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The Australia Institute finds that an Army Reserves model could offer benefits including medical support, tax incentives, and financial compensation to Australia’s predominantly volunteer bush firefighters, helping bolster the capability and resilience of volunteer firefighting efforts.

The post Bush Firefighter Reserves? appeared first on The Australia Institute.

That assessment is contained in an article contained in a new special issue of the Journal of Australian Political Economy (JAPE), evaluating the government’s record on a range of issues halfway through its term. The special issue of JAPE was published on 18 December, and was edited by Prof Emeritus Frank Stilwell at the University of Sydney.

The article reviewing the government’s labour policies was co-authored by several staff at the Centre for Future Work, including Greg Jericho, Charlie Joyce, Fiona Macdonald, David Peetz, and Jim Stanford. It considers the impacts of several government initiatives, including:

The first is that self-employment is inexorably growing. The second is that self-employment cannot, or should not, be regulated in order to protect self-employed workers and improve the conditions of their work.

This new report from the Carmichael Centre at the Centre for Future Work shows that, in reality, self-employment is not growing inexorably — in fact, in most countries (including Australia) it is declining.

The much-trumpeted surge in self-employment and ‘freelancing’ is a myth. However, the nature of self-employment is changing: fewer self-employed people are running successful independent businesses, and more are engaged in precarious ‘solo’ activities like short-term contracting and part-time ‘gig’ work.

The report also shows that some forms of self-employment can be regulated to protect affected workers, provided two simple and important criteria are satisfied: the workers are vulnerable and hence need protection, and a viable mechanism exists that enables their work to be efficiently regulated.

The report reviews the proposed provisions of the second part of the federal government’s new Closing Loopholes legislation, which would allow for minimum labour standards to be applied to digital platform workers and owner-operators in the transportation sector. The new legislation (to be considered in Parliament in 2024) is an appropriate and effective response to the challenges facing these two groups of ‘gig’ workers.

With the passage of the Restoring Territory Rights Act through the Commonwealth Parliament in December 2022, the ACT at last became able to legislate on this issue. After almost 20 years – during which time every state in Australia has legalised voluntary assisted dying (VAD) – terminally ill Canberrans will soon also be able to exercise their right to choose to end their life with compassion and dignity.

The Australia Institute supported the Restoring Territory Rights Act, and has long advocated for VAD as a human right, and for the right of the ACT and Northern Territory to legislate VAD. With this submission we add our support to the passage of the Voluntary Assisted Dying Bill 2023, and offer some suggestions for how the bill could be improved.

The post Ensuring equitable access to Voluntary Assisted Dying appeared first on The Australia Institute.

The Australia Institute recommends including the following commitments and targets in the final ERRP:

1. Set a transport sector emissions reduction target of a 37% reduction on 2020 levels by 2030.
2. Commence an e-bike library trial in Tasmanian towns.
3. Introduce a grant program to support businesses to switch to cargo e-bikes.
4. Set a target of 67% of new passenger vehicle sales to be EVs by 2030, and 100% by 2035.
5. Commit to introducing stamp-duty and registration waivers to incentivise EV uptake, as well as introducing more equitable and incentivising purchase-price incentives than the current rebate.
6. Include a target of 100% of new bus purchases being electric by 2025, and 100% of the bus fleet being electric by 2030.
7. Increase public transport accessibility to 49% by making public transport services cheaper, more frequent and more reliable in both urban and non-urban areas.
8. Commit to developing Hobart’s northern suburbs railway, between Bridgewater and the CBD.
9. Develop an online reporting platform to track emissions from Tasmania’s transport sector.

The post Submission to Tasmania’s draft Transport Emissions Reduction and Resilience Plan appeared first on The Australia Institute.

• The results show:
  Seven in 10 Australians (71%) do not know the Federal Government funds a
  program in which people providing pastoral care services to students are hired
  on the basis of religion.
• Two in three Australians (66%) agree that pastoral care workers should be
  employed on the basis of qualifications and experience only, and not be
  required to have the endorsement of a religious group (18% disagree).
• Over half of Australians (56%) support their state or territory hiring pastoral
  support workers directly – rather than through a third-party agency – which
  may impose religious belief or faith conditions on employment.
  • More Australians don’t know or are unsure (28%) than disagree with the
    proposal (16%).

