Australian women suffer a 'wage penalty' when they return to work after having a child, according to new research by the Australia Institute. In the first year back at work, women can expect to earn around four per cent less per hour on average than they would if they had not had a child, the...

The Coalition has committed to reducing greenhouse gas emissions by five per cent on 2000 levels by 2020. It proposes to achieve this target with a "Direct Action Plan": a competitive grant scheme that would buy greenhouse gas reductions from businesses and farmers. Over the past decade various Australian governments have announced more than seven...

A price on carbon will have a marginal effect on the number of jobs in the mining industry compared to the normal ebb and flow of the employment market, according to this report. It is commonplace in Australian policy debate for groups presumed to be adversely affected by proposed policies to provide estimates of the...

The Gillard Government is committed to introducing a price on carbon pollution by July 2012 however the details of the price, the sectors of the economy that will be covered by the scheme and the design features of the compensation package that is likely to accompany the carbon price are currently being negotiated by the...

This paper argues that many of the claims being made about the likely impact of a carbon price are exaggerated. The introduction of a carbon price in Australia in July 2012 will raise more than $10 billion per year, help influence industrial and household decision making and, inevitably, increase the costs and reduce the profits...