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Historian Dr Prudence Flowers joins Dr Emma Shortis to discuss the politics of reproductive rights in American politics, Project 2025 and the wave of support for Kamala Harris since Joe Biden’s withdrawal from the race.

This discussion was recorded on Friday 12 and Thursday 25 July 2024 and things may have changed since recording.

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Guest: Prudence Flowers, Senior Lecturer in US History, Flinders University // @FlowersPGF

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

Show notes:

‘‘Kamala IS brat’: how the power of pop music has influenced 60 years of US elections’ by Prudence Flowers, The Conversation (July 2024)

On this episode of Dollars & Sense, Greg Jericho discusses the economic impact of a second Trump presidency for Australia and the region – and why four more years of Trump could be a disaster for the climate.

Greg Jericho is Chief Economist at the Australia Institute and the Centre for Future Work and popular columnist of Grogonomics with Guardian Australia. Each week on Dollars & Sense, Greg dives into the latest economic figures to explain what they can tell us about what’s happening in the economy, how it will impact you and where things are headed.

Host: Greg Jericho, Chief Economist, the Australia Institute // @GrogsGamut

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

Theme music: Blue Dot Sessions

We’d love to hear your feedback on this series, so send in your questions, comments or suggestions for future episodes to podcasts@australiainstitute.org.au.

1. Fossil fuel exports.
   Minister Bowen did not address, and no one asked about, the fact that Australia is the world’s third largest fossil fuel exporter. With over 100 new fossil fuel projects in the development pipeline, as well as four new coal mines and at least 116 new gas wells approved since 2022, the Australian Government shows no intention of changing this status. Just this week, the government opened areas of Commonwealth waters off the coasts of South Australia, Victoria and Tasmania for offshore gas exploration.
2. Emissions outside of electricity.

The deepfake, which is marked as “AI-generated content”, depicts Premier Miles dancing, to make fun of Miles for posting a video of himself making a sandwich.

Effective truth in political advertising laws already exist; they have operated in South Australia since the 1980s, were legislated in the ACT in 2020, and been proposed in other jurisdictions – including by Queensland Labor rank-and-file.

“Even when political ads are marked as AI-generated, political parties and candidates should be wary about running them. No one benefits from a race to the bottom where fake content is used to ridicule political rivals,” said Bill Browne, Director of the Australia Institute’s Democracy & Accountability Program.

“Queensland saw the use of one of the first political deepfakes in Australia, at the 2020 state election. It looks like the trend is continuing.

“While this deepfake was marked as AI-generated, it shows how easy it has become to create fake content – and there is no guarantee that other fake content in the Queensland election will be clearly identified. In Queensland, it is perfectly legal to lie in a political ad, and it shouldn’t be.

“Elections elsewhere around the world have seen deepfake images and videos used with the deliberate intent to deceive.

“Truth in political advertising laws in Queensland, along the lines of those already in place in South Australia and the ACT, would help ensure that voters are not misled.”

The United Nations and the IEA have been clear that there can be no new coal, oil or gas projects if we are to avoid dangerous climate change. There is no ‘clean energy transition’ while governments keep approving highly polluting new fossil fuel projects

Key Points:

• A series of new offshore gas and sea dumping exploration permits have been granted by the Federal Minister for Resources, The Hon Madeleine King, today.
• The projects are off the coast of Western Australia and Victoria.
• Sea dumping (described by the gas industry as CCS) increases emission by enabling new fossil fuel projects. Just three Australian coal fired power stations emit more carbon pollution than the entire world’s current CCS capacity.

“This government was elected to take action on climate change and reduce emissions, but they are opening new fossil fuel projects instead,” said Mark Ogge, Principal Advisor at The Australia Institute.

“Expanding Australia’s gas production in the middle of a climate emergency is not just short-sighted: it treats our Pacific Island neighbours and future generations with contempt.

Dr Emma Shortis and Ebony Bennett, host of the Australia Institute’s Follow the Money podcast, reflect on Joe Biden’s legacy, his endorsement of Kamala Harris and what it could mean for the election campaign.

This discussion was recorded on Monday 22 July 2024 and things may have changed since recording.

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

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

Theme music: Blue Dot Sessions

You can see Professor Joseph E Stiglitz speak live in several cities across Australia as part of the Australia Institute’s 30th anniversary celebrations. Tickets are available online.

To do so, Australia will need to abandon its conciliatory deference to the U.S.A and instead begin advocating strongly in our own national interest.

Australia has power and agency in the US-Australia relationship. With a second Trump Presidency remaining a real possibility, Australia also has a significant stake in the survival of US democracy and global leadership.

“Biden had nowhere to go, and that’s where he went,” said Dr Emma Shortis, Senior Researcher for the Australia Institute’s International & Security Affairs Program.

“Biden has endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris, which was the only logical choice. Harris is now an experienced Vice President, accustomed to the national stage and particularly strong on the issue of reproductive rights.

