Research

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.

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]

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...

Australia is off-track and looks set to miss its Paris emission reduction target. National emissions are rising and the government seems unwilling or unable to agree on credible policies to reduce emissions.The Commonwealth Government has shelved its centrepiece new climate and energy policy, the National Energy Guarantee (NEG). The Large-Scale Renewable Energy Target (RET) will not encourage any new renewable energy generation capacity after 202...

The annual average number of days over 35 degrees Celsius in Gladstone has more than doubled since the mid-20th century. CSIRO and the Bureau of Meteorology project further increases, with the number of extreme heat days to triple by 2070 – and these projections appear optimistic. Extreme heat will have profound effects on human health, industries and ecosystems. At temperatures above 35 degrees Celsius the human body’s ability to cool itsel...

At temperatures above 35 degrees the human body’s ability to cool itself reduces, making it a common benchmark temperature for occupational health and safety experts, academic and government researchers. Combined with 70% humidity, conditions over 35 degrees are considered ‘extremely dangerous’ by government agencies such as the US Government National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.   The number of days over 35 degrees per year in Ro...