Congratulations to all who entered The Australia Institute's National Youth Writing Competition. TAI is thrilled to announce that the competition winner is Guy Lemmon with his piece “Gearing Up for a Tax Rort”. Special thanks to our 2 highly commended entrants Reuben van Bemmel – Misrachi and Lachlan Walden. All three pieces will be published in TAI's June newsletter!

 Clive Palmer’s Waratah Coal claims its Galilee Coal Project, which will create four underground mines, two open-cut mines, and 468 kilometres of railway line in central Queensland, will bring economic prosperity to the region.

In its recently-released supplementary environmental impact statement, however, the company refused calls to release its modelling.

To read Dr Richard Denniss' article published on The Conversation, click here.

National economies are not like households. Indeed, the household management analogies that politicians often use to explain their approach to budgetary policy are rarely useful or appropriate.

The Coalition has taken a leaf out of the austerity play book and seems to believe that even though the RBA is trying to stimulate the economy, the government should be reining in spending faster than revenue is declining. This is where the household management analogy really gets in the way of sensible debate.

To read more of Richard's latest Australian Financial Review OpEd, click here.

 Federal government budgets are always strange affairs. They are billed as fact-based, hardnosed economics, when in fact they are far more about political theatre and posturing.

While the budget is supposed to reveal the economic credentials of a government, most economists are left shaking their heads.

To read more of Matt Grudnoff's article published on The Drum, click here.

Claims that the carbon price and mining tax will destroy the mining industry in Australia are at odds with the level of investment that the industry is making. To invest billions of dollars every year you must be confident that your industry has a positive future. As this infographic shows, since the mining tax was first proposed investment in mining has more than doubled.

Click the infographic to zoom in.