“While American politics has been preoccupied with recent events, this issue is one that motivates voters to turn out. It did in the 2022 mid-terms, and it likely will do again.

“There is a long way to go until November, but Trump currently remains ahead in the polls.

“What Australia does matters on the world stage, and we can no longer blindly rely on the United States to defend us.

“Instead of considering how Australia can accommodate America under Trump, we can instead focus on standing up for what matters to us and push hard for our interests and values. It’s time that we learned to work with America, not just for it.”

A loophole in Australia’s tax law effectively subsidises large utes such as Ram and Chevrolet pick-up trucks by avoiding the Luxury Car Tax (LCT) that other imported vehicles pay, regardless of if the vehicles are used for work, recreation or just commuting.

The $250 million cost of this subsidy is more than ten times the Federal Government’s Active Transport Fund for the construction and upgrade of cycle paths every year.

Key Findings:

• Luxury car tax is paid on the sale or importation of most cars valued above $81,000.
• However, any vehicle that can carry twice the weight in payload that it can carry in people, is exempt regardless of what it is used for.
• Non-luxury utes, used by most tradies, sit below this threshold and would be unaffected by the removal of the luxury ute loophole.

“The Australian public is subsidising big, dumb utes by hundreds of millions of dollars each year,” said Rod Campbell, Research Director at the Australia Institute.

“These vehicles are damaging roads, reducing safety and increasing emissions, yet they are given a massive tax break.

“Removing the luxury car tax exemption will not affect most ute drivers, particularly tradies.

“Instead it targets those buying large luxury vehicles, worth sometimes hundreds of thousands of dollars, for personal use.

Even though the transport sector is the third largest source of Australian emissions and accounted for 21% of national emissions in 2023, the Australian Government continues to incentivise the sale of big utility vehicles (utes) relative to other car options. Over the last twenty years, the number of utes on our roads has grown much faster than the number of passenger vehicles.

While utes are necessary to a range of occupations, their proliferation, particularly of larger heavier models, damages the environment, damages roads, and incurs a range of other costs on society. A key example of this incentivisation is an exemption from Luxury Car Tax (LCT), which applies to essentially all utes.

Large vehicles impose considerable costs on society, from their higher carbon emissions and rates of road damage to serious safety concerns. The Australian Government should ensure that these costs are accounted for by properly taxing and regulating these vehicles, starting with removing the LCT exemption for utes. These policies would curb the growth in expensive and damaging vehicles in Australia and limit the use of utes to legitimate commercial purposes rather than personal luxuries.

The post Luxury Car Tax and the Ute Loophole appeared first on The Australia Institute.

The Wrap with Ebony Bennett

Watching the bin fire that is the American presidential race, Australian democracy is looking pretty good.

There are without doubt some key things to be grateful for.

Our system of compulsory preferential voting, for example, which ensures no vote is wasted – unlike in the United States and the United Kingdom.

The Australia Electoral Commission, which ensures our elections are transparent and fair; free of the blatant gerrymandering we see in the States.

Even the secret ballot, an essential component of democracy worldwide, is an Australian invention.

But we cannot take our democracy for granted.

We need truth in political advertising laws that make it illegal to lie in political ads so public trust in our system doesn’t erode irreparably.

We need political finance reform exposes the undue influence of fossil fuel companies and others – and that doesn’t rig the system against independents and minor parties.

We also need to have a serious conversation about inequality, which undermines faith in democracy.

The government is currently legislating to reduce the tax concessions available on superannuation balances of more than $3m. While this measure would affect only around 80,000 people out of the 17m holders of superannuation conservatives and lobbyists of the wealthiest are arguing this will hurt those who have saved for their own retirement.

In reality, the use of superannuation tax concessions has been completely abused. The purpose of superannuation is to reduce the burden on the pension system, but now we see in articles such as in the Financial Review today, people arguing that they are using superannuation to build up their inheritance for their children and grandchildren and that these measures to reduce tax concessions on super balances of over $3m are “stealing my children’s inheritance”.

Superannuation tax concessions for the wealthiest only serve to entrench inequality in our society, but worse, because the concessions allow the wealthy to reduce the tax they pay on their income before retirement, it means Australian taxpayers are in effect funding the retirement of the very wealthiest in the country.

The cost of these taxation concessions puts lie to the line that they are “self-funded” retirees.

On this episode of Dollars & Sense, Greg Jericho discusses the latest International Monetary Fund Update on the global economy, the possible impact of American tariff hikes on global efforts to tackle inflation, and the real story behind Australia’s seemingly rosy unemployment data.

Greg Jericho is Chief Economist at the Australia Institute and the Centre for Future Work and popular columnist of Grogonomics with Guardian Australia. Each week on Dollars & Sense, Greg dives into the latest economic figures to explain what they can tell us about what’s happening in the economy, how it will impact you and where things are headed.

