Research
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Adani mine approval shows climate change debate reaches new level of lunacyby Ebony Bennett[Originally published in The Canberra Times, 15 June 2019]Australia's debate on the climate crisis reached a new level of lunacy this past week. Almost nowhere else in the world is the climate debate so divorced from reality. Firstly, Adani's groundwater plan was approved by the Queensland government in a rushed process. This came after the former commonwealth environment minister rushed Adani's water plan through federally. The C... -
It's cheap to tackle climate change – but that isn't the reason to do itby Richard Denniss[Originally published on Guardian Australia, 12 June 2019]If renewables weren’t getting cheaper, would Australia still want to tackle climate change? And if world demand for coal wasn’t declining, would we still want to stop the Adani coalmine being built? After 30 years of democratic failures to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, in the last five we’ve witnessed technological leaps succeed where elections could not. But what does...
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Tax cuts are a bad bet on a wobbly futureby Richard Denniss[Originally published in the Australian Financial Review, 11 June 2019]How good is the Australian economy? Not very. It's as if months of prime ministerial promises that the economy was strong had absolutely no impact on employers' desire to boost wages or consumers' ability to spend. GDP growth is at its lowest levels since the Global Financial Crisis, wage growth remains low, productivity growth is at record lows, and the Rese...
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A poll can't predict the future, but that doesn't mean they're not usefulby Ebony Bennett[Originally published in The Canberra Times, 01 June 2019]I come not to bury polls, but to praise them. While everyone - including the polling companies it seems - was shocked by the election results, the media and the public are learning the same lessons that political parties have had to. And it's a hard one: polling is just a tool. But first, what did go wrong? The polling companies themselves are bewildered and baffled....
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What's 'left' and 'right' in Australian politics today? The lines are shiftingby Richard Denniss[Originally Published on Guardian Australia, 29 May 2019] While Australian political debate has never seemed more sharply divided, the philosophical lines between left and right have never seemed more blurred. The economy is always in transition, and people are always losing and finding jobs, but – after decades of the right being contemptuous of the pain suffered by workers losing their jobs through privatisation, free-trade ag...
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Fossil fuel's win may be Coalition's lossby Richard Denniss[Originally published in the Australian Financial Review, 27 May 2019]There’s no doubt the Adani coal mine helped the Liberal National Party win votes in North Queensland but there’s also no doubt it helped them lose a lot of votes – and economic credibility – in Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide. And while the triumphalism of National Party MPs like George Christensen and Barnaby Joyce is understandable, so is the frustr...
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Bob Hawke leaves behind an important environmental legacyby Ebony Bennett[Originally published in the Canberra Times, 17 May 2019]Bob Hawke is perhaps credited most often for his economic reforms, but he also leaves a tremendous legacy of protecting Earth's wilderness. Without Bob Hawke, Antarctica would be a quarry, Tasmania's iconic Franklin River would be flooded and Queensland's Daintree rainforest would be a timber plantation. As the world grapples with the urgent threat of global warming, it's wo...
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Rank opportunism spells danger for Australian energy policyby Richard Denniss[Originally published on The Guardian Australia, 15 May 2019]It’s now 12 years (and seven prime ministers) since John Howard promised to introduce a price on carbon and – despite emissions having increased to a new high and a number of big coal fired power stations having shut down – Australia still doesn’t have anything approaching a coherent climate and energy policy. Since Tony Abbott scrapped the carbon price in 2014, wholes...
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Tax reform is simple: soak the richby Richard Denniss[Originally published in the Australian Financial Review, 16 May 2019]The political debate about tax has become unmoored from the economics of tax. The idea that cutting taxes is good for the economy and collecting more revenue is bad for the economy is not just simplistic, it’s wrong. But it should be no surprise that in a country where politicians link electric cars to socialism, talk of removing tax loopholes leads...
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Danger rests in confusion over Senate voting rulesby Ebony Bennett,[Originally published in The Canberra Times, 04 May 2019]Trust in politicians is at an all-time low, the national debate is coarse and toxic, and the bar for what is judged politically acceptable is so low now that it feels like a cockroach could clear it. It's not unique to this election, but it feels like there has been a steep decline in recent years. This week commentator Greg Sheridan claimed the Greens "hate our society" an...