How $688 billion of investment was lost
Australia is declining as an investment destination under the weight of hostile government policy and stifling bureaucracy.
The IPA estimates that $688 billion of investment has been forgone as governments have made the country increasingly hostile to investors.
Figure: Annual private business investment shortfall against the FY2000-2014 average
The missing investment means lower wages, less export earnings, fewer jobs created, costing every household an estimated $4,900 on average.
The report outlines the 11 reasons for Australia’s deteriorating economic policy environment, including net zero, overregulation, immigration, green lawfare, and industrial relations, as well as the practical reforms necessary to restore Australia’s investment reputation.
The full research report, Losing Its Lustre: 11 Reasons Why Investment in the Australian Resources Sector is in Decline¸ is available at the IPA website here.
Governments stacking the deck with advocacy funding
Hundreds of millions of dollars each year are being funnelled by governments to non-government organisations which lobby back to the government.
IPA analysis of a sample of 100 NGOs identified more than $2.2 billion over five years in government funding for groups which are significantly or predominantly engaged in advocacy.
Table: Government funding of 100 selected organisations that engage in policy advocacy, from FY2021 to FY2025
The analysis also found that the funding consistently flowed to left-leaning organisations. No examples of funding for right-leaning NGOs were identified.
Democracy entails a commitment to a free and fair debate. But rather than a neutral marketplace of publicly contested ideas, the analysis highlights the byzantine funding network which systematically subsidises one side of some of public debates where Australians are required to fund the advocacy of ideas to government and the community they disagree with.
The full research report, Stacking the Deck: How Government Lobbies Itself and Funds the Distortion of Democracy, is available at the IPA website here.
Red tape army marches on
The number of federal government employees engaged in the creation or enforcement of rules and regulations will exceed 110,000 by next July – an increase of more than 19,000 since 2023.
- Annual staffing costs to employ red tape enforcers alone will be approximately $16 billion by the end of the 2027 financial year.
- Over half the total forecast federal workforce (217,256) will be engaged in regulatory activity this financial year.
- Across all portfolios, red tape enforcers have increased by an average of 21 per cent. However, the Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water portfolio has more than doubled since the 2022 federal election.
Figure: Growth of regulatory workforce in the federal government
The full research note, Red Tape Army: 2026-27 Budget Update, is available at the IPA website here.
The 2030 Covid debt cliff
State governments are facing a massive refinancing cliff when ultra-cheap Covid-era loans rollover, beginning in 2030.
The implications for the states are significant, as billions will be added to annual debt repayments.
States have more than $226 billion worth of bonds outstanding that were issued at exceptionally low interest rates during the pandemic.
As those bonds mature, they will be refinanced at significantly higher rates of interest, adding an estimated $8.1 billion to repayments in New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland, and South Australia, by 2040.
Figure: Estimated annual interest costs on state government debt raised during Covid
The full research note, The Great Covid Debt Refinancing Cliff, is available at the IPA website here.
