When the political class keeps choosing to squeeze outer-suburban, mortgage-stressed, salaried workers, we shouldn’t be surprised to see these people turning to One Nation. (more…)
Category: Economy
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Falling house prices should be welcomed, not feared
Falling house prices should ease cost-of-living pressures and help first home-buyers, yet Australia’s political debate still treats rising housing values as a national good rather than a barrier to affordability. (more…)
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Is Indonesia trading up or trading away?
Indonesia’s agreement on reciprocal trade with the United States puts the country’s sovereignty at risk. (more…)
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A carbon tax is a good idea
A carbon tax would help substantially in tackling two of the major problems facing Australia today: climate change and paying for the government services that we want. (more…)
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The poll numbers tell a deeper story than One Nation’s rise
A poll on attitudes to public policy confirms that the economy remains people’s dominant concern, but there is resistance to reforms that would make for a fairer distribution of income and wealth. (more…)
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Hybrid wind and solar power plants are the next step for Australia
A wind and battery hybrid could replace a coal plant – and outperform it at almost every level. Then next step for Australia is to create fully integrated renewable generation systems. (more…)
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Stop native forest logging
Research across the world shows that logging substantially increases fire risks in Australian native forests. (more…)
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The grandeur of humanity: Pope Leo on AI
Pope Leo’s first encyclical offers a vision in which human dignity and relationships guide technological development rather than people becoming slaves to technology. (more…)
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Governing on empty: the Hormuz crisis across Asia and the Pacific — part 3
This is the final in a series of three articles examining how the Hormuz closure is reshaping energy, governance and inequality across Asia and the Pacific. (more…)
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Why the criticisms of Labor’s tax changes are mostly wrong
Labor’s tax policies will improve intergenerational equity and ensure more equal tax treatment of income from labour and capital. (more…)
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Some further thoughts on the Federal Budget
The income tax reforms in the 2026 budget do deliver greater equity, despite the protests from those who think they will lose out. (more…)
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Death to News Ltd’s propaganda
Let’s not mince words, the “death tax” campaign begun by The Australian and the rest of News Ltd stable is a pack of lies and manipulative misinformation. It is best met with facts and reassurance. (more…)
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Albo stumbles with the hard sell
Of all the things which most frustrate about the Albanese government is the tendency of ministers to fall into a form of paralysis the moment it meets any sort of organised opposition, particularly from lobbies of the rich and powerful. (more…)
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Australia abandoned harm minimisation on smoking – and fuelled a black market
Australia’s steep cigarette excise increases and restrictive vaping policies have fuelled a massive illegal tobacco market while undermining the country’s long-standing harm-minimisation approach to public health.
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The importance of plantations in the Australian forest industry
Timber plantations now provide the overwhelming majority of Australia’s sawn wood products and will become even more important as native forest logging declines and climate pressures intensify. (more…)
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Where’s the Australian Silicon Valley?
Australia generates world-class research in clean energy but we are still not good at commercialising that knowledge. (more…)
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Will T20 cricket kill the Test game?
Cricket is now managed by business interests, making the lucrative T20 game a more attractive investment than the traditional centrepiece of the game, the Test. (more…)
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Government CGT changes structurally sound
Paul Keating says the Howard-Costello capital gains tax discount distorted the tax system, inflated housing prices and entrenched inequality between wage earners and wealth holders.
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Are this budget’s tax changes really an ‘assault on aspiration’?
The government’s capital gains tax reforms are likely to increase tax for some investors, but claims they will destroy wealth creation or aspiration for younger Australians may be overstated.
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The aid budget ignored a deepening global crisis
Despite the economic and humanitarian shock triggered by the Iran war, Australia’s latest foreign aid budget failed to deliver the kind of substantial regional response the country mounted during the COVID-19 pandemic.
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How credible is the Liberal’s economic strategy?
Angus Taylor’s budget reply speech may appeal to One Nation supporters, but it doesn’t provide credible answers to the nation’s problems.
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A small but definite step for a timid prime minister, a tiny jump for Labor
The 2026 Budget marks a rare moment where Labor showed some willingness to confront inequality and tax reform, but the government still shrank from the scale of change the moment demanded. (more…)
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Trump’s aid cuts are pushing more Americans to food banks
Food banks across the United States are reporting surging demand as cuts to food assistance, rising prices and inflation leave millions of vulnerable Americans struggling to afford groceries.
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India is no longer resisting globalisation – it is shaping it
India has shifted from decades of economic protectionism to an outward-looking strategy built on trade, investment and global integration, transforming its role in the world economy. (more…)
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It’s crucial to follow the money on the US national debt
A big chunk of the growing interest payments American taxpayers make on the federal debt is going to wealthy Americans. (more…)
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Budget 2026: The government buckles on fossil fuel tax reform
In a federal budget that sought to restore intergenerational equity, particularly through reforms to tax concessions that have long favoured Australia’s wealthiest few, the Albanese government is facing criticism for ignoring a golden opportunity to balance the scales on energy and climate. (more…)
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Budget 2026: Will this budget really make housing fairer for more Australians? It’s a good start
This week’s budget begins winding back tax concessions that heavily favoured property investors and wealth accumulation, while pairing those changes with new measures aimed at boosting housing supply and long-term budget sustainability. (more…)
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Budget 2026: Responsible, reformist – but still too cautious
This is a responsible budget that responds sensibly to inflation and weak productivity, but it stops short of the deeper tax and climate reforms needed to reshape the economy.
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Budget 2026: Leadership means more than keeping campaign promises – Message from the Editor
The obsession with whether governments have broken campaign promises is shrinking political ambition and discouraging the kind of leadership needed to tackle Australia’s deep structural problems, P&I Editor Catriona Jackson writes. (more…)
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Budget 2026: The biggest tax reform agenda in a generation
The government’s Budget reforms on negative gearing and capital gains tax will not solve the housing crisis overnight, but they represent the most ambitious attempt this century to rebalance Australia’s tax system and address intergenerational inequality. (more…)