The Australia Institute Feed Items

The Australia Institute has a growing body of research on the harms caused by the over-use of consulting firms by Australian governments.

This paper summarises and expands on that research in the context of the inquiry ethics and professional accountability: structural challenges in the audit, assurance and consulting industry.

While our research focuses on the relationship between governments and consulting firms, some of the findings will be applicable for consulting firms more generally, including their relationships with private clients.

The post Consultants: Structurally Unsound appeared first on The Australia Institute.

The Australia Institute is a longstanding supporter of a constitutionally enshrined Voice, as articulated in the Uluru Statement from the Heart.

Research is the cornerstone of the Australia Institute’s work. There is a significant body of research—led by First Nations people—about the Voice to Parliament, where it came from, how it is likely to work, and how it would help solve the chronic gaps between outcomes for Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians, and to this substantial body of work we simply want to add our support.

The Voice will deliver on the call made in the Uluru Statement from the Heart. It will enrich our democracy and help make Australia a more just nation.

The need for the Voice to be constitutionally enshrined
We recognise the need for the Voice to be constitutionally enshrined (and not merely legislated) because every federal government body ever established to represent the interests of First Nations Australians has been abolished. The most recent example is the abolition of ATSIC, which was legislated out of existence in 2005. Nearly 20 years have passed without a viable replacement, and Indigenous disadvantage has only worsened. Reconciliation depends on listening to the voices of First Nations people, and the channels of communication must not be so easily severed. One noteworthy exception to this pattern is the Torres Strait Regional Authority, which has effectively represented the interests of Torres Strait Islanders since it was established in the 1990s.

Re-examining the policy presents the Albanese government with the opportunity to deliver bigger and fairer tax cuts to most Australians while providing scope for greater spending on infrastructure, programs or benefits

The post A Better Stage 3 appeared first on The Australia Institute.

Most do not outline clear policies to address political donations, political expenditure or the revolving door between politics and business. Neither the law nor stock exchange rules require them to do so, and few do it willingly.

These are some of the key findings of one of the most detailed and extensive analysis of corporate political expenditure in Australia ever conducted.

The Australia Institute commissioned corporate governance and responsible investment solutions provider ISS-ESG1 to assess the corporate expenditure disclosures, policies and oversight of 75 of the 100 largest companies on the Australian stock exchange (ASX).

The post The Hidden Political Expenditure of Australian Corporations appeared first on The Australia Institute.

Reforms to Victoria’s Legislative Council should ensure proportionality and representativeness by adopting a state-wide electorate. Victoria’s political finance laws seem to unfairly disadvantage challengers, to the benefit of incumbents.

The post Submission: 2022 Victorian State Election Inquiry appeared first on The Australia Institute.

Two of the changes with the most serious ramifications are the imposition of a donation cap (around $4,000 each four-year electoral cycle) and a dramatic increase in public funding.

This submission focuses on the effects of the 2018 changes on political influence and power.

The post Submission: Money and Power in Victorian Elections appeared first on The Australia Institute.

Hundreds of thousands of NDIS participants rely on this workforce to provide personal support and care on a daily basis.

The NDIS workforce is large and growing, currently employing about a quarter of a million workers, mostly women. Pay, working conditions and career opportunities in the disability support workforce are critical to the future of women’s economic equality in Australia.

It is a decade since the NDIS was first piloted, yet the promise for workers, that the scheme would translate into ‘greater pay, … better working conditions … (and) enough resources to do the job properly’ has not been fulfilled.

Rather, conditions of work in the NDIS are poor and deteriorating.

The design of the NDIS, with its market basis and poor and uneven regulatory oversight, has undermined fair pay and working conditions for disability support workers and is threatening workforce stability.

This briefing paper reviews this evidence and argues for significant reforms to address urgent problems arising from these design flaws and regulatory failures.

The post Going Backwards appeared first on The Australia Institute.

The Australia Institute has provided input to the Climate Change Authority’s (CCA) consultation on Economic Modelling.

Considering that Australia’s current Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) toward the Paris Climate Agreement is “insufficient” against our fair share for a 1.5°C or 2°C warmed world, research supporting an ambitious 2035 NDC is hugely important.