Host: Greg Jericho, Chief Economist, the Australia Institute // @GrogsGamut

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

Theme music: Blue Dot Sessions

It’s said that ‘disunity is death’ in Australian politics, but – as several major party politicians found out in the 2022 election – falling in behind an unpopular policy agenda can be pretty dangerous for your career as well. On this episode of Follow the Money, Australia Institute Executive Director Richard Denniss joins Ebony Bennett to discuss the big changes taking place in Australian politics and how they might influence the next election.

This discussion was recorded on Tuesday 16 July 2024 and things may have changed since recording.

Guest: Richard Denniss, Executive Director, the Australia Institute // @RDNS_TAI

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

Show notes:

Power sharing in Australian parliament by Bill Browne and Richard Denniss (July 2024)

Theme music: Pulse and Thrum; additional music by Blue Dot Sessions

You can see Professor Joseph E Stiglitz speak live in several cities across Australia as part of the Australia Institute’s 30th anniversary celebrations. Tickets are available via our website.

The United Nations Secretary-General, António Guterres, has called for a global fossil fuel advertising ban. This is a policy idea that has been previously proposed by advocates in Australia, and that was quickly backed by the Greens and nine Independent MPs after the UNSG’s endorsement.

Fossil Ad Ban has been leading the charge in Australia to “stop fossil fuel companies and high greenhouse gas polluters using marketing and sponsorships to delay the inevitable and urgently required social transition to clean energy.”

On this episode of After America, Dr Emma Shortis speaks to Professor the Hon Bob Carr about the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump and what it could mean for the campaign, the emergence of JD Vance as Trump’s running mate, and the trajectory of American foreign policy.

This discussion was recorded on Tuesday 16 July 2024 and things may have changed since recording.

Guest: Professor the Hon Bob Carr, former Australian Foreign Minister and former Premier of New South Wales // @bobjcarr

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

Theme music: Blue Dot Sessions

You can see Professor Joseph E Stiglitz speak live in several cities across Australia as part of the Australia Institute’s 30th anniversary celebrations. Tickets are available via our website.

The Australian Government claims that green hydrogen is part of its vision for becoming a renewable energy ‘superpower’, but budget documents show this is not the case. Current industrial hydrogen use in Australia is 500,000 tonnes per year. The Commonwealth Government is budgeting for green hydrogen production of around 500,000 tonnes per year into the 2040s. Given the first users of green hydrogen will be existing industrial users of fossil hydrogen, this leaves no hydrogen for export from Australia.

This briefing note formed part of The Australia Institute’s submission to consultation on the Commonwealth Government’s Hydrogen Production Tax Incentive.

The post Hope and hydrogen – Australia’s hydrogen export charade appeared first on The Australia Institute.

How did Australia get itself into such a mess with housing? What impact is the crisis having on renters? And why does everyone seem to think investing in the property market is a good idea except the government? On this episode of Dollars & Sense, Australia Institute Senior Economist Matt Grudnoff talks about what caused Australia’s housing crisis and what government can do to fix it.

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

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

Theme music: Blue Dot Sessions

We’d love to hear your feedback on this series, so send in your questions, comments or suggestions for future episodes to podcasts@australiainstitute.org.au.

Former senator and transparency advocate Rex Patrick has lost his appeal to the Full Federal Court challenging the Australian Information Commissioner’s multi-year delays in handling FOI reviews.  Some of Patrick’s outstanding FOI reviews have been awaiting decision for almost four years.

In a longstanding legal battle, Patrick sought to draw a line in the sand on lengthy FOI delays plaguing the dysfunctional regime and inhibiting timely public access to government information. He argued that the FOI Act requires information to be made accessible in a prompt or timely manner, and that the delays he experienced in his FOI reviews were objectively unreasonable.

Late yesterday, the Court recognised that the delay in processing Patrick’s FOI application was “very lengthy” and “unfortunate”. But it ultimately determined that resourcing is relevant in whether a delay is unreasonable. This effectively gives governments a license to underfund the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) and frustrate the FOI system without consequences.

The Court also noted that there was no ‘one size fits all’ time limit for Information Commissioner review decisions. This leaves little recourse for people waiting multiple years for FOI reviews to be finalised, often rendering information sought irrelevant and limiting scrutiny of government decision-making.

After escaping mainland China in the bottom of a fishing boat at the age of 12, Jimmy Lai went on to become one of the most influential people in Hong Kong. But now the founder of Hong Kong’s largest pro-democracy newspaper is facing the possibility of life in prison under China’s repressive national security law. On this episode of Follow the Money, Sebastien Lai and Jennifer Robinson, legal counsel to Julian Assange, join Ebony Bennett to discuss the fight to free Mr Lai and the global threats to freedom of the press.

This discussion was recorded on Tuesday 2 July 2024 and things may have changed since recording.

