28 April 2017

Westpac’s revised Climate Change Plan, which rules out funding new coal-producing regions and imposes other restrictions on lending for coal mines and power stations, is another example of Australian companies unable to see the forest for the tweets, according to free market think tank the Institute of Public Affairs. “Time and again we have seen major companies in Australia fail to

8 April 2017

Calls from two Nick Xenophon Team parliamentarians and Independent Member for Indi Cathy McGowan to establish a Federal Minister for Young People proves that bad ideas in Federal politics are not the exclusive domain of the major parties. NXT MP Rebekha Sharkie has justified the idea by claiming that “children and young people feel like they’re being spoken at, not

29 March 2017

Free market think tank the Institute of Public Affairs has welcomed the direction of the Productivity Commission’s Draft Report into Alternative Superannuation Default Models but will urge it to go further in its Final Report. “The IPA believes that all Australians should have the freedom to choose their superannuation fund and that there should be no role for an employer,

23 March 2017

On Wednesday, Greenpeace, the Sierra Club and CoalSwarm released the 2017 edition of Boom and Bust: Tracking the Global Coal Plant Pipeline, a publication that helpfully tallies up all of the coal-fired power stations in development over the globe. Predictably, the report got a strong run in the Guardian under the headline “Coal in Freefall as New Power Plants Dive

14 March 2017

Today’s energy package announcement by the South Australian Government is an admission of policy failure according to free market think tank the Institute of Public Affairs. “This package is a damning indictment on 21st century South Australia,” said Brett Hogan, Director of Research. “The only reason the South Australian Government is being forced to build its own gas-fired power plant

9 February 2017

Last night’s partial blackout in South Australia is only a small taste of things to come, according to free market think tank the Institute of Public Affairs. “About the only person the South Australian Government hasn’t blamed for the outcome of its ideologically-inspired electricity policies is Donald Trump,” says Brett Hogan, IPA Director of Research. “The suggestion by Premier Weatherill

22 December 2016

Policymakers shouldn’t be asking how the superannuation system can better support government spending, or more stringently punish those who seek to take care of themselves. It should be about how our society can encourage more people to take responsibility for their own lives, maximize every Australian’s retirement income and reduce the cost of welfare. Once the principle has been established

16 December 2016

Nearly 50% of Australians would disapprove of the closure of coal-fired power plants if electricity prices were to increase by between 4 and 10 per cent the following year, according to a new survey conducted by Galaxy Research for free market think tank the Institute of Public Affairs. “This survey is a wake-up call to policy makers who think they

9 December 2016

Concern over Australia’s recent falling productivity growth should centre on the real contemporary policy task of achieving marginal reforms that enable individuals to propel long-run economic growth and prosperity. The key policy framework to achieve this, we propose here, is a classically liberal approach to economic policy that involves maintaining the rule of law, limiting government, protecting private property and

1 December 2016

Australia has a 21st century workforce labouring under a 19th century industrial relations system, writes Brett Hogan.     Better health, housing, communications, education and transport options allow more people to make more decisions for themselves, helping to break down the notion of ‘class’. Defining a person by where they live, or what they or their parents do for work, is