UNSW Sydney Media Release New ACOSS and UNSW Sydney research shows almost two million Australians in households relying mainly on income support were below the poverty line. Australia’s income support...

The government has announced $5 million in charity funding while welfare recipients make up more than a third of suicide deaths, and are up to 10x more likely to die than people not on income support.

Lifting the abysmally low jobseeker rate to the poverty line would save thousands of lives

The Australian Government has listened to island communities, and just announced plans to massively expand marine sanctuary protection around the stunning Lord Howe Island and Norfolk Island. But before it becomes a reality, the government wants to hear from YOU on the proposed expansions, AND on what other improvements are needed across Australia’s offshore marine parks.  […]

Fortunately there is an emergency plan even though everyone insists there will be no emergency

The Indian Ocean accounts for about a fifth of global ocean area, with 90% of it reaching deeper than 1,000 meters (3,280 feet). Yet compared to the Pacific and Atlantic, its deep-sea biodiversity is…

First Nations witnesses brought Parliament evidence of a terrorist bomb and death threats. Government sent empty chairs

Labor’s promise to ease living costs and cut taxes may offer relief, but it avoids the deeper question of who owns, controls and profits from the systems making life insecure.

Coherent decision-making and internal accountability are critical to meeting this manic moment * Anthony Albanese promises fast-track approvals for datacentres to shore up AI investment The University of Sydney was the natural setting for Anthony Albanese to lay out his vision for how Australia should confront the profound economic and social challenges posed by so-called artificial intelligence technology. His time around the jacaranda and sandstone in the early 80s was a seminal marker in the future PM’s development, not as a scholar but as a rabble-rousing organiser honing skills that would make him the political grandmaster of his generation. Continue reading...

Extreme wealth is concentrating economic, political and technological power in the hands of a tiny few. Healthy democracies cannot ignore the question of limits.

The world’s geography of migration is changing, and with it our understanding of economic development, national success and the role of public policy.

An average home would cost $595,500 now if prices were the same relative to income as before John Howard turned the market into an investor casino

The Labor Government is dragging the public into another unlawful welfare scandal, because it refuses to walk away from an ideology and industry built around punishment

There is a deeper discontent in Australian society than the version One Nation is currently exploiting. What we might call an egalitarian anger exists too, a sometimes inchoate sense that the economic...

New research challenges the narrative of this country as classless, highlighting the importance of enabling children to realise their full potential.

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Australia Institute research shows a 25% tax on gas exports would raise $17 billion each year to fund essential services. Nearly $50 million every single day, seven days a week, flowing to multination...

At a time when the populist right is on the rise, progressives are shooting blanks while history rushes headlong into an automated future Canberra rolled out the red carpet this week to one of the AI overlords whose technology is driving the world down the path of creative destruction. Anthropic’s CEO Dario Amodei, the putative “good” tech oligarch, was spinning his version of a machine-driven future with the elan of a man who has untangled the mysteries of the universe – or at least built a predictive text model that can scrape the output of humanity and spit out compelling summaries of our collective consciousness. He regaled the prime minister, assorted elected officials and the tech sector’s glitterati with his pitch for good AI that would transform the economy, before becoming the first to sign up to the government’s new datacentre principles, conveniently released just a week earlier. It was compelling shill and, to be fair, Amodei is not the worst of the gods. He created Anthropic after leaving Open AI when the company dispensed with its not-for-profit, “safety first” mission. He regularly shares thoughtful essays on the path of technology and has been open about his fears for the impact of his own products. He broke with the Trump administration over the limits to how his technology would be used to spy on citizens and enable autonomous weapons, turning himself into an enemy of the state. Continue reading...

The country’s 900 billionaires have far too much influence over our government and economy. Here’s how we can reduce the power of the ultra-rich

Australian state and federal governments provided $16.3 billion in subsidies to fossil fuel producers and major users in 2025-26, according to new research from The Australia Institute.

There are cultural events that entertain, and there are rare ones that reorganise how a society encounters ideas. The Jaipur Literature Festival is the latter. Founded in 2006 by Namita Gokhale, Willi...

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As the Coalition reasserts “lower tax” as political identity and Labor rushes to deny the high-tax label, Australian politics is losing the language needed to fund shared purpose, rebuild trust and sustain public life.