Guest: Sebastien Lai, son of Jimmy Lai // @SupportJimmyLai

Guest: Jennifer Robinson, legal counsel to Jimmy Lai and Julian Assange // @suigenerisjen

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

Theme music: Pulse and Thrum; additional music by Blue Dot Sessions

When those changes were passed with almost no scrutiny or debate, the Australia Institute’s National Integrity Committee of retired judges said that the changes raised a real concern that integrity had been set back considerably in South Australia.

“The South Australian Government cannot carry on with a business-as-usual approach when integrity has been so clearly compromised in the state,” said Bill Browne, Director of the Australia Institute’s Democracy & Accountability Program.

“Commissioner Vanstone has been unequivocal in her defence of the role of the anti-corruption commission in South Australia.

“That these complex reforms were rushed through the Parliament with almost no scrutiny or debate raised serious concerns for transparency in South Australia. Now, with the resignation of the Commissioner, South Australia has an opportunity to revisit these drastic changes and investigate the troubling impacts with the scrutiny they deserve.”

The post SA ICAC: Commissioner Resignation Must Trigger Rethink on Integrity Backslide appeared first on The Australia Institute.

Seen in this context, the growth in minor party and independent representation is just the latest example of power sharing.

The likelihood of shared power in the Commonwealth parliament has increased as the major party vote has declined significantly since the end of World War 2, and the 2022 election marked the lowest combined vote for the two largest parties since the Great Depression. It also yielded the largest House of Representatives crossbench ever.

Despite occasional fearmongering about ‘hung’ parliaments, minority government and “coalitions of chaos”, the reality is that power sharing governments are common in Australia. Governments often need to secure the support of other parliamentarians, whether through the formal, albeit secret, coalition agreements between the Liberal and National parties or various arrangements with independents and minor party MPs.

Independents and minor parties upend the old certainties of political life. Predictive tools like the Mackerras pendulum do not capture contests outside of the two major parties, and
what is a “safe” or “marginal” seat seems to be inverted for independents and crossbenchers.

This necessitates a more mature and nuanced analysis of both electoral outcomes and the contribution of crossbenchers and their roles, just as the electoral success of the Labor Party
in the 1890s and 1900s forced the political class to reckon with the political labour movement. Power sharing has always been a feature of parliamentary democracy, but the details are always changing.

On this episode of After America, Dr Emma Shortis speaks to Allan Behm, Director of the Australia Institute’s International & Security Affairs program, about the US Supreme Court and his new book, The Odd Couple: the Australia-America relationship.

This discussion was recorded on Friday 5 July 2024 and things may have changed since recording.

Guest: Allan Behm, Director, International & Security Affairs program, the Australia Institute // @Mirandaprorsus

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

Show notes:

The Odd Couple: the Australia-America relationship by Allan Behm (2024)

No Enemies No Friends: Restoring Australia’s Global Relevance by Allan Behm (2022)

No, Minister: So You Want To Be A Chief Of Staff? by Allan Behm (2015)

Theme music: Blue Dot Sessions

Too often other Australian governments kowtow to the gas and coal industry. But, heading into a tough state election, Queensland Premier Steven Miles is bucking the trend.

The Queensland Government’s decision to boost coal royalties and stand up to the inevitable industry scare campaign has already paid off big time for Queenslanders.

In 2022, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine sent commodity prices soaring and the Queensland Labor government changed its royalty scheme so a greater portion of the windfall was paid to the community. The Australia Institute estimates that the revised policy raised $4.3 billion in revenue in 2022-23.

This money, that would otherwise have gone to multinational shareholders, is mainly being spent on better public services. All Queenslanders will receive a $1,000 rebate on their power bills (on top of the $300 rebate the Commonwealth is giving) and, for the next six months, everyone in South East Queensland will enjoy a reduction of public transport fares to just 50 cents.

It has also pledged to pour $1 billion over five years into a health strategy for women and girls aimed at achieving gender equality. This will include Australia’s first publicly funded endometriosis and pelvic pain clinic, expanded access to IVF, and free period products in all state schools.

Treasurer Jim Chalmers said “any growth is welcome” at his recent press conference on Australia’s March quarter economic performance.

But the Treasurer was surely hoping to welcome a little more than the 0.1 per cent gross domestic product (GDP) growth we got.

“It’s really hard to sugar coat this,” said Australia Institute Chief Economist Greg Jericho.

“It’s a rounding error away from nothing.”

The story gets worse when you exclude population growth, with GDP per capita falling 0.4 per cent in the March quarter.

“That was the fifth quarter in a row that our economy has contracted on a per capita basis,” Jericho said.

“The last time that happened? Ah, it’s never happened before…”

Treasurer Chalmers described the weak growth as “the inevitable consequence of these rate rises which are in the system.”

Apparently the RBA thinks there is too much demand in the economy. Have they seen the latest GDP figures????

My column. https://t.co/qKdhTKzKXr

— Greg Jericho (@GrogsGamut) June 5, 2024

The Wrap with Ebony Bennett

Australia is a big country.

