In Our Place, Matt cuts through the noise, showing exactly how our housing system broke. Drawing on the latest research, he reveals that although social housing tenants, renters and first-home buyers are worst affected, the whole of society suffers in a housing crisis. From the rise of far-right politics to intergenerational inequality, the housing crisis is reshaping the nation.
To solve the crisis, he argues, we need to think bigger – much bigger. Our Place shows how a bold national housing plan could:
- End homelessness by 2045
- Provide the next generation with appropriate rental standards and an affordable path to home ownership
- Create thriving urban centres away from the capital cities
- Place housing at the heart of an ambitious plan for a fairer and more prosperous Australia.
The tools are within reach. What’s missing are leaders willing to rethink the economic and political assumptions that got us here.
Statement by the Monetary Policy Board: Monetary Policy Decision
— Organisation: Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) —The Historic Value of the Seigenthaler Bridge
— —What’s Really Fueling Anti-Data Center Sentiment
— Organisation: The Claremont Institute —Increasing numbers of Americans are deeply opposed to building more data centers.
Over the summer, Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro imposed the strictest data center rules in the country, Kathy Hochul ordered a statewide moratorium on hyperscale construction, and Greg Abbott paused new approvals in Texas pending a grid audit. At the local level, dozens of county and municipal fights have followed no reliable partisan pattern. Polling from Heatmap and Embold, collected by the anon Cremieux, shows data center popularity plummeting over the last year.
Though Cremieux argues the opposition is fundamentally driven by NIMBYism, I’m unconvinced. The polling seems to follow the pattern you’d expect if NIMBYism were the primary driver, but posing the problem as a generic national issue produces substantially less opposition. Something else is going on that NIMBYism can’t fully explain.
Placid Trump-Xi summit bucks Washington ‘consensus’ of ever-rising tensions
— Organisation: The Australia Institute —On this episode of After America, Professor James Laurenceson joins Dr Emma Shortis to discuss the latest US-China leaders’ meeting, why the Biden administration’s hawkish approach to China may not be coming back, and what it all means for Australia.
This episode was recorded on Monday 28 September.
Guest: James Laurenceson, Professor and Director, Australia-China Relations Institute, University of Technology Sydney // @j-laurenceson
Host: Emma Shortis, Director, International & Security Affairs, the Australia Institute // @emmashortis
Show notes:
Trump on throwing a state dinner for Xi Jinping, Mother Jones on Bsky (September 2026)
As fears of China wane, Americans favor greater engagement with Beijing, Chicago Council on Global Affairs (September 2026)
Trump dismisses China spying concerns after reports they provided Iran with Jordan airbase images, The Hill on YouTube (September 2026)
What’s the point of inflation?
— Organisation: The Australia Institute —On this episode of What’s the Point?, Richard Denniss explains what’s really driving inflation in Australia and why interest rates aren’t actually the only way to control it.
This episode was recorded on Friday 11 September.
More Fool Me: How the gas industry tricked Australia by Richard Denniss, the latest Vantage Point essay from Australia Institute Press, is available now.
Use the code ‘FOOLME’ on a four-edition Vantage Point subscription to receive a free copy of Richard’s book, Econobabble.
Read more on The Point.
Host: Richard Denniss, co-Chief Executive Officer, the Australia Institute // @richarddenniss
Host: Anna Chang, Managing Editor, The Point // @annachang
Show notes:
Hon Dr Jim Chalmers MP | Bernie Fraser Oration 2026, the Australia Institute
Donald Trump and the Age of Evil
— —
Bosnia and Herzegovina: What Is the American People’s Interest?
— Organisation: The Claremont Institute —President Trump’s America First foreign policy asks a simple question of every foreign engagement: What does it do for the American people? A trifecta of developments in July 2026 highlights a threefold answer to this question in regard to Bosnia and Herzegovina, the central European country formed by the 1995 Dayton Peace Agreement, which ended the Balkan War and created two legal entities: Republika Srpska, consisting mostly of Serbian Orthodox Christians; and the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, consisting mostly of Muslims (called Bosniaks), with a significant minority of ethnically Croat Roman Catholic Christians.
