Complaining about paying royalties as an ‘impost’ on the mining industry is like a baker complaining he doesn’t get his flour for free.

It’s obvious the mining industry is trying to cow the federal government into ruling out any policy changes before the election. And they are smart enough to make the Minerals Council and BHP front their campaign. Much harder for the gas industry to argue to cut taxes and royalties when the Tax Office has labelled your entire industry “systemic non-payers” of tax and over the half of LNG exports attract zero royalties.

This article was originally published, in slightly different form, on the author’s LinkedIn. It is shared here with permission. All images were provided by the author.

What is the Australia Institute’s Policy School?

The Australia Institute’s Policy School, is a new webinar series designed to equip policymakers, campaigners, NGOs, and public servants with the tools to advocate for change. Learn from experts about key public policy issues, persuasive messaging, and effective communication strategies to help create a fairer, more sustainable society.

It’s FREE, but registration is essential.
You can sign up once on Zoom and attend any session.
The first class will be “Australia is a low taxing nation and it costs us with Greg Jericho”, Thursday 19 September at 11am.

Each fortnight, you will hear from policy experts from the Australia Institute, who will take you through the key things you need to create change on critical public policy issues – like fair tax reform, electoral reform, the Australia/USA relationship, the housing crisis, or reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

You will learn about:

During Tuesday’s presidential debate, Donald Trump suggested Kamala Harris wants undocumented immigrants to receive free “transgender surgery” while being detained or imprisoned, a bogus claim with a very weird source.

Transgender activist Riki Wilchins interviews academic and legal scholar Florence Ashley.

This interview is also available on Rumble and podcast platforms.

In his 2010 book, Death of the Liberal Class, Chris Hedges wrote “The fate of the liberal class is tragic. It has been annihilated by the corporate state it supported, while it willingly silenced radical thinkers and iconoclasts who could have rescued it.” 

There has been no time in American politics where this phenomenon has been more clear than today. In this episode of The Chris Hedges Report, host Chris Hedges talks to comedian Jimmy Dore about his reporting at the 2024 Democratic National Convention. The pair find the event illustrative of the past few decades of liberalism in American society, namely that its entire concept is not “reality based.” 

By Joe Sacco

Fantagraphics has released a series of graphic commentaries and reflections by Joe Sacco, author of "Palestine" and "Footnotes in Gaza," called "The War on Gaza."  With the permission of Fantagrapahics and Joe Sacco, we are reprinting them on my Substack. This comic is the last installment in Sacco’s series.

By Joe Sacco

Fantagraphics has released a series of graphic commentaries and reflections by Joe Sacco, author of "Palestine" and "Footnotes in Gaza," called "The War on Gaza."  With the permission of Fantagrapahics and Joe Sacco, we are reprinting them on my Substack.

By Joe Sacco

Fantagraphics has released a series of graphic commentaries and reflections by Joe Sacco, author of "Palestine" and "Footnotes in Gaza," called "The War on Gaza."  With the permission of Fantagrapahics and Joe Sacco, we are reprinting them on my Substack.