The Australian banking industry is the most concentrated in the world and also the most profitable. In fact the ‘big four’ Australian banks make up four of the eight most profitable banks in the world. The big banks have conceded that they are not highly competitive but have argued that their market power provides benefits...

This paper argues that whatever the rationales for the creation of the current system of tax concessions for superannuation, minimising the future cost of the age pension does not appear to be among them. Australian taxpayers contributed $30.2 billion to the private accounts of that portion of the population with superannuation 2011-12. By 2015-16 this...

Santos recently commissioned the Allen Consulting Group to examine the economic impacts of developing coal seam gas operations in North West NSW. Far from delivering ‘once-in-a-generation economic opportunities’ as claimed by Santos, this analysis of the modelling reveals that the benefits to the local economy will be quite small, in the order of 30 new...

Cask wine produced from grapes grown along the Murray River is being sold for less than the cost of bottled water, this report reveals. With up to 960 litres of water used to make a single litre of cask wine, and bottled water retailing for up to $3.00 for 500ml, the Institute is concerned that...

"The future is in our hands, and it will be defined by the way we handle the current minerals boom. Get it wrong, and we falter. Get it right, and we set the nation up for decades to come."Prime Minister, the Hon. Julia Gillard