First, on July 1, 2026, as we were celebrating 250 years of independence from a tyrant named King George III, a non-elected German “High Representative” in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Christian Schmidt, who, like George III, has been enacting what our July 4, 1776, Declaration called “Acts of pretended Legislation,” resigned.
Second, our 250th commemoration of the beginning of our Revolutionary War reminds us that wars happen, and our security can never be taken for granted.
The Iran War and the Looming Economic Collapse (w/ John Mearsheimer) | TCHR
— —This interview is also available on podcast platforms and Rumble.
For all of President Trump’s recent threats to “annihilate Iran,” the reality is that the United States is running out of both options and time to resolve this US- Israeli-initiated war. The US has made overtures toward renewing a hot war, but it has not gone further than that as the economy, both domestically and globally, deteriorates and other countries reconsider their relationships to the US and to each other. The midterm elections this Fall, with Republicans not poised to do well, are further impacting decisions being made by the Trump administration as well.
Challenging norms underpinning gender-based violence: feminist and LGBTQI+ movements working together in Bangladesh
— Publication: Advancing Learning and Innovation on Gender Norms (ALIGN) —What Claremont Is For
— Organisation: The Claremont Institute —Conservative blogger Erick Erickson published an essay last week on Substack, “The Midwestern Führerbunker Driving the Right Off a Cliff,” maligning the Claremont Institute, one of our donors, and a few of our fellows and alumni.
Claremont Institute Senior Fellow Steve Hayward published the first in a promised series (“Is Conservatism In Crisis?”) on his Political Questions Substack, criticizing the tone, rhetorical tactics, and substance of Erickson’s essay. As Hayward shows, Erickson relies on guilt-by-association smears and innuendo that let the juxtaposition do the arguing. Many of his citations come from untrustworthy and hostile sources, like The Guardian, which has published numerous hit pieces against Claremont. Erickson’s essay is a mile-wide, inch-deep bit of motivated reasoning.
On Bill C-39: The Feds’ Controversial New Labour Law
— Publication: Perspectives Journal —This article is republished from the ‘Law of Work’ blog by David Doorey, Professor of Work Law and Industrial Relations at York University.
The federal Liberals introduced Bill C-39 on September 21, 2026, the much-anticipated omnibus law with the catchy title, An Act respecting certain measures to strengthen the economy. It’s a doozy and I’m glad I don’t have to carry around a hard copy. I won’t pretend to have read the entire Bill, which runs some 232 pages and 360 sections spanning three Parts each with multiple divisions.
Next Past & Present Reading Group Text
— Publication: Progress in Political Economy —This is to announce that the Past & Present Reading Group will be meeting to discuss, on a weekly basis and starting in October 2026, our next text which is: Susan Buck-Morss, Hegel, Haiti and Universal History (University of Pittsburgh Press, 2009).
How the Left’s Climate Agenda Caused the West’s Economic Downfall | The American Mind Podcast ft. Rupert Darwall
— Organisation: The Claremont Institute —The American Mind’s 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.
How the Left’s Climate Agenda Caused the West’s Economic Downfall | The American Mind Podcast ft. Rupert Darwall
Immigration Cannot Be a ‘Magic Number’ Question
— Publication: Perspectives Journal —A recent report published by RBC, A Smarter Immigration Strategy for Canada, laid out five critical “questions” for resetting Canada’s immigration policy. The first asks whether there is a “magic number” of how many immigrants to admit in Canada’s “Levels Plan” released annually by the Minister of Immigration. The Levels Plan sets out who to admit based on who has the highest earning capacity, the criteria on which to admit addressing skills gaps, the ways to admit through various temporary categorizations, and finally, how to collect data on all the above.
Will Australia “keep up and succeed”? Lessons from the Intergenerational Report
— Organisation: The Australia Institute —On this episode of Dollars & Sense, Greg and Skye discuss the focus on artificial intelligence in the latest 40-year outlook, the latest data on ‘middle Australia’, and why homeowners have reported higher levels of financial stress.
This discussion was recorded on Wednesday 23 September 2026.
