Alice Grundy is an editor, researcher and teacher, with over 15 years’ experience working in book publishing, and a Visiting Fellow at ANU. She is the Australia Institute’s Press, Managing Editor and Research Manager.
Last night, Queanbeyan local Omar Musa won the 2026 Miles Franklin award for the 'novel with the highest literary merit which presents Australian life.' He received a $60,000 prize, only he won’t get to keep it all because, like all arts prizes, it will be subject to income tax.
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Claims by the Australia Institute, Senator David Pocock and others about Australia's gas industry are based on publicly available government data.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has vowed to protect Australian writers, musicians, artists and journalists, saying they “must retain ownership and control of their work. Our laws will spell that out plain as day.”
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.
Australia’s total foreign aid budget was $5.097 billion in 2025-6. According to Animal Medicines Australia’s major survey and study of pet ownership, Australians spent $21 billion on their animals in the year to March 2025.
The Allan Government in Victoria has announced that it will accept 15 of the recommendations from the Rapid Review into Victoria's Firearm Laws, including introducing a citizenship requirement for firearms licence holders and tougher penalties for firearms tracking. Something they won't act on is limiting the number of firearms a licence holder can own, and they won't participate in the national buyback.
Last year the Australian National University (ANU) was getting some bad press, so they engaged a company called Bastion Reputation to help with the media fallout from restructures and the heavily criticised leadership of its Vice Chancellor, Professor Genevieve Bell. The meeting cost $6,000, which is more than ANU paid me for a full semester of tutoring in 2023. According to a response to an FOI request, the meeting did not warrant any notetaking and was “not significant”.
When Goorie and Koori poet Evelyn Araluen won last week’s $100,000 Victorian Prize for Literature, along with the $25,000 Indigenous Writing prize, she called on the Australian government to change the way it taxes arts prizes.
The first full academic year for Adelaide University – the product of a merger between the University of Adelaide and University of South Australia – is about to start. The merger cost a total of $500 million with a significant portion of that going to consultants. It was Deloitte that won the contract worth $185 million to manage the merger.
Today we will find out the ruling from the NSW Supreme Court on whether the planned protest in Sydney’s CBD against Israeli President Isaac Herzog can go ahead legally.
