Government and Accountability

National Integrity Committee calls for bipartisan support of integrity plan

The Australia Institute’s National Integrity Committee of former judges and corruption fighters is today meeting in Sydney to launch their Implementation Plan for a National Integrity Commission.

In the lead up to the Wentworth byelection, the committee has written to candidates calling for support from all parties of its plan to establish a federal corruption watchdog.

Following on from the detailed design work undertaken by the committee to date, the Implementation Plan outlines how a National Integrity Commission would be established within the existing integrity framework.

The recommendations of the Implementation Plan include:

Posted on:

28 September 2018

Banking Royal Commission most important for Australians: poll

A majority of Australians believe the Royal Commission into Banks and Financial Services has uncovered more wrong doing (70%) and is most important for Australians (65%) compared to the Royal Commission into Trade Unions, according to new polling from The Australia Institute.

Meanwhile, almost a third of Australians (31%) believe the Royal Commission into Trade Unions was established to attack political opponents, more than triple those who believe any of the three other Royal Commissions to be politically motivated.

Key Findings:

Posted on:

23 September 2018

Our regulators fail to protect the vulnerable from the greedy. Let's find out why.

by Richard Denniss.

[This article originally appeared on The Guardian Australia 19.09.2018]

The royal commission Australia really needs is one into the spectacular – almost complete – failure of our regulators to protect the vulnerable from the greedy. While it is clear that many of our so-called watchdogs are little more than lap dogs, what is less clear is why. It’s time that Australians found out why those tasked with protecting us from exploitation have wound up protecting those who exploit us.

Posted on:

19 September 2018

GISERA and conflict of interest

A fundamental conflict of interest underlies the Gas Industry Social and Environmental Alliance (GISERA), making it an inappropropriate organisation to undertake research to evaluate the social and environmental impacts of unconventional gas development.

What is GISERA?

The Gas Industry Social and Environmental Research Alliance (GISERA) is an alliance agreement between the five biggest unconventional gas companies in Australia (Australia Pacific LNG, Origin Energy, QGC, AGL and Santos) and the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO).

Conflict of interest:

Posted on:

11 September 2018

Banking against the Reef

by Ebony Bennett, Deputy Director of The Australia Institute.

[This article originally appeared in the Canberra Times 08.09.18]

Watching Brazil’s National Museum burn this week was a tragic reminder that, if we don’t take care, we can snap the threads that bind us to our history forever.

Over a matter of hours, tens of millions of artefacts were reduced to ash. There’s no doubt it’s a disaster, but the news that it was likely preventable makes it a tragedy.

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10 September 2018

Banking against the Reef

The Great Barrier Reef Foundation (the Foundation) does not have a policy to guidethe investment of its undisbursed funding. As part of the $443.3 million GrantAgreement with the Australian Government, the Foundation must design an “investment policy” – however the Grant Agreement is silent on whether the policyshould exclude investing in fossil fuel industries that directly contribute to climatechange.The Foundation has already received all six years of grant funding, which is currently sitting in term deposits with six banks (five of which have connections to theFoundation’s Chairman’s Panel).

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5 September 2018

Great Barrier Reef Foundation Grant Funding Fossil Fuels

The Great Barrier Reef Foundation’s unprecedented $443.3 million dollar Government grant is being invested with banks that fund the expansion of the fossil fuel industry, contrary to the Foundation’s stated goals.

A new report released today from The Australia Institute’s Climate & Energy program and Future Super shows the Foundation’s grant, which was paid upfront and in full, is split between six banks. A majority of the grant is being invested with Australia’s Big Four Banks (Commonwealth, NAB, ANZ and Westpac), who have loaned $70 billion to fossil fuel projects since 2008.

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5 September 2018

Unspoken alternatives to expensive housing

Most housing subsidies end up increasing landlord and developer profits rather than reducing costs for residents. However, Public Land Rent Schemes that provide discounted land access to owners, and private Community Land Trusts, are proven ways to ensure that subsidies reduce costs for homeowners.

This report explores how to get cheap, secure, housing without inflating landlord profits.

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4 September 2018

Secure long-term housing at half the cost

New research from the Australia Institute and Prosper Australia shows Government could use existing housing schemes to reduce the cost of secure long-term housing by as much as 52%, at no extra cost to the budget.

The report shows that the government can create more secure long-term forms of residency, insulated from changes in market prices, for less than the cost of renting at market prices by utilising the ACT’s public land rent scheme, along with private community land trusts.

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4 September 2018

ACT’s Land Rent Scheme sets national example

Canberra’s innovative Land Rent Scheme has been singled out in new research from the Australia Institute and Prosper Australia that shows if applied nationally, Government could significantly reduce the cost of secure long-term housing.

Currently the scheme sees over one-thousand Canberra households saving more than $9 million in housing costs per year, at no cost to the ACT budget.

Posted on:

3 September 2018

Government and Accountability

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