Join an outstanding line-up of policymakers, academics and independent experts at the Australia Institute’s Revenue Summit 2026. Tickets are on sale now for the event at Parliament House in Canberra on Wednesday 14 October.
Host: Greg Jericho, Chief Economist, the Australia Institute // @grogsgamut
Host: Skye Predavec, Researcher, the Australia Institute // @skyelark
Show notes:
Single, couple or family: not all Australian middle-income earners are equal by Greg Jericho, Guardian Australia (August 2026)
Onward. Forward. With your help.
— —
Announcement22nd Annual Conference of the American Monetary Institute (AMI)
— Organisation: Just Money — September 25-27, 2026
“Preparing for the Next Collapse:
Monetary and Financial Reforms Are Crucial”
Register Now More “Announcement
22nd Annual Conference of the American Monetary Institute (AMI)”
Resourcing LGBTQI+ movements in the Global South and East to build inclusive civic space
— Publication: Advancing Learning and Innovation on Gender Norms (ALIGN) —Don Corleone Trump - Read by Eunice Wong
— —This article was read by Eunice Wong. You can find her work at www.eunicewong.actor.
Text originally published August 3, 2026.
How LGBTQI+ movements shape inclusive civic space in Pakistan
— Publication: Advancing Learning and Innovation on Gender Norms (ALIGN) —Trump Attacks Cartels at the Root
— Organisation: The Claremont Institute —Amid the Iran War and midterm U.S. electioneering, most Americans probably missed a potentially game-changing shift in President Donald Trump’s war against Mexico’s drug cartels. The administration has pivoted to a consequential new tactic that, according to some Mexico experts, could cripple the cartels if expanded. Though it has received little U.S. press coverage, this new strategy has the potential to be more effective than anything ever tried.
The shift is epitomized by a recent 34-page Department of Justice indictment that named ten past and present senior government officials of Mexico’s ruling Morena party in Sinaloa State, which is home base for the Sinaloa Cartel. All ten have denied wrongdoing.
The indictment alleged that Governor Rubén Rocha Moya (who briefly stepped down but has returned) and his current and former security service appointees took “veritable fortunes” in bribe money to dramatically aggravate America’s crisis of fentanyl-related deaths.
Gutting the Fourth Estate
— —In September 2016, I wrote about the complicity of US media in Donald Trump’s rise to power. “Trump, who spent his life buying buildings, appears to have bought the Fourth Estate,” I proclaimed.
I detailed the threats, bribes, and blackmail Trump had likely deployed to control the press. I named and shamed hacks who covered up for him instead of covering him. They refused to investigate his ties to organized crime or his decades of financial corruption: serious matters that could bring him down.
I published my op-ed in a Canadian outlet, The Globe and Mail. One could not publish such sentiment here in the home of the free.
Russell Vought: How to Control the Administrative State | The American Mind Podcast
— Organisation: The Claremont Institute —The American Mind’s 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.
Russell Vought: How to Control the Administrative State | The American Mind Podcast
Government’s failure to act doesn’t match its words on the international rule of law
— Organisation: The Australia Institute —In New York for the UN General Assembly, the Prime Minister told international journalists that “we do need to stand up for the international rule of law.”
“Prime Minister Albanese is right to say that international institutions and the international rule of law matter to Australia, ” said Dr Emma Shortis, Director of The Australia Institute’s International & Security Affairs program.
“But the government has failed to act consistently in the defence of both and last week, the government joined with the Coalition to oppose practical action that would match its rhetoric.
“The Red Lines Package of legislation would strengthen Australia’s commitment to our international legal obligations. It would make sure that Australia doesn’t fund, arm, or invest in illegal settlements, war crimes, or genocide — anywhere in the world.
“Right now, Australian domestic law doesn’t do enough to ensure that Australia is not complicit in these crimes.”
The Red Lines legislation would address these gaps, but Dr Shortis says the government has shown no interest in engaging with the package.
“It’s not that the government won’t support the legislation – it’s that it won’t even allow a proper conversation about it in Parliament,” Dr Shortis said.
