The research outlined in this report suggests that by requiring stronger monitoring and prevention measures in Australian workplaces, a significant share of mental illness and injury could be avoided. In addition to reducing the toll of mental illness for workers and their families, these measures would also generate substantial economic and fiscal benefits.

This briefing paper reviews the main features of the Australian federal budget 2021/22 from the perspective of workers and labour markets. In particular, it considers in detail a major flaw in the overall macroeconomic logic underpinning the budget.

Australians have been rightly shocked by repeated exposés of widespread mistreatment, neglect and even abuse of elders in our aged care system. This report argues that expanding the quantity and quality of aged care services should be seen as an economic opportunity, not just a fiscal expense.

This briefing paper illustrates how Australia’s recovery from the pandemic recession widened the gender pay gap, as women’s jobs returned on a more part-time and casualised basis than for men.

This report illustrates how the Morrison Government's omnibus industrial relations bill will lead to a significant increase in employer-designed enterprise agreements (EA) that reduce workers' pay and conditions, rather than improve them—signalling a return to the WorkChoices pattern of EA-making and putting further downward pressure on Australia's already record-low wages growth.