The post Polling: School Chaplains appeared first on The Australia Institute.

The submission draws the Reference Group’s attention to Australia Institute research on the important advocacy role played by the not-for-profit sector.

The post Not-for-Profit Sector Development Blueprint appeared first on The Australia Institute.

An end to native forestry would have no economic impact on the state as a whole, and the experiences of Geeveston, Triabunna and Derby provide insights for managing economic change at the local level.

This paper examines these three towns, all of which have seen significant decline in forestry activity and resulting economic change.

While all three are sometimes described as forestry towns that have transitioned to tourism, employment data shows that jobs in these towns were—and remain—more diverse than is often assumed.

While the forestry sector declined, all three towns have seen other primary, secondary or service industries develop, leaving each with a seemingly stable and sustainable base of economic activity for the future.

The post Jobs and Trees appeared first on The Australia Institute.

The results show that:

• Seven in 10 Australians (72%) say their income grew slower than the cost of living over the past year, with 38% saying their income grew much slower.
• Australians earning more than $200,000 were the only group where a majority (53%) said their income either grew as fast as or faster than the cost of living.
• 40% of Australians feel that Labor has a better approach to cost of living and low wages growth, compared to 33% who feel the Coalition have a better approach.
• By age group, only among Australians aged 60 and older do more trust the Coalition (38%) on issues of cost and living and low wages growth (Labor 35%).
• More Australians living in metropolitan areas trust Labor than trust the Coalition (42% vs 31%); the reverse is true in rural areas (33% vs 38%).

The post Polling: Cost of Living appeared first on The Australia Institute.

The estimated value of this waste is $921 million.

Unwanted and unused Christmas gifts and food ultimately end up in landfill, increasing the greenhouse gas emissions that drive the climate crisis. But this research shows nearly half of Australians (48%) would prefer it if people did not buy them Christmas presents. Less than one in two Australians (46%) consider how the gifts they purchase will eventually be disposed of.

These results suggest that it could be time for a change in consumer habits. Buying fewer unwanted Christmas presents would be a positive outcome for the environment and for consumers. Fewer items would be wasted and sent to landfill, and millions of Australians would save money at Christmas time.

The post Christmas Waste 2023 appeared first on The Australia Institute.

The conventional tools for addressing political finance concerns are public funding, donation caps and spending caps. These tools are blunt instruments that have so far failed to rein in vested interests or address cash-for-access, and they risk many perverse outcomes – most notably, introducing unfair barriers to new entrants, independents and minor parties.

As the Australian Parliament seriously considers changes to electoral laws, including those governing political finance, this paper recommends an alternative suite of political finance reforms that would go a long way to making the political playing field more level and addressing cash-for-access at its roots: exposing it when it happens, making governments pay a political cost for facilitating it and banning it outright where doing so is proportionate, constitutional and likely to be effective.

The post Securing transparency and diversity in political finance appeared first on The Australia Institute.

Following the disruptions of the COVID pandemic and historic falls in real wages over recent years, 2023’s stronger labour market conditions should benefit many workers. Wages have risen, labour force participation is relatively high and unemployment is low. With the introduction of the Government’s 2022 industrial relations reforms, workers are in a better position to bargain, as shown in recent bargaining outcomes and improving wages growth. However, wages are not keeping up with prices, inflation is high and, for many workers, conditions of work are far from satisfactory.

As this year’s GHOTD report shows, significant problems of overwork and underemployment co-exist, affecting many workers across all industries, occupations and age groups. Underemployment particularly affects workers in casual, temporary and other forms of insecure work, and it particularly affects workers in lower-paid roles. Women, younger workers, older workers and services workers are over-represented among those affected. At the same time long hours and overwork remain a problem, especially for full-time workers.

The post Short Changed appeared first on The Australia Institute.

World-leaders in research integrity

In 1992, Denmark became the first country in the world to effectively regulate research misconduct when it established the body now known as The Danish Board on Research Misconduct.

