A report on Australia’s standard of living has found that low real wages, underfunded public services and soaring prices have left many families experiencing hardship and hopelessness. The report documents the origins of the current crisis in living standards and presents a multidimensional progressive policy agenda for the Australian Government.

An analysis of the Commonwealth Government’s 2025-26 budget that focuses on the aspects targeting and impacting on workers, working lives and labour markets. The paper finds the budget is characterised by the absence of any significant initiatives, although the surprise tax cuts are welcome.

This report finds the Australian Government should leverage its position as financier of renewable energy projects to guarantee strong labour standards in new energy and manufacturing jobs. It calls for labour standards to be embedded in Australia’s energy transition and industrial strategies, by attaching conditions to public financial support, and penalising non-compliance with these conditions.

This briefing paper reviews the main features of the 2024-25 Commonwealth Budget from the perspective of workers and labour markets.

The authors of this report argue that Australia needs to respond quickly to powerful new incentives for sustainable manufacturing now on offer in the United States and several other industrial countries, or risk being cut out of lucrative new markets for manufactured products linked to renewable energy systems.