21 September 2021

Joel Fitzgibbon’s decision not to recontest the seat of Hunter will shift the Labor Party further from its working-class base. Fitzgibbon was one of the last voices within the federal ALP holding the party back from becoming a party of the inner-city left. Following Labor’s surprise election loss in 2019, Fitzgibbon declared, “We need to get back to our working-class

13 September 2021

In an interview with the American socialist Jacobin Magazine this month, Greens leader Adam Bandt spoke about a growing inequality crisis. When asked what the pandemic has revealed about Australian society, Bandt observed that “the pandemic exposed the structural inequalities that existed before”. Bandt is right. The pandemic has revealed significant long-term inequalities. Lockdowns have exacerbated divides across Australian society. Homeownership rates have

7 September 2021

Australia’s headline economic numbers do not reflect the economic and social hardship of many Australians currently enduring lockdowns. The thousands of Australians who have had their jobs and businesses destroyed by lockdowns will find little solace in the fact that GDP growth in the June quarter has staved off a second recession in two years, and that the official unemployment

20 August 2021

Small business workers across Australia have been devastated by the recent wave of lockdowns, losing 420,000 jobs in just 21 days – or 20,000 jobs per day – according to a new analysis by the Institute of Public Affairs. The analysis, based on Australian Bureau of Statistics data, shows that job losses occurred in small and medium-size businesses between 26

19 August 2021

Analysis by the Institute of Public Affairs estimates that the real unemployment rate for NSW was 8.7% in the month of July, almost double the official rate of 4.5%. This estimate is based on data released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics today and includes those who have left the labour force since May and those who are technically classified

1 June 2021

The voters in Upper Hunter may have elected a pro-coal candidate nine days ago, but it remains to be seen whether the result is a victory for coal jobs.  Pro-coal members of the Coalition have claimed the result provides further evidence that the Coalition can win key seats with a pro-coal agenda, with nearly 80% of first preferences going to candidates who expressed support for

6 March 2021

New research released today by free market think tank the Institute of Public Affairs has found that the bottom fifth of income earners saw over half a million jobs disappear because of lockdowns, while the top fifth of income earners saw jobs increase by nearly 200,000. “Low-income earners, private sector workers, and young Australians, have been disproportionately affected while public

25 January 2021

Key findings : The quality of the Australian way of life is collapsing.  The Australian Way of Life Scoreboard, which measures the quality of the Australian way of life, has declined by 28.5% since 2000.  23 of 25 measures relevant to the Australian way of life have declined since 2000.  This decline can be found across every area of Australian life,

14 December 2020

Mainstream Australians are being failed by the political class as the gap between two Australias continues to widen. This failure is exemplified by a superannuation system that siphons money to the financial sector and political class and actively prevents mainstream Australians from achieving the Australian way of life.    The legislated increase of forced super contributions from the current rate of 9.5% to 12%

19 October 2020

The fiscal path outlined in the federal budget will constrain monetary policy and undermine the stability of the Australian economy. The Reserve Bank of Australia will be forced to pursue expansionary monetary policy that will leave it impotent in the event of future economic headwinds.   The RBA’s decade-long experiment with record low interest rates has created an economy that is dependent on low