Research
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When Scott Morrison lectured CEOs about speaking out on climate change, it was quite a fight to pickby Richard Denniss[Originally Published on Guardian Australia, 18 September 2019]In the same week that the prime minister told chief executives not to get “distracted” by issues like climate change, his National Party colleagues declared war on almond milk. Talk about focusing on the big issues. Needless to say, most business leaders paid as much attention to Scott Morrison as the public paid to the Nationals. The six-year-old Coalition... -
Can we have faith in the government's religious discrimination agenda?by Ebony Bennett[Originally Published in The Canberra Times, 07 September 2019]Australia has a government in search of an agenda and the religious discrimination bill is a poorly drafted solution in search of a problem.Following the passage of the income tax cuts package, the only policy discussed in any detail by the Coalition during the election campaign, the Morrison government was left with a rather obvious policy vacuum to fill. And nature a...
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If Alan Jones is free to speak, in a free market his sponsors are tooby Richard Denniss[Originally published on The Guardian Australia, 04 September 2019]Are free markets more important than free speech? We aren’t supposed to ask such questions because each of those libertarian goals was supposed to reinforce the other. But they clearly don’t, so it’s time to take a closer look at what “freedom” really means in Australia today.Alan Jones has been using his freedom to insult and disparage again. After telling his l...
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How we have sold ourselves shortby Richard Denniss[Originally published in the Australian Financial Review, 02 September 2019]Neoliberalism has made Australia more fragile, fractious and open to foreign influence. We talk a lot about the rise of Chinese influence but there’s less discussion about the decline in our national self-confidence. Despite living in the world’s 14th largest economy with some of the lowest taxes in the developed world, neoliberalism has allowed successi...
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Australia can no longer dodge responsibility for its fossil fuel exportsby Richie Merzian[Originally published in The Canberra Times, 24 August 2019]If fuelling global carbon pollution with fossil fuel exports was an Olympic sport, Australia would get a podium place. New Australia Institute research shows Australia is the third largest exporter of fossil fuels in the world - behind only Russia and Saudi Arabia. This expansive role in fossil fuels quashes Australia's ability to meet its Paris Agreement targets an...
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When it comes to coal, Australia has transitioned away from economics and common senseby Richard Denniss[Originally published on The Guardian Australia, 21 Augustr 2019]Australia isn’t transitioning away from extracting fossil fuels, it is doubling down on them. That’s right – even though Australia is already the third largest fossil fuel exporter in the world, the federal government still wants to double our coal exports, drill for oil in the Great Australian Bight and open more farmland to fracking.Australia is the world’s...
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A condescending Pacific step downby Richard Denniss[Originally published in the Australian Financial Review, 20 August 2019]Short-term thinking is often a feature of Australian domestic politics but when it comes to foreign policy, we’ve usually played the long game. Not any more. The Morrison Government is placing 1000 potential coal jobs ahead of its ‘Pacific Step Up’, announced in 2017 to counter China’s growing influence in the Pacific.But, like US engagement with...
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We're wasting too much energy on nuclear talkby Richie Merzian[Originally published in the Canberra Times, 10 August 2019]Late last Friday - a timeslot where ministers are known to announce policies they are most proud of - the Minister for Energy, Angus Taylor, ordered a parliamentary inquiry into nuclear energy. Prime Minister Scott Morrison and Minister for Energy and Emissions Reduction Angus Taylor. Picture: Alex EllinghausenIn a country currently engulfed in a gas price crisis, c...
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Conservatives hate red tape – unless it’s to regulate the behaviour of their enemiesby Richard Denniss[Originally published on Guardian Australia, 08 August 2019]Australia needs more regulation of the banks, more regulation of the aged care sector, more regulation of property developers, more regulation of the mining industry and more regulation of the way we use the water in our rivers. But conservatives are still calling for a reduction of so-called red tape. WTF? Hundreds of high-rise buildings in Australia are...
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Our climate inaction will destroy our Pacific neighboursby Richie Merzian[Oringinally published in The Canberra Times, 27 July 2019]The single greatest threat to Australia and the Pacific is climate change. But given Australia's actions over the last 12 months, you wouldn't know it. The Australian government is only willing to pay lip service to what addressing that threat requires: serious climate action.Australia should not underestimate the importance of taking climate action - particularly in the...