Three-quarters of 16 and 17 year-olds have been exposed accidentally to pornographic websites on the Internet, and two in five boys have found them deliberately, according to the Australia Institute report released on Monday. The material these teenagers are seeing is often violent and extreme, and there is evidence that regular exposure is damaging their...

This paper analyses current levels of spending on greenhouse programs by the Australian government and asks whether the government's claim that it is spending $1 billion on greenhouse programs is true. The paper also compares spending in Australia on sustainable energy with spending in other countries.

Richard Denniss outlines a proposal for high-income sports stars including Lleyton Hewitt, Cathy Freeman and Shane Warne to be required to repay the costs of their publicly funded training under a new HECS-style scheme for elite sports developed by The Australia Institute. The scheme would require sportsperson who sign up to AIS programs to begin...

The preoccupation with money and consumption comes at an increasing cost. Many Australians consider that money-hunger conflicts with their deeper values and preferences and results in a society that is too materialistic. There is evidence that many people are deciding to accept lower incomes and consumption levels in order to have more balance in their...

International travellers -- mainly higher income earners -- can buy "duty-free" cigarettes and spirits for around half of the normal retail price because they are exempted from excises and GST. Although the Federal Government does not publish an official estimate of the costs to the budget of the current duty-free arrangements, the system of duty...