Follow The Money

Superannuation is supposed to help us save for our retirement, and tax concessions on super are meant to reduce the burden on the government to fund our retirement through the age pension. But what are these concessions, and are they really working in the way they are intended to? To help explain, we're talking to the Australia Institute's Senior Economist Matt Grudnoff, and Senior Research Fellow, Dave Richardson. This was recorded on Tuesday 7th March 2023 and things may have changed since recording. The Australia Institute // @theausinstitute Speakers: Matt Grudnoff, Senior Economist, the Australia Institute // @MattGrudnoff Dave Richardson, Senior Research Fellow, the Australia Institute // @daverr01 Host: Ebony Bennett, Deputy Director, the Australia Institute // @ebony_bennett Producer: Jennifer Macey // @jennifermacey Edited by: Emily Perkins Theme Music: Pulse and Thrum; additional music by Blue Dot SessionsSupport Follow the Money: https://nb.australiainstitute.org.au/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Australians are doing it tough at the moment, with cost of living soaring, real wages falling at a record pace, and the RBA’s nine back-to-back interest rate rises only making things harder, all in the name of reducing inflation. Some commentators are warning of a ‘wage price spiral’. But what is really driving inflation? This week we're speaking to Policy Director at the Centre for Future Work and economist Greg Jericho, to learn what exactly is to blame. This was recorded on Tuesday 28th February 2023 and things may have changed since recording. The Australia Institute // @theausinstitute Speaker: Greg Jericho, Policy Director, Climate & Energy Program, the Australia Institute // @GrogsGamut Host: Ebony Bennett, Deputy Director, the Australia Institute // @ebony_bennett Producer: Jennifer Macey // @jennifermacey Edited by: Emily Perkins Theme Music: Pulse and Thrum; additional music by Blue Dot SessionsSupport Follow the Money: https://nb.australiainstitute.org.au/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Climate Integrity Summit 2023 brought together leading experts to discuss and address integrity risks that could jeopardise Australia's emissions reduction policies. The Australia Institute's Polly Hemming unpacked what climate integrity really is, and why it is the antidote to the Australian government's state-sponsored greenwash. This was recorded on Wednesday 15th February 2023 and things may have changed since recording. The Australia Institute // @theausinstitute Speaker: Polly Hemming, Acting Director, Climate & Energy Program, the Australia Institute // @pollyjhemming Host: Ebony Bennett, Deputy Director, the Australia Institute // @ebony_bennett Producer: Jennifer Macey // @jennifermacey Edited by: Emily Perkins Theme Music: Pulse and Thrum; additional music by Blue Dot SessionsSupport Follow the Money: https://nb.australiainstitute.org.au/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The RBA recently raised interest rates again for the ninth time in a row, in an effort to reduce inflation. But is the pain the interest rate rises causing worth it? And could they do anything else instead? This was recorded on Wednesday 8th February 2023 and things may have changed since recording. The Australia Institute // @theausinstitute Guest: Matt Grudnoff, Senior Economist, the Australia Institute // @MattGrudnoff Host: Ebony Bennett, Deputy Director, the Australia Institute // @ebony_bennett Producer: Jennifer Macey // @jennifermacey Edited by: Emily Perkins Theme Music: Pulse and Thrum; additional music by Blue Dot SessionsSupport Follow the Money: https://nb.australiainstitute.org.au/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The new 'Build Your Own Budget' tool released by the Parliamentary Budget Office reveals that despite how all-or-nothing the debate about the Stage 3 tax cuts has become, the $300bn cost of the tax cuts over 9 years provides an opportunity for the Albanese government to amend the tax cuts and also increase support for benefits and government services. This was recorded on Wednesday 25th January 2023 and things may have changed since recording. The Australia Institute // @theausinstitute Guest: Greg Jericho, Policy Director, Labour Market and Fiscal, the Australia Institute // @GrogsGamut Host: Ebony Bennett, Deputy Director, the Australia Institute // @ebony_bennett Producer: Jennifer Macey // @jennifermacey Edited by: Emily Perkins Theme Music: Pulse and Thrum; additional music by Blue Dot SessionsSupport Follow the Money: https://nb.australiainstitute.org.au/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Our summer podcast series brings you some of the best conversations from our webinars in 2022. Last year, the Greens introduced a bill to establish a ‘climate trigger’ in Australia’s environment laws which would force the government to take into account the climate impacts of fossil fuel projects. This was recorded on Wednesday 21st September 2022 and things may have changed since recording. The Australia Institute // @theausinstitute Guests: Senator Sarah Hanson-Young, Greens Environment spokesperson // @sarahinthesen8 Richie Merzian, former Director, Climate & Energy Program, the Australia Institute // @RichieMerzian Host: Ebony Bennett, Deputy Director, the Australia Institute // @ebony_bennett Producer: Jennifer Macey // @jennifermacey Edited by: Emily Perkins Theme Music: Pulse and Thrum; additional music by Blue Dot SessionsSupport Follow the Money: https://nb.australiainstitute.org.au/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Our summer podcast series brings you some of the best conversations from our webinars in 2022. Australian governments have committed to tackling the twin climate and biodiversity crises but continue to subsidise and approve fossil fuels and habitat destruction. While simple policy solutions exist, governments are instead relying on over-complicated market-based solutions to conceal the fundamental contradiction between support for fossil fuel production and promises to save the environment. This was recorded on Wednesday 23rd November 2022 and things may have changed since recording. The Australia Institute // @theausinstitute Guests: Richard Denniss, Executive Director, the Australia Institute // @RDNS_TAI Polly Hemming, Senior Researcher, Climate & Energy Program, the Australia Institute // @pollyjhemming Host: Ebony Bennett, Deputy Director, the Australia Institute // @ebony_bennett Producer: Jennifer Macey // @jennifermacey Edited by: Emily Perkins Theme Music: Pulse and Thrum; additional music by Blue Dot SessionsSupport Follow the Money: https://nb.australiainstitute.org.au/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Our summer podcast series brings you some of the best conversations from our webinars in 2022. Andrew Quilty was one of a handful of Western journalists who stayed in Kabul as the city fell. His new book August in Kabul his first-hand account of those dramatic final days. This was recorded on Wednesday 3rd August 2022 and things may have changed since recording. The Australia Institute // @theausinstitute Guest: Andrew Quilty, journalist and author // @andrewquilty Host: Ebony Bennett, Deputy Director, the Australia Institute // @ebony_bennett Producer: Jennifer Macey // @jennifermacey Edited by: Emily Perkins Theme Music: Pulse and Thrum; additional music by Blue Dot SessionsSupport Follow the Money: https://nb.australiainstitute.org.au/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Our summer podcast series brings you some of the best conversations from our webinars in 2022. Pacific Island nations are on the front line of climate change, and as Australia celebrates the passage of the 43% climate bill, Pacific leaders want to know that the new Australian Government’s improved rhetoric on climate is matched by policy integrity when it comes to new gas and coal projects and exports. This was recorded on Wednesday 12th October 2022 and things may have changed since recording. The Australia Institute // @theausinstitute Speakers: Anote Tong, former President of Kiribati Tommy E. Remengesau Jr., former President of Palau Richie Merzian, Director, Climate & Energy Program at the Australia Institute // @RichieMerzian Host: Ebony Bennett, Deputy Director, the Australia Institute // @ebony_bennett Producer: Jennifer Macey // @jennifermacey Edited by: Emily Perkins Theme Music: Pulse and Thrum; additional music by Blue Dot SessionsSupport Follow the Money: https://nb.australiainstitute.org.au/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Our summer podcast series brings you some of the best conversations from our webinars in 2022. The Uluru Statement from the Heart is an invitation to the Australian people to walk with First Nations people to create a better future. It is a gift: a strategic roadmap to peace, where all Australians can come together to realise our nation’s true potential. This was recorded on Wednesday 3rd August 2022 and things may have changed since recording. The Australia Institute // @theausinstitute Speakers: Pat Anderson AO, Alyawarre woman and Chairperson of the Lowitja Institute Professor Megan Davis, Cobble Cobble woman and Pro Vice-Chancellor Indigenous and Professor of Law at UNSW. Host: Ebony Bennett, Deputy Director, the Australia Institute // @ebony_bennett Producer: Jennifer Macey // @jennifermacey Edited by: Emily Perkins Theme Music: Pulse and Thrum; additional music by Blue Dot SessionsSupport Follow the Money: https://nb.australiainstitute.org.au/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.