The Australia Institute

The Australia Institute is active in promoting global warming mitigation measures, and has been critical of the Australian federal government's perceived lack of action on climate change. The Australia Institute was critical of the Howard Government's decision to refuse to ratify the Kyoto Protocol. It claims that the former Prime Minister and some senior ministers deny the scientific evidence for global warming and that the resources sector drives government energy policy. Leaked minutes of a meeting between the Energy Minister, the Prime Minister and fossil fuel lobbyists provide evidence for these claims.[8][9]

The Australia Institute has been active in promoting renewable energy development, and other mitigation measures, and it has campaigned strongly against developing a nuclear industry in Australia.[10]

The Australia Institute criticised the Rudd Government's proposed Australian emissions trading scheme (or Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme), arguing that it failed to adequately take into account voluntary action and delivered excessive compensation to polluting industries.[11]

The Australia Institute spoke positively of the design of the carbon price mechanism implemented by the Gillard Government, arguing that beginning with a fixed price and transitioning to an emissions trading scheme made sense given that there was no consensus about what the emissions reduction target should be.[12]

In 2014, Ben Oquist (then the Australia Institute's Strategy Director) was involved in the Palmer United Party's decision to vote against the abolition of the Renewable Energy Target, the Clean Energy Finance Corporation and the Climate Change Authority.[13] Oquist wrote that "The Australia Institute is disappointed that the carbon price is likely to be repealed" but that "The Palmer-Gore announcement has re-set climate policy and politics. Keeping the CCA, the RET and the CEFC is much more than most expected from the PUP. We have avoided a big step backwards."[14]

In 2017, the Australia Institute reported that Australia's greenhouse gas emissions were "rising rapidly" since the abolition of the carbon price, with economist Matt Grudnoff criticising the National Energy Guarantee proposed by the Turnbull Government, saying that it would be “likely to cause our emissions to rise even faster”.[15]

In 2017, The Australia Institute took over The Climate Institute's intellectual property after that institute closed, and subsequently launched a Climate and Energy Program to continue the work.[16][17] The first Climate of the Nation report produced by The Australia Institute was released in 2018.

The Australia Institute employs several economists[18] who have published papers arguing for tax reform, particularly in the areas of superannuation tax concessions, negative gearing, capital gains tax and goods and services tax.[19] During the 2016 Australian federal election, the Institute published a series of critiques of the Coalition's proposed policy of cutting the company tax rate.[20]

The Australia Institute has also criticised the final two stages of the Turnbull Government's three-stage income tax cut plan, releasing research into how the benefits from the tax cut are distributed by income [21] and electorate.[22]

In 2016, the Australia Institute set up the Centre for Future of Work "to conduct and publish progressive economic research on work, employment, and labour markets".[23] Its founding director is Canadian economist Dr Jim Stanford.

In 2017, the Australia Institute established The Australia Institute Tasmania with director Leanne Minshull, to "look at political, social and economic issues on a state level, and release research and polling on government policies and issues of the day".[24]