Assessment of ASX Clearing and Settlement Facilities - September 2026
— Organisation: Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) —The promise of a future: it’s time to phase out fossil fuels
— Organisation: The Australia Institute —On this episode of Follow the Money, Tuvalu Minister for Climate Change and Environment Dr Maina Vakafua Talia and Canadian independent Senator Dr Rosa Galvez join us to discuss the need to phase out fossil fuels.
This episode was recorded live on Wednesday 16 September at the Australia Institute’s Politics in the Pub event in Canberra.
More Fool Me: How the gas industry tricked Australia by Richard Denniss, the latest edition in the Vantage Point series, is available now.
Use the code ‘FOOLME’ on a four-edition Vantage Point subscription to receive a free copy of Richard’s book, Econobabble.
Guest: The Hon Dr Maina Vakafua Talia, Minister for Climate Change and Environment for the Government of Tuvalu
Guest: The Hon Senator Dr Rosa Galvez, Independent Senator for Québec (Bedford), Canada // @senrosagalvez
Host: Louise Morris, Head of Fossil Fuel Transition, the Australia Institute // @louisemorris
President Trump’s $5,000 Fiscal Test
— Organisation: The Claremont Institute —President Trump may have accomplished something fiscal conservatives have been trying unsuccessfully to do for decades: he got Washington talking seriously about the national debt. All it took was promising a $5,000 payment—what he calls a “Trump Dividend”—to every adult American citizen if Republicans retain control of Congress. With roughly 240 million eligible recipients, the back-of-the-envelope cost is about $1.2 trillion.
Suddenly, the political class discovered fiscal responsibility. Critics immediately pointed out that the federal government doesn’t have over a trillion dollars lying around. They warned that the checks would increase the deficit. They reminded us that the national debt has surpassed $40 trillion. They worried about inflation, borrowing costs, and the burden we are leaving to future generations.
Those are legitimate concerns. In fact, they should have been dominating our national political debate for decades.
The federal government has been spending money it does not have at an astonishing rate. Annual deficits that once would have produced political panic are now treated almost as background noise.
Neoliberalism’s Capture in the Carney Era
— Publication: Perspectives Journal —“To build a more resilient Canada,” Broadbent Research Fellow Alex Himelfarb argues in his latest book, Breaking Free of Neoliberalism in Trump Times (Lorimer, 2026) that Canada needs to harness a “surge in patriotism” unleashed by the US Trump Administration’s economic attacks. He is hopeful that,
As with any crisis, Trump’s assault and the tragic dismantling of American democracy we were witnessing amplified our fault lines, but it also rekindled a patriotism very much in the Canadian tradition — not a Canadian version of exceptionalism but something more inclusive, values-based, civic-focused and, perhaps, a revival of a national collective consciousness that had pretty much disappeared after decades of neoliberalism.
Meet Jack Bender, Nashville's 19th-Century Sex Worker of Unknown Gender
— —Speech: A Wage-price Spiral: What are the Chances?
— Organisation: Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) —Becoming the Stranger - Read by Eunice Wong
— —This article was read by Eunice Wong. You can find her work at www.eunicewong.actor.
Text originally published July 20, 2026.
Where are the red lines? Australia, genocide and international law
— Organisation: The Australia Institute —On this episode of After America, lawyer and advocate Rawan Arraf joins Dr Emma Shortis to discuss the Red Lines Package, the decision of the United Kingdom and others to sanction illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, and the future of international law.
This episode was recorded on Friday 18 September.
Join Emma and Allan Behm for the Melbourne launch of Allan’s new book, New Game New Rules: A foreign policy for dystopian times at 6pm on Tuesday 22 September.
Guest: Rawan Arraf, Executive Director & Principal Lawyer, Australian Centre for International Justice // @rawanarraf
Host: Emma Shortis, Director, International & Security Affairs, the Australia Institute // @emmashortis
Show notes:
New Game, New Rules: A foreign policy for dystopian times by Allan Behm, the Australia Institute (August 2026)
The AI Capitalists in Search of Cronies
— Organisation: The Claremont Institute —AI companies want to regulate their open-source competitors out of existence and regulate themselves into riches. We do not usually think of innovative private companies inviting government regulation of their own industry, but that is exactly what is happening in AI.