We’re the 12th largest economy in the world. We’re the third largest exporter of fossil fuels. We’re a country that’s also a continent.

But too often, we act small.

Some might argue that there’s not a great deal Australia can do about issues beyond our borders. But Australia matters.

Here at the Australia Institute, we have a 30-year track record of bringing big ideas and big thinkers into Australia’s public policy debate to help Australia think big.

That’s why we’re delighted to be hosting Nobel Prize-winning economist Professor Joseph Stiglitz for his ‘Economics and the Good Society’ national speaking tour, as part of our 30th anniversary celebrations.

It’s also why I was so proud this week to launch The Odd Couple: the Australia-America relationship, a new book by our International & Security Affairs Director, Allan Behm.

America needs a friend, not a flunkey, and Australia may become its best ally.

Join International & Security Affairs Director Allan Behm on a tour for his book ‘The Odd Couple: The Australia-America Relationship’

Coming to cities across Australia!#auspol @Mirandaprorsus pic.twitter.com/Q9i9GTLkKy

Would the divestiture powers proposed by the Federal Opposition and supported by the Greens help keep inflation down? And what impact will the new and improved stage three tax cuts have in the economy? On this episode of Dollars & Sense, Australia Institute Senior Economist Matt Grudnoff talks about supermarket divestiture and the changes brought in with the new financial year.

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

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

Theme music: Blue Dot Sessions

We’d love to hear your feedback on this series, so send in your questions, comments or suggestions for future episodes to podcasts@australiainstitute.org.au.

The post Supermarxist? Dutton and the duopoly appeared first on The Australia Institute.

Unsurprisingly, the RBA’s call to keep rates unchanged was met by some in the media and conservative commentariat as a failure to be tough. Some would prefer the RBA to be less concerned about the risk of a recession or rising unemployment than getting inflation from 3.6% to below 3%.

Such views are much easier to make when your own job is safe and your income is very comfortable.

It is worth remembering that in the past two years the share of household income spent on mortgage repayments has risen by the amount it did in five years during the mining boom, and by more than occurred in the run-up to the 1990s recession:

Oil and gas extraction in South Australia employs just 833 people, 0.1% of SA jobs. Petroleum royalties make up 0.4% of the state budget. On oil and gas production worth $1.7 billion in 2021-22, the industry paid at most $99 million in federal tax, of which Santos paid zero.

Despite this, the industry has significant influence in the state.

The post The oil and gas industry in South Australia appeared first on The Australia Institute.

Will the government’s political finance reforms keep vested interests out of politics or ensure the major parties dominate Australia’s political landscape? Could South Australia’s proposed political donations ban become a model for the rest of the country? And what home-grown innovations have insulated Australia from some of the democratic backsliding seen in the United States? On this episode of Follow the Money, the Australia Institute’s Democracy & Accountability Director Bill Browne joins Ebony Bennett to discuss political finance reform.

This discussion was recorded on Tuesday 2 July 2024 and things may have changed since recording.

Guest: Bill Browne, Director, Democracy & Accountability program, the Australia Institute // @Browne90

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

Show notes:

Principles for fair political finance reform by Bill Browne, The Australia Institute (August 2023)

The Coalition’s proposed divestiture powers to break up major hardware and grocery retailers could help keep inflation down and assist with cost-of-living pressures.

“The introduction of divestiture laws is a sensible tool to stop large companies like Woolworths and Coles misusing their market power. It would be good for prices at the checkout and help keep inflation down,” said Matt Grudnoff, Senior Economist at the Australia Institute.

“Research from the Australia Institute’s Centre for Future Work, released at the beginning of 2023, showed that corporate profits, not wages, were the major driver of the burst of inflation in Australia that followed the Covid lockdowns.

“The Australian economy has become less competitive over the last few decades and these laws would go some way to addressing that structural imbalance.

“Our current competition laws have few ways of making an already uncompetitive industry more competitive.

“Divestiture powers will enable the government to break up large businesses abusing their market power and force them to compete, leading to lower prices and better service for consumers.

“In other economies, including the UK and the US, broad ranging divestiture powers are already in place. If adopted in Australia, these new powers would just bring us into line with other OECD countries.”

What does the release of Julian Assange reveal about the Australia-US relationship? And is Trump’s authoritarian behaviour really an outlier in American political history?

On the first episode of After America, Dr Emma Shortis reflects on the first presidential debate performance and the release of Julian Assange, before former BBC United States correspondent Nick Bryant joins the show to discuss the country’s long history of authoritarianism.

This discussion was recorded on Tuesday 25 June and Monday 1 July 2024 and things may have changed since recording.

australiainstitute.org.au // @theausinstitute

Guest: Nick Bryant, former BBC correspondent and author of The Forever War: America’s Unending Conflict with Itself // @NickBryantNY

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

Show notes:

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

The changes coming into effect from today – under the federal government’s Closing Loopholes Act – guarantee the rights of volunteer union delegates to represent workers and paid training leave.