A Tasmanian Integrated Marine Estate Act would establish an independent authority responsible for a state-wide Marine Estate Management Strategy and Marine Spatial Planning Framework.

The post It’s Time appeared first on The Australia Institute.

The public broadcasters play a vital role in our democracy and are critical to maintaining strong, public interest journalism in Australia. Greater transparency and oversight are required in order to ensure the decision-making bodies of the public broadcasters – and the body that helps appoint them – are shielded from partisan influence.

Ministers should not be able to bypass the merits-based appointments process for ABC Board members. Consultation should be expanded and formalised. The Nomination Panel itself should either be replaced by or overseen by a cross-party committee, and whichever nomination process is used should only be able to be bypassed by the minister in genuine consultation with the shadow minister.

Greater public participation in the appointments process should be encouraged. This includes better publicising upcoming vacancies and giving consideration to an ‘audience supported board member’.

The post Submission: An independent ABC for a strong democracy appeared first on The Australia Institute.

The results show that:

• Seven in 10 Australians (70%) would prefer the Communications Minister be limited to appointing candidates who have been shortlisted by an independent selection panel.
• Only one in 10 (11%) would prefer that the Communications Minister be able to appoint whomever they like.
• Across all voting intentions, two in three or more prefer that the Communications Minister be limited to appointing candidates who have been shortlisted by an independent selection panel (65–71%).

The post Polling – ABC Board appeared first on The Australia Institute.

The results show that:

• Four in five (80%) Australians are at least somewhat concerned about the impacts on human health from pollution caused by the extraction, processing, and burning of fossil fuels.

• Three in 10 Australians are ‘very’ concerned (31%), one in five are ‘fairly’ concerned (22%), and one in four are ‘somewhat’ concerned (27%).

• 95% of Greens voters, 88% of Labor voters, and 71% of Coalition voters are concerned about the impacts of pollution caused by the extraction, processing, and burning of fossil fuels.

• Eight in ten Australians (82%) aged 18-29 support a requirement for federal and state governments to consider the potential human health impacts of fossil fuel projects when deciding on their approval.

The post Polling: Climate Change and Health appeared first on The Australia Institute.

Over 80% of these jobs are in Hobart and the South East.

Australian Tax Office data shows that the three main salmon companies had income of $7 billion over nine years, but paid just $51 million in company tax. Zero tax was paid in the last three years for which data is available.

The post Small Fish, Big Pond appeared first on The Australia Institute.

Logging in Tasmania’s native forests should cease as soon as possible.

The transition away from logging should not involve the use of carbon credits; the examples in this paper show that market mechanisms are at best a distraction from, and at worst a hinderance to, an effective transition.

The post Ending native forest logging without market mechanisms appeared first on The Australia Institute.

Despite the claims to the contrary by the Northern Territory government, development of the Beetaloo Basin’s gas resources will be of little benefit to Territorians.

Modelling used by the NT government itself shows that the development of the Beetaloo Basin will not diversify the NT economy, aid the transition to net zero emissions, provide cheap gas to the east-coast, nor significantly boost government revenues.

The Beetaloo Basin gas development will further entrench the NT economy’s petrostate-like reliance on the oil and gas industry, crowding out other industries. It will also increase fossil fuel profits and global greenhouse gas emissions.

The post Gas Bagging appeared first on The Australia Institute.

The Northern Territory is facing a wave of gas mega-projects.

While the Northern Territory Government and gas companies talk up the potential economic benefits of gas development for the region, little mention is made of the negative impacts.

Large gas projects have a short, intensive construction period that disrupts existing industries, driving up costs and crowding out jobs in existing businesses.

Beyond the construction phase, gas projects provide a relatively small number of ongoing jobs, and the benefits of these projects flow largely to the owners of the gas companies rather than the wider economy and community.

The post The economic impacts of gas development in the Northern Territory appeared first on The Australia Institute.

The Bill is unlikely to facilitate actions that would result in genuine emissions reductions in NSW, including elimination of fossil fuel subsidies, a moratorium on coal and gas development and decarbonisation of industry and transport.

