If you bet on the winner of the Miles Franklin, your windfall is tax free but if you win the Miles Franklin you pay tax. There's an easy and cheap way for the gov to help our best artists and writers. Make prizes tax free. Thanks to @charlottewood.bsky.social & Melissa Lucashenko for their thoughts

A real privilege to talk with @tommcilroy.bsky.social about his book 'Blue Poles' for Australia's Biggest Book Club last week @australiainstitute.org.au. A lively and wonderful conversation about Jackson Pollock, abstract expressionism, 'Blue Poles' and Australian arts policy today!

Very excited that @ketanjoshi.co is working with @australiainstitute.org.au!!! Check out his post on Woodside, dodgy offsets and the safeguard mechanism... australiainstitute.org.au/post/the-saf...

"The outer-Melbourne electorate of Calwell had "the most complex count in Australia's history", but almost nobody was talking about it before the election. Why? Only four journalists live in the seat, the least of anywhere in Australia. @rodcampbell.bsky.social writes ⤵️ #auspol

"the result in Calwell shows that the press has lost touch with the people, the result in Australia shows that the people have lost touch with the press" Absolute fire from @skyelark.bsky.social and @rodcampbell.bsky.social on the coverage of the most interesting electoral race in 2025

"The long view matters here" "some things seem more historic than they are, while the truly novel features of Australia’s current political landscape may pass us by" My piece with @browne90.bsky.social on the size of the crossbench in historical context australiainstitute.org.au/post/end-of-...

Hilariously, the AFR is showing just how absurd is the scare campaign against the super tax changes. They give an eg where someone's super goes from $2m to $3.18m in a year! Yep a $1.18m increase. How much extra tax? $1,528! OMG!! THAT'S OUTRAG... err... oh actually that's bugger all

If the LNP remains split, @joshuablackjb.bsky.social & @browne90.bsky.social note it would be the biggest crossbench since WWII. But before WWII big crossbenches were common #OffTheCharts australiainstitute.org.au/post/end-of-...

A brilliant brief from @yuan-frank.bsky.social explaining how the Chinese foreign policy establishment views world affairs right now, including their determination to "resist Trump's trade offensive" australiainstitute.org.au/report/chine... @australiainstitute.org.au

Great piece in National Account on declining legacy media influence, and The Oz's logical fallacies in response to that reality "Printed newspapers are no longer the political kingmakers they once were." @australiainstitute.org.au @skyelark.bsky.social www.nationalaccount.com.au/p/newspaper-...

Absolutely cracking new report from @ieefainstitute.bsky.social @adenisryan.bsky.social Japanese gas companies on-sell more Australian gas than Australian domestic use. Read it and weep. Big gas is taking the piss. 1/2 @australiainstitute.org.au ieefa.org/resources/ho...

Today’s coalition breakup is the latest in a much longer history of separations and reconciliations between the Libs and Nats #Auspol Here is my piece on this for @theconversation.com theconversation.com/the-band-is-...

By ‘changing media landscape’ we mean several interrelated forces and features…including this, yes 😂

Australian newspapers used to be good at backing winners. Over the past 30 years, most major newspapers backed the winner. Until 2022 and 2025, that is, when newspaper editorials came down on one side and voters came down on the other. 1/6 #Auspol2025

Here's the great new paper by Skye Predavec and @joshuablackjb.bsky.social australiainstitute.org.au/report/decli...

The Aus's Dennis Shanahan devoted a column to @australiainstitute.org.au 's new report on declining media power & this was the best he could do: "the big election editorial has never counted for much with voters. To suggest there’s been a decline of their influence ignores the political reality." 🧵

In response to @australiainstitute.org.au research about declining media influence in Aus elections, @theaustralian.bsky.social says newspaper endorsements "never counted for much" in the first place! 🤦‍♂️ Leaders can now govern boldly, without glancing over their shoulder at these guys all the time

'The spectre of media moguls as political kingmakers still looms large in the imagination of Australia’s political class': yes, but are they still in control of leaders/factions/duopoly? Will they meet again in 2025? Over to u JB? @joshuablackjb.bsky.social www.crikey.com.au/2022/08/29/a...

“The endorsement of newspapers used to be much sought-after, but these days such endorsements are practically irrelevant,” said @joshuablackjb.bsky.social, report co-author. A new report explores the declining influence of media endorsements and leaders’ debates on election outcomes. Read:

An op-ed from @jack-thrower.bsky.social and myself in @canberratimes.bsky.social this morning: how ANU became mired in scandal, and what can be done to steady the ship ANU boasts some of the world's finest scholars and teachers. They deserve better governance ASAP @australiainstitute.org.au

"Dosed-up Tasmanian salmon could pose health risks in the long run" My piece for @thenewdaily.bsky.social on Tassie salmon farming, antibiotic dosing and the ecological + health risks @australiainstitute.org.au www.thenewdaily.com.au/opinion/2025...

After a brief sleep, here’s my piece for @theconversation.com on the success of independents at the election and their prospects for the next parliament @australiainstitute.org.au theconversation.com/independents...

Today's retail trade figures show the RBA failed when it did not cut rates in April #OffTheCharts @grogsgamut.bsky.social australiainstitute.org.au/post/retail-...

Huge thanks to WIN News for talking to us about our research on university spending. It's really important that we start to get some proper disclosure about this spending from every university, not just some!