The Centre for Future Work’s Carmichael Centre analysis found employees wanted their union to cooperate with employers and vice versa, and that giving workplace delegates a greater voice made this more likely.

“Those who claim that guaranteeing the rights of union delegates must lead to greater conflict are dead wrong,” said Professor David Peetz, research fellow and author of Employee voice and new rights for workplace union delegates.

“Workers expect their union and employer to cooperate effectively to solve problems, and reach agreements over pay and conditions, in both parties’ mutual interests.

“Well trained delegates are best-placed to represent workers. They don’t acquiesce but they do cooperate. After all, they know it’s in workers’ interests for workplace productivity to rise.”

The paper found this could help boost productivity, which on average was at least as high in unionised as in non-union workplaces. Strong representation and consultation made workers less resistant to productivity-boosting technology including artificial intelligence.

In the past, many volunteer union delegates have been obstructed from properly doing their job to allow employees’ voices to be heard in the workplace. Now, their rights will be guaranteed.

Some employers have actively placed barriers in the way of volunteer union delegates and paid officials. One study in the early 2000s found that 23% of delegates found management
hostile, while 22% of delegates reported that management opposition to their role as a delegate had become more intense over the previous two years. Examples from various case studies, including court and industrial cases, illustrate some of the ways in which that minority of employers from workplaces with delegates expressed their hostility towards unionism and their opposition to delegates, including by placing barriers in the way of workplace union activists and delegates.

The new regime of workplace delegates’ rights is very likely, overall, to increase the voice of employees, and thereby have positive consequences, over the long run, for pay and conditions, union membership, workplace cooperation, grievance resolution and productivity. However, the effects of new rights for paid union training leave depend very much on union responses, in particular on their subsequent reliance on classroom versus informal training and the ‘follow up’ of classroom education.

The post Employee voice and new rights for workplace union delegates appeared first on The Australia Institute.

The latest inflation figures that saw annual inflation rise from 3.6% to 4.0% in May have caused some economists and commentators to argue the Reserve Bank needs to raise interest rates.  However new data from the Department of Employment and Workplace Relations on enterprise agreements shows yet again that wage growth and increased income are not fueling inflation and thus an interest rate rise would do more harm than good.

In the first three months of this year, 1,022 enterprise agreements were approved by the Fair Work Commissions covering some 365,000 employees. Across all these employees the average annual wage growth of the agreements was 3.9%, down from 4.4% in the last three months of 2023.

Among private sector workers, the average agreed annual wage rise fell from 3.9% to 3.6% – a rate in line with the 3.6% annual inflation in the first three months of 2024.

The figures demonstrate yet again that wage growth has not driven inflation. Indeed a rate of 3.6% would see workers’ real wage fall after taxation and interaction with entitlements.

Poverty has long-lasting and insidious impacts on a child’s health and well-being and can affect their schooling and employment opportunities throughout their entire lifetime. Given that the low rate of income support payments keeps many families in poverty, reducing child poverty is not inherently complicated. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the Australian Government managed to lift 650,000 Australians, including children, out of poverty overnight by supplementing existing income support payments.

The Australia Institute recently conducted polling to determine community attitudes towards child poverty in Australia. This polling found that respondents were overwhelmingly supportive of government measures to reduce child poverty, including:

With emissions reduction efforts stalled and energy bills spiking, why is Australia’s political class talking about nuclear plants that wouldn’t be ready for decades? On this episode of Dollars & Sense, Greg Jericho addresses the Coalition’s nuclear ‘nothingburger’ and what’s happening in Australia’s decarbonisation process.

Greg Jericho is Chief Economist at the Australia Institute and the Centre for Future Work and popular columnist of Grogonomics with Guardian Australia. Each week on Dollars & Sense, Greg dives into the latest economic figures to explain what they can tell us about what’s happening in the economy, how it will impact you and where things are headed.

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

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

Theme music: Blue Dot Sessions

The Federal Government has no official definition or measure for tracking and reporting on national poverty levels.

Key findings:

• Four in five Australians (83%) want the Federal Government to regularly measure and report on poverty rates in Australia.
• An overwhelming majority of Australians (81%) agree that income support payments should be set at a rate that does not cause any child to live in poverty.
• Australians are highly concerned that Australia has a high child poverty rate compared to other developed countries (69%), and about the effects of this on health and lifespan (83%) as well as education and employment (85%).
• One in six Australian children (about 761,000 children) live in poverty according to research from ACOSS and UNSW.
• The OECD finds that Australia’s youth poverty rate is the 13th-highest among member nations, surpassing the UK, Germany and Canada.

“There is no excuse for a country as rich as Australia to have one in six children growing up in poverty,” said Greg Jericho, Chief Economist at the Australia Institute.

“Adopting an official definition of poverty in line with the OECD or European Union – either half or 60 per cent of median income – would provide important information to inform government policy and would allow public oversight to keep elected representatives accountable.