While the goals of the Bill are laudable, fiscal responsibility is a subjective guiding principle and open to creative interpretation by industry. Improvement could be made by emphasising climate science, effectiveness, efficiency, and equity as guiding principles of the Net Zero Future Bill.

It is also integral that appointments to the Net Zero Commission with links to fossil fuels and carbon offset industries are explicitly ruled out.

The post Submission: NSW Net Zero Future Bill 2023 appeared first on The Australia Institute.

People are most likely to think corruption is common among state and territory governments (69%), followed by local governments (68%) and the federal government (66%).

Key Results
The Australia Institute surveyed a sample of 1,535 Australians about their perceptions of the prevalence of corruption at different levels of government.

• Four in five (81%) consider it corrupt conduct to allocate public money to projects in marginal seats in order to win votes.
• 86% consider it corrupt conduct to appoint a friend or colleague to a public role over others who are more qualified.
• More than four in five (83%) think it is corrupt conduct to sign a contract with an overseas company after being alerted to a risk that some of that money may go to corrupt officials.
• More than four in five (83%) think it is corrupt conduct for a senior public servant to mislead Cabinet or the Parliament.
• One Nation voters are the most likely to believe corruption is common federally (85%), followed by independent/other (72%), Greens (69%), Labor (64%) and Coalition (63%) voters.

The post Perceptions of Corruption appeared first on The Australia Institute.

To ensure the Sustainability Strategy will drive Tasmania’s achievement of the SDGs, the Australia Institute Tasmania recommends the following:

1. Strong action on climate change, including protecting the natural environment, should underpin Tasmania’s Sustainability Strategy.
2. The Sustainability Strategy should be based on clear, ambitious, quantifiable and time-bound targets that are evidence-based and will result in improved sustainability outcomes for Tasmania.
3. The Sustainability Strategy should have regular reporting of progress against SDGs, including yearly update reports and online reporting against SDG Indicators.
4. The findings of Tasmania’s SOE report should inform goals and targets of the Sustainability Strategy.

The post Submission to Tasmania’s Sustainability Strategy appeared first on The Australia Institute.

The Australia Institute conducted a special exit poll, surveying a sample of 1,547 Australians from 6pm Saturday 14 October, about the Voice referendum and misinformation.

The key results show that:

• Nine in 10 Australians (87%) agree that truth in political advertising laws should be in place in time for the next federal election campaign; only 4% disagree.
• Both those who voted “Yes” and those who voted “No” to the Voice overwhelmingly agree that truth in political advertising laws should be in place in time for the next federal election campaign (92% and 83%, respectively).
• Seven in 10 Australians (72%) agree they are concerned about lies and misinformation that circulated on social media during the referendum campaign, compared to one in five who disagree (17%).
• Seven in 10 Australians (72%) agree it is now up to the Albanese Government to come up with solutions to close the gap, compared to 47% who agree it is up to No campaigners.

The post Misinformation and the referendum appeared first on The Australia Institute.

These issues are epitomised in the proposed merger of the University of Adelaide with the University of South Australia, a case which shows why reform is needed.

The post University Councils, Transparency and the Adelaide University Merger appeared first on The Australia Institute.

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.

Myth:

1. Raising interest rates works to slow the economy, increase unemployment, and bring down inflation.
2. Reducing interest rates works to support the economy, reduce unemployment, and increase inflation.

Fact:

The Fed has it backwards.

Rate increases cause government deficit spending to increase and support the economy, reduce unemployment, and support inflation.

And cutting rates reduces government deficit spending which reduces economic growth, employment, and inflation. 

When the Fed announces a rate increase, the only thing that changes for the government is that the Fed increases the interest it pays out to the economy (on reserves and on reverse repurchase accounts). The Treasury pays out more interest to the economy on new securities that it issues, called Treasury bills, notes, and bonds. 

Furthermore, as the rate increases are not done in conjunction with offsetting tax increases, the increase in government interest expense is all new deficit spending that’s added to the US government’s budget. In short, Fed rate hikes continuously flood the economy with new money.