Concerns about the pace of AI development have existed since the technology entered public awareness in late 2022. Early fears about AI’s economic impact focused largely on job losses for writers and coders and its effects on writing instruction. More recently, as major AI platforms have rolled out agents—AI bots that can be given a task and carry it out over an extended period—the focus has shifted.
What if the bots carry out a cyberattack? What if they are given instructions and the user forgets to tell them to stop? What if they gain access to the nuclear codes? We have not yet reached the point where people are worried about AI turning the universe into paperclips. We are, however, already in a situation where Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei felt the need to publish an essay, “We Must Pace the Frontier,” in which he announced, “We must slow the pace at which we improve the capabilities of AI models.”
Much more than a middle power. How Australia could help shape the global rules.
— Organisation: The Australia Institute —Written by Allan Behm, Advisor to The Australia Institute’s International & Security Affairs program, New Game New Rules says Australia has the potential to be a critical player in bringing peace and prosperity in uncertain times – if it could escape its dependence on the US.
With the subtitle, A Foreign Policy for Dystopian Times, the book argues that Donald Trump’s trashing of the rules based order is an opportunity for Australia to step up and use its power for good.
However, it characterises the foreign policies of recent Australian governments as “reactive and responsive”, lacking confidence and ambition in a strategically contested world.
“Far from being a middle power, Australia is a very substantial power,” said Allan Behm.
“Australia has a great history of peacekeeping and diplomacy. APEC is a beautiful example of what happens when you do exercise your power and create something with it.
“Doc Evatt played a major part in the creation of the UN. Gough Whitlam outlined a vision for embracing Asia which is as relevant today as it was in 1974. Malcolm Fraser stood up to South African apartheid.
“But in recent years Australia’s foreign policy has become unbelievably ordinary. It’s characterised by leaders repeating meaningless phrases like “sovereign ready”, which means absolutely nothing.
What’s the point of progressive politics?
— Organisation: The Australia Institute —The Prime Minister said he wants to promote ‘progressive patriotism’ – but his policies tell a different story. In this episode of What’s the Point?, Richard explains the dangers of centrism and what progressive politics actually looks like.
More Fool Me: How the gas industry tricked Australia by Richard Denniss, the latest Vantage Point essay from Australia Institute Press, is available now.
Use the code ‘FOOLME’ on a four-edition Vantage Point subscription to receive a free copy of Richard’s book, Econobabble.
Dead Centre: How political pragmatism is killing us by Richard Denniss is available now.
Read more on The Point.
Host: Richard Denniss, co-Chief Executive Officer, the Australia Institute // @richarddenniss
Real GDP Forecasts by International Organisations
— Organisation: Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) —From Locality to Totality
— Publication: Progress in Political Economy —At the heart of economic geography debates in Latin America on dependency theory was an immediate tension between those that focused on dependency and an undetermined marginalisation and those that instantly spotlighted that this focus on marginality in dependent societies was being set adrift from any mooring in relation to class contradictions.
Gun numbers in NSW show need for buyback
— Organisation: The Australia Institute —Key points:
- NSW Police firearm statistics show that just 100 individuals own a total of 13,470 guns between them, or 135 guns each on average (NSW Firearms Registry: Table 2.2).
- A single individual in Sydney’s inner north owns 371 guns.
- Of the top 100 gun owners in NSW, 41 of them live in urban postcodes.
- Australia Institute research shows that over 200,000 gun licensees are giving misleading information or failing to update their gun licence conditions.
“These numbers show that Australia has been complacent on gun control for too long,” said Rod Campbell, Research Director at The Australia Institute.
“Police statistics show that there are large private arsenals being held in urban areas, a major risk to public safety.
“There are more guns in Australia now than at any point in the country’s history, including before the Port Arthur massacre.
“Australians expect their gun laws to keep them safe, and the proposed reforms of capping gun ownership and a buyback of excess guns in NSW are good places to start.”