The top tax threshold has not kept pace with the astronomical increases in executive salaries writes Richard Denniss. Until recently, the idea that executive salaries might be ‘too high’ was dismissed as evidence that the proponent didn’t understand how the ‘global market for talent’ works. In the wake of the global financial crisis, however, limiting...

Rising energy prices combined with technological developments mean that renewable energy sources are becoming increasingly competitive with fossil fuel sources of energy. Mandatory renewable energy targets provide an added incentive to invest in renewable energy sources and the expectation of a modest price for carbon emissions helps encourage new investment in renewables even further. That...

The Commonwealth Government could start injecting tens of millions of dollar into the economy each week by simply increasing the size of a payment such as the age pension. The current slowing in the world economy has raised a number of important issues about the way that the Australian government, and governments in all developed...

This discussion paper describes the rise of character provisions in Commonwealth laws over the last ten years. The use of character testing has increased in traditional areas, such as migration and citizenship, and has moved into new areas of law, such as the employment of persons in critical industries and criminal law. The first time...

The Introduction of an Emissions Trading Scheme has the potential to significantly reduce Australia's greenhouse gas emissions, but the issue of which groups should be compensated, and by how much, is yet to be addressed. In this paper the Institute makes the case for providing substantial compensation to community groups, state and local governments, and...