A privilege to work with @browne90.bsky.social and @skyelark.bsky.social on this report about the recent history of power sharing in Australia's parliaments. There are many ways to make a balanced parliament work well! @australiainstitute.org.au

Just so we're clear, Peter Dutton has been "very clear" throughout this campaign. He says so himself... australiainstitute.org.au/post/this-el... @australiainstitute.org.au's Pritika Kumar counts the clarity

@joshuablackjb.bsky.social and I and I put together this piece (our first collab!) on the appalling 'Chinese spy' beat-up in recent days. It was a great pleasure working with a fellow historian and an outstanding writer. live.australiainstitute.org.au/category/aus...

I hope you've been enjoying the political ads this election campaign - you pay for many of them! @joshuablackjb.bsky.social on @australiainstitute.org.au live blog explains what we know - and don't know - about political finance. live.australiainstitute.org.au/2025/05/aust...

"Dark money and your money pay for most of the political ads you’re seeing" A piece from @browne90.bsky.social and I on the importance of undisclosed private funds, and public funding, for political parties' income. @australiainstitute.org.au australiainstitute.org.au/post/electio...

University is expensive, especially so for humanities students If the next parliament wants to show that it is serious about helping graduates with the cost of living, it would scrap the unfair Job-ready Graduates package @jack-thrower.bsky.social @australiainstitute.org.au

"Spending $54 million on consultants, which is what the ANU spent in 2023, is quite striking, especially when you have so much knowledge & expertise on your staff. The need to spend $54M seeking external advice to make big decisions suggests poor prioritisation." @joshuablackjb.bsky.social #auspol

Please read and consider. Thank you @joshuablackjb.bsky.social @australiainstitute.org.au

"Across 2022 and 2023, the ANU spent more than $71.6 million on travel, over $11 million on advertising and over $107 million on consultants. That $190 million, if saved, would have negated entirely the $100 million cuts to jobs" @joshuablackjb.bsky.social

Australia’s universities spend hundreds of millions of dollars on travel, marketing and consultants, while cutting costs, staff and courses, according to new research by The Australia Institute's @joshuablackjb.bsky.social. Read:

"Instead of spending millions of dollars competing with one another using advertising campaigns that no longer work, universities could improve their reputations by investing properly in staff and lifting the quality of their courses." @joshuablackjb.bsky.social

ESSENTIAL reading for anyone involved in Oz unis. *Especially voting parents* ACU, ANU and UOW case studies. Appalling stats but they are ‘typical not extraordinary’: go get em @joshuablackjb.bsky.social @australiainstitute.org.au australiainstitute.org.au/report/elect...

There's no such thing as a safe seat anymore. And that's a good thing! As more and more Australians vote for candidates outside the major parties, the idea of a 'safe' seat is increasingly a thing of the past. @joshuablackjb.bsky.social #auspol

This election campaign is 37 days long. Minus the Easter long weekend and ANZAC Day, and you get the shortest election campaign of the past 30 years. So why does it feel like a lifetime...? australiainstitute.org.au/post/electio... @australiainstitute.org.au @browne90.bsky.social #Auspol2025

"If there is a hung parliament after May 3, history shows us it can be put to good use." Here's my piece for @theconversation.com on the independents, their campaigns and the possibilities that a hung parliament presents for meaningful reform #Auspol2025

"Few of us stop to think how unusual it is that a competitor also enjoys control over the starter’s gun." @joshuablackjb.bsky.social on @australiainstitute.org.au live blog on how often Australians vote in elections. australiainstitute.org.au/post/think-t...

Policy of the Day: Five ideas to make our tax system better. If we make the gas industry pay their fair share, reduce loopholes that benefit the wealthy, and stop subsidising fossil fuels, we can collect more revenue to build world-class services that a country like Australia deserves.

Watched the third leaders’ debate tonight so you don’t have to. (I stress: you truly don’t have to…) @theconversation.com @australiainstitute.org.au #Auspol2025 #debate

All of the major players have said there’s no gas shortage. It hasn't stopped Big Gas from crying about “demonisation of gas” when Vic Govt banned gas connections to new homes. Reducing gas dependence is the right response to engineered scarcity & price gouging, writes @joshuablackjb.bsky.social.

@joshuablackjb.bsky.social turns up the heat on big gas. www.thenewdaily.com.au/opinion/2025...

For many journalists, the past – specifically the past before 1945 – is a foreign country. But a longer view would help us better understand the political processes around us. Here's my attempt to offer a corrective: australiainstitute.org.au/post/electio... @australiainstitute.org.au

Never mind Liberal v Labor – right now, it’s Big Gas v the rest – new analysis piece from @joshuablackjb.bsky.social "In 2023-24, Australian Energy Producers disclosed almost $95,000 in contributions to the Labor Party, and a further $77,000 to the Coalition." #auspol

Independent MPs are not new to Australian politics. Australians have long been world leaders in sending Independents to their parliaments. australiainstitute.org.au/post/electio... #Auspol2025

These new funds proposed by the LNP are not taxes on windfall profits, but just a boondoggle that pretends that getting the budget figures wrong is a windfall #OffTheCharts @mattgrudnoff.bsky.social australiainstitute.org.au/post/the-lib...

More on the history and practice of preferential voting from my colleagues @joshuablackjb.bsky