Richard Denniss
As a long-term critic of the Productivity Commission, and someone who has called for their abolition, even I think the Prime Minister’s recent attack on the government-funded think tank was unfair and inaccurate.
The latest greenhouse gas emissions data for the March 2026 quarter were released on Friday - as ever with no fanfare or advance notice - by the Department of Climate Change, Energy, Environment and Water (DCCEEW). They showed that in the past year, Australia’s annual greenhouse gas emissions fell 1.6%.
The evidence is clear: NSW’s gun laws are working. They offer a clear path forward to other states and territories to reduce the number of guns in their communities; they only need to follow NSW’s lead.
Quality research, analysis, explainers and factchecks from experts you can trust.
On Monday, Australian Energy Producers (AEP) - the lobby group representing the foreign owned gas giants that export 80% of Australia’s gas - welcomed the Coalition’s announcement to help them export even more of Australia’s finite gas resources by cutting environmental protections and increasing subsidies.
The Albanese government is being urged to axe Youth Allowance and create a single income support payment rate for all working-age Australians. The call comes amid warnings that people born in the 1990s are at risk of becoming the first generation in modern Australia to be worse off than their parents.
Two million Australians are delaying or skipping an appointment each year, with around half doing so because of the rising cost of seeing a specialist.
One Nation is in damage control over its immigration policy, with leader Pauline Hanson intervening to pour cold water on MP David Farley’s claim that the party’s migration numbers were “not too different” from Labor’s. It comes as human rights advocates implore Prime Minister Anthony Albanese not to revoke work rights from people seeking asylum, arguing it would be “unconscionable” and not the answer to growing political pressure over migration.
In an interview with ABC released on Tuesday, Federal Minister for Climate Change and Energy, Chris Bowen, suggested that the NSW Government’s plans to sell additional carbon offset credits in return for the Great Koala National Park represents a "common-sense" approach.
Six weeks after declaring that future large-scale data centres would need to be tied to new renewable energy projects, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has already carved out an exception.
On Tuesday, Bob Brown told ABC’s 730 that the NSW Government’s plan to make the creation of the Great Koala National Park dependent on being able to sell carbon credits “a scam”. And Bob Brown is right, these credits do not represent actual carbon abatement.
Australia’s newly released National Environmental Standards have been torn apart by conservation and legal groups, which warn the Albanese government’s centrepiece reforms have failed to close the loopholes that allowed habitat destruction under the old law.
Australia’s experiment with running universities like a market has “failed”, with the sector now suffering from inadequate funding and poor governance, the Australia Institute has told a Senate inquiry.
It isn’t always easy to keep up with what’s happening in the US. “Shorter America” is a series where Dr Emma Shortis loops you in on what’s going on in America and shares news and analysis that you can trust.
Chalmers was interpreting GDP growth as a symbol of the Australian economy’s health. The higher the GDP growth, the healthier the Australian economy. But just a week before his speech, the United Nations was cautioning member states from doing exactly that.
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Human rights advocates have lambasted Western Australia’s Cook government over its proposed “extraordinary powers” for police to use against those protesting a major defence and weapons expo in October.
Former ACT Greens leader Shane Rattenbury has warned that Labor and the Greens must put aside their political “tribalism” or risk being paving the way for a Liberal-One Nation partnership that would take the country “backwards” on climate action.
Australia has created a strange market for specialist care. Medicare helps pay for it. Governments subsidise it. Patients often need it. But, for much private specialist care, the final price is largely left to the provider – and patients are increasingly being priced out.
In late 2025, the long held promise to build the Great Koala National Park became “dependent” on the NSW Government being able to sell carbon offsets relating to the founding of it. But is this money necessary to create the park? No, it isn't.
A third top level recruitment process is under way for the National Anti-Corruption Commission – to appoint a new commissioner and deputy commissioner following the resignations in May of Paul Brereton and Nicole Rose, both two years short of their five-year terms.
It isn’t always easy to keep up with what’s happening in the US. “Shorter America” is a series where Dr Emma Shortis loops you in on what’s going on in America and shares news and analysis that you can trust.