Who will benefit most from the Coalition’s new nuclear energy plan? And why does the media fall into the trap of covering it like genuine policy? On this episode of Follow the Money, the Australia Institute’s Dr Matt Ryan and Rod Campbell discuss the Coalition’s nuclear announcement and the cost of Australia’s failure to decarbonise.

This discussion was recorded on Tuesday 25 June 2024 and things may have changed since recording.

Guest: Matt Ryan, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, the Australia Institute // @mattdjryan

Guest: Roderick Campbell, Research Director, the Australia Institute // @R_o_d_C

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

Theme music: Pulse and Thrum; additional music by Blue Dot Sessions

The Australia Institute surveyed a nationally representative sample of 1,005 Australians about the prosecution of Julian Assange.

Respondents were asked if they think the Federal Government is doing too much or too little to secure the release of Australian citizen Julian Assange.

• One in three Australians (34%) think that the Federal Government is doing too little to secure the release of Julian Assange, the single most popular choice.
• Australians are more likely to answer “Don’t know / Not sure” (31%) than that the Federal Government is doing the right amount (24%) or too much (11%).
• Three times as many Australians think the Federal Government is doing too little to secure the release of Assange as think it is doing too much (34% vs 11%).
• Labor voters are as likely as Australians overall to think that the Federal Government is doing too little to secure the release of Assange (33% vs 34%).
• The single most popular response among Labor, Coalition, Greens and One Nation voters is that the Federal Government is doing too little.

The post Polling – Prosecution of Assange appeared first on The Australia Institute.

“To have that message then sitting alongside the pursuit of an Australian publisher for the publication of information that embarrassed the United States, really became irreconcilable and I think exposed some of the hypocrisy of that relationship and of the United States in particular.”

– International & Security Affairs Senior Researcher Dr Emma Shortis

The post What Assange means for the AUS/US relationship – Dr Emma Shortis on ABC News | Video appeared first on The Australia Institute.

The Australia Institute conducted a national poll of 1,005 people, between 21 May to 23 May 2024, about the United States’ prosecution of Australian publisher and founder of Wikileaks Julian Assange, currently imprisoned and facing extradition to the United States.

Key Findings

Climate & Energy Director Polly Hemming and Research Director Rod Campbell are here to unpack the spin, and give you the facts.

The post The Minerals Council REALLY wants you to feel good about coal: Spin Bin | Video appeared first on The Australia Institute.

The Wrap with Ebony Bennett

This week, Peter Dutton finally released the Coalition’s nuclear power strategy.

Well, sort of…

The Opposition Leader’s uncosted ‘plan’ offers very little detail, while committing Australia to the most expensive form of new energy to build and eschewing cheap and abundant renewables.

“This is the most expensive form of new energy to build, that’ll push up electricity prices. In the meantime we going to see much more polluting fossil fuels staying in the national electricity market for longer.”@ebony_bennett joins @abcnews Breakfast. #nuclear #auspol pic.twitter.com/GfEgzxNGgD

— Australia Institute (@TheAusInstitute) June 19, 2024

When they were last in office, the Coalition had trouble building all the car parks that they promised, so the idea that seven nuclear plants are going to be built from scratch – in a country with next-to-no existing nuclear workforce – is very hard to believe.

Workers’ compensation and rehabilitation are amongst the most important legal issues facing the ‘gig’ economy. This reflects the potential vulnerability of these workers and their families, co-workers, and community to harsh and long term consequences from injuries. For a while, it looked like federal industrial policy might ‘solve’ the workers compensation problem by redefining ‘gig’/platform workers as employees.

However, the policy decision to enshrine minimum rights for a separate ‘employee-like’ category of workers leaves gig workers outside the scope of workers compensation protections.

In this discussion we will hear from those researching and advising on the reforms necessary to better protect injured gig workers, a worker who has been seriously injured, and those who are organising and advocating for policy and law reform.

Free Event – Register Now

Speakers:

• Michael Kaine – National Secretary Transport Workers’ Union
• Professor Emeritus David Peetz – Carmichael Centre’s Laurie Carmichael Distinguished Research Fellow.

When:
Thursday, July 18, 2024 at 12:30 pm AEST

Where:
Zoom

What is driving the current uncertainty about the country’s economic trajectory? Why did the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) decide to keep interest rates on hold? And what does the latest data reveal about workplace gender inequality? On this episode of Dollars & Sense, Greg Jericho reflects on the latest interest rate announcement and the barriers to closing the gender pay gap.

Greg Jericho is Chief Economist at the Australia Institute and the Centre for Future Work and popular columnist of Grogonomics with Guardian Australia. Each week on Dollars & Sense, Greg dives into the latest economic figures to explain what they can tell us about what’s happening in the economy, how it will impact you and where things are headed.

