Grattan Institute

Former NSW deputy premier and Nationals leader John Barilaro being appointed to a plum state trade office job in New York over the top of another appointee shows NSW Corruption Inc still rules. Jim McIlroy reports.

It is an old trick in the neoliberal capitalist handbook for selling austerity to try to gain public support for another cutback by claiming to address “intergenerational inequity”.

First, young people were told they should not think that they are entitled to rights, such as free education, permanent jobs, unemployment benefits and even pensions when they are too ill or old to work.

The Victorian Labor government has announced an “ambitious and achievable” Victorian Renewable Energy Target (VRET). This target will commit the state to generating 25% of its electricity from renewable energy by 2020, and 40% by 2025.
Dire warnings from the federal government that property prices will fall and rents will soar if negative gearing and capital gains tax discounts are reduced have been found to be untrue by a Grattan Institute report. It also found the government’s claim that “mum and dad investors” were its biggest beneficiaries was untrue. In fact it found that negative gearing largely benefited the wealthy, with the top 10% of income earners getting almost half of the tax benefits before rental deductions.