Research

The Revenue Summit is a special initiative of The Australia Institute that discussed the need to increase public spending to strengthen our economy and society, and how to raise public revenue efficiently and equitably.Tax is the price we pay to live in a civilised society, but in contemporary Australia, we rarely ask how much civilisation we would like to buy and what the best new ways way to fund any increase in civilisation might be.We need to...

The Australia Institute surveyed a nationally representative sample of 1,449 Australians about income inequality and income taxation. Overall most respondents agreed with principles of progressive taxation and disagreed that income tax in Australia should be made less progressive.Key Results:+ 74% of respondents agreed that if the gap between high and low incomes grows, people on higher incomes should pay more of the total income tax. This is a k...

Introduction The debate in Australia about the Federal Government’s Budget has too often focused on what spending will get cut to fund what tax cuts. Australia has also obsessed which Treasurer will deliver a budget surplus in which year. What has been lost in this simplistic debate is that tax is the price we pay for living in a civilised society. Rather than constantly debating how big the next income tax cut needs to be or how large the surplu...

This report is a step-by-step guide to valuing compensation in the Lower-Darling.Major changes to the management of the Lower Darling will affect the whole community. To date only one stakeholder, major agribusiness WebsterLtd, has been compensated by the Commonwealth. The region’s other businesses and property owners should assess how Webster’s compensation was calculated in beginning their own negotiations.

A special 6-part series of short articles from WA Transport Magazine:Researchers have identified the transportation industry as one of the sectors likely to be most affected by the coming implementation of new technologies: such as self-driving vehicles, artificial intelligence, and automated logistics systems. How will transportation workers fare as these technologies are rolled out, and what measures can be taken - by employers, government...

Gas exploration is being undertaken in the Wide Bay Burnett region. Development of gasfields would present a risk to the region’s diverse services, tourism, agricultural, and manufacturing economy. Summary points include:Blue Energy is exploring for gas in the Wide Bay Burnett region, a region that features high-value horticulture and sugar cane crops and the World Heritagelisted Fraser Island.The Region’s economy is a diverse mix of modern...

This report is the first in a series that highlights how the Murray–Darling Basin Plan has increased the flow of money and water to big agribusinesses and has increased the vulnerability of everyone else in the Basin– Aboriginal people, floodplain graziers, downstream communities and small irrigators.[READ FULL REPORT]

How over 5 gigawatts of New South Wales gas and coal plants being simultaneously offline pushed the state’s power supply to the brink and drove high electricity prices.

The ABC Board carries the ultimate responsibility for the independence and integrity of the national broadcaster. In previous eras both sides of politics made inappropriate partisan appointments to the ABC board. Despite the ‘arm’s length, merit based’ reforms made in 2013, the appointment process has once again become deeply politicised. Basic governance standards are being breached. Four or five of the six “independent” board members of the ABC...