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

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

Theme music: Blue Dot Sessions

Rising demand as the world emerged from COVID-19 lockdowns, coupled with Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, has led to massive windfall profits for the gas industry. But according to new Australia Institute research, the gas companies aren’t paying royalties on most of the gas they export.

So what exactly is happening to Australia’s gas? How do we compare with other major fossil fuel exporters when it comes to collecting royalties? And what would it take to ensure Australians get a better deal for our gas? On this episode of Follow the Money, the Australia Institute’s Mark Ogge joins Ebony Bennett to discuss Australia’s great gas giveaway.

You can sign our petition calling on the government to collect royalties on Australia’s gas exports on our website.

This discussion was recorded on Tuesday 18 June 2024 and things may have changed since recording.

Guest: Mark Ogge, Principal Advisor, the Australia Institute // @MarkOgge

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

Theme music: Pulse and Thrum; additional music by Blue Dot Sessions

The results show that most Australians are not prepared to pay anything extra to have nuclear power in the mix.

Key Findings

• Two in three Australians (65%) are not prepared to pay anything extra to have nuclear power in the mix.
• Only one in 20 Australians (4%) are prepared to pay more than $500 per year to have nuclear power in the mix.
• One in five Australians (19%) are prepared to pay up to $250 (13%) or up to $500 per year (6%) to have nuclear power in the mix.
• Across the four large states, between 61% and 69% of residents are not prepared to pay anything extra to have nuclear power in the mix.
• Most Australians are not prepared to pay anything extra to have nuclear power in the mix, regardless of voting intention.

The post Polling – Willingness to pay for nuclear appeared first on The Australia Institute.

The research finds only one in 20 voters (4%) are prepared to pay more than $500 extra per year for nuclear power, highlighting a lack of support for the technology.

Key Findings

• A majority of Australians (65%) are not prepared to pay anything extra to have nuclear power in the mix, regardless of voting intention.
• A majority of residents in NSW (61%), QLD (64%), VIC (68%) and WA (69%) are not prepared to pay anything extra for nuclear power, although each is set to host a nuclear reactor under the Coalition’s plan.
• Only one in five Australians (19%) are prepared to pay up to $250 (13%) or up to $500 per year (6%) to have nuclear power in the mix.

“Our research shows that most Australians have absolutely no appetite when it comes to paying more money to put nuclear power into the energy mix,” said Dr Richard Denniss, Executive Director of the Australia Institute.

“CSIRO research shows that electricity from nuclear power is significantly more expensive than from renewables. The Coalition’s plan is completely uncosted, meaning we have no idea how much this will cost taxpayers when it comes to construction or to their power bills.

“The numbers are clear: Residents across the country, regardless of who they vote for, don’t support a nuclear future that requires them pay more for electricity than they already do.”

The Seamless Scheme

On June 18, 2024, the Federal Government announced that Seamless, a clothing product stewardship scheme to make Australian clothing circular by 2030, will be operational on July 1, 2024. The scheme is tasked with addressing the critical problems facing the clothing industry, with over 200,000 tonnes of waste ending up in Australian landfill annually. 62 brands will be signed up as members of the scheme by the time it officially launches. It’s commendable that the Government has taken the initiative to back a scheme addressing Australia’s enormous textiles waste problem.

From July 1, members of Seamless will contribute $0.04 for each new garment placed on the Australian market. $0.04 is not nearly enough of what is needed for the reuse, collection, sorting, decommissioning, recycling, transportation, labour and other costs involved in creating a circular clothing industry in Australia by 2030.

Instead, a contribution of $0.50 for each new garment (a more than 12-fold increase on the current proposal) is a more realistic figure that could support the above-mentioned circular operations. And indeed, there is speculation that the $0.04 levy of Seamless will be raised to a higher fee in the future. In its first 12 months, however, it is likely the initial goals Seamless may instead focus on developing better circular design practices.

The groups say the 2024 State of the Environment Report must be made public before the Government settles its Budget in September and before parliament debates changes that could see the logging of 39,000 additional hectares of native forest, and the over-development of some of the state’s most beautiful coastal beauty spots.

On Wednesday, Tasmanian Planning Minister Felix Ellis allowed a further delay for the Tasmanian Planning Commission to deliver the report, pushing the due date out to August 31.

Consequently, the groups are now concerned the Minister may not table the SOE Report before the parliament rises for the year on November 15, which would mean the report may not be made public until the first sitting week of 2025, which isn’t until next March.

“This delay is yet another example of environmental neglect by the state government, which is threatening the Tasmanian way of life,” said Eloise Carr, the Australia Institute’s Tasmanian Director.

“Chronic underfunding has delayed the report for a decade, and it continues to be delayed for this reason. The funding the Tasmanian Planning Commission received for this report was about one-third of the money it cost to produce the report in 2009.

“The government now needs to commit appropriate funding to implement the report’s recommended actions in this year’s Budget and the Minister should also commit to releasing the report as soon as it is received.