Louise Morris
We're being positioned as more than the driller, digger and exporter. We're being lined up as the Asia-Pacific's dumping ground for CO2; geology for hire to help cook the books. Australia isn't doing this instead of expanding fossil fuels. It's doing it as well.
Housing inequality now extends beyond rent and property prices, with millions of Australians locked out of cheaper electricity because they cannot access rooftop solar or batteries, a Senate inquiry has heard. Solar Citizens is calling for a new tax incentive to encourage landlords to install rooftop solar, proposing the depreciation schedule be reduced from 20 years to five years for those invest in the technology.
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Older Australians have seen their wealth grow eight times faster than younger generations over the past two decades, but a Senate inquiry has heard housing inequality is no longer just a generational issue. The Australian Council of Social Service (ACOSS) told a public hearing in Sydney that the issue extended well beyond the divide between younger and older Australians.
Australia’s rental crisis is a policy choice, not an unavoidable consequence of market forces, a Senate inquiry has heard, with advocates arguing governments are failing to deliver the stability, affordability and security people deserve from a home.
These news stories show that FOI plays an important role in Australian democracy, but governments too often drag their feet on releasing information that the public is entitled to. The ABC reported in April that requests for documents from Victoria Police are now slower than at any point in its history, with those seeking access now facing a nine-month wait.
Less than two days after learning about the AUKUS agreement, then opposition leader Anthony Albanese decided to support the biggest defence procurement in Australian history. This isn’t just a quick turnaround for a massive multinational defence deal; it’s a fraction of the time it takes Australian bureaucracy to do far simpler tasks.
Defence Industry Minister Pat Conroy has defended the AUKUS nuclear-submarine deal against critics in the Labor movement, arguing it continues to enjoy overwhelming support within the party.
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Australia's largest gas exporters are set to receive an unexpected $18 billion revenue windfall over the next year, due to the fallout from conflict in the Middle East, reigniting calls for the Albanese government to introduce a 25 per cent tax on gas exports
The Albanese government has been warned thousands of Australian pets could die and households risk facing more than $1 billion in annual costs unless it significantly boosts efforts to eradicate fire ants.
An unlikely alliance of crossbench MPs and senators in federal parliament have accused the Albanese government of mounting an attack on Australia’s freedom of information (FOI) regime, after bureaucrats escalated an AUKUS transparency dispute to the Federal Court.