We are concerned, however, that the modelling project as outlined in the consultation paper Economic modelling of potential Australian emissions reduction pathways is too narrow.

The consultation paper lays out that the Authority “does not propose to use this modelling exercise to assess the economic effects of physical climate change impacts, or the benefits (avoided economic costs) of greater reductions in global emissions.”

The report, compiled by Dr Jim Stanford (Economist and Director of the Centre for Future Work), with contributions from several other economists at the Centre and the Australia Institute, confirms that higher corporate profits still account for most of the rise in economy-wide unit prices in Australia since the pandemic struck.

The good news is that corporate profits have begun to moderate, as global supply chains are repaired, shortages of strategic commodities dissipate, and consumer purchasing patterns adjust after the pandemic. This has occurred alongside a reduction in inflation of over half since early 2022 (falling from a peak of 8.9% annualised in early 2022 to 3.4% by June 2023). This further confirms the close correlation between corporate profits and inflation — but both profits and inflation need to fall further.

The report also reviews the methodology and findings of over 35 international studies confirming the existence of profit-led inflation across many industrial countries (including Australia). The methodology and findings of these studies are very similar to that utilised by the Australian Institute and the Centre for Future Work in previous research on profit-led inflation.

Based on industry average profit margins, food retailers make $1.2 billion profit from this waste.

This gives the major supermarkets a strong incentive to resist policy changes that would reduce food waste, such as reform of best-before labels.

Opinion polling for this report shows that a clear majority of Australians support various regulatory reforms to reduce food waste—including, notably, overwhelming support (78%) for reforming use-by and best-before date labelling and 72% support for relaxed cosmetic standards. While there is clear support for regulatory changes, 81% of respondents also see reducing food waste as at least partly the responsibility of individual consumers.

This emphasis on individual responsibility will sound familiar to observers of many policy debates: the way in which the responsibility for addressing systemic problems is either allowed to fall on, or actively re-routed onto, individuals and their actions, rather than on the implementation of systemic change by governments and industry. This will need to change if Australia’s food waste targets are to be met.

The post Food Waste in Australia appeared first on The Australia Institute.

For many Australians, 2023 has been defined by the ongoing cost-of-living crisis. The spiralling costs of consumer goods, along with persistently high petrol and energy prices, have left households struggling to make ends meet.

Nevertheless, even with the overwhelming and understandable distraction caused by inflation and ever-growing interest rates, climate change remains at the forefront of the nation’s consciousness. Over 70% of Australians say that they are concerned about climate change and its impacts, including the potential it has to compound existing cost-of-living pressures.

Concern about climate change remains high despite cost-of-living crisis

In 2023, Climate of the Nation asked for the first time about Australians’ concerns regarding the impact of climate change on the cost of living. Three in four (75%) say they are concerned about more expensive insurance premiums, and the same proportion (75%) are concerned about disruptions to supply chains making it harder to buy necessities.

The top three climate impacts of concern are more droughts and flooding affecting crop production and food supply (80%), more bushfires (79%) and the extinction of animal and plant species (79%).

Australians oppose new gas, coal and oil projects and fossil fuel subsidies

The NSW Government should reduce its use of consultants and have firmer rules for the consultants it does use.

NSW Parliament should consider limiting political donations from contractors, an order for papers for consultants reports and requiring consultants to appear before Estimates.

The Australia Institute’s submission makes the following recommendations:

1. Oversight of the NSW Government’s use of consultants be strengthened.
2. Include public sector capacity building in consultancy contracts.
3. Improve data on the NSW Government’s use of consultants.
4. Publish a clear and strict revolving door policy for public servants.
5. The NSW Parliament issue a standing order for papers, for the production of consultant reports and advice.
6. The NSW Parliament consider whether consulting firms could be called before Budget Estimates when they have taken government work.
7. The NSW Government and Parliament review whether a ban on political donations and other contributions from big government contractors, including consulting firms, would be appropriate and, if so, how it might be implemented.

The post Submission: Consultants: corrosive and conflicted appeared first on The Australia Institute.

Coal gasification is a polluting, costly and outdated technology. The NeuRizer proposal would bring no economic benefit and significant environmental risks. It should not receive federal or state government approval.

The post NeuRizer underground coal gasification project – economic considerations appeared first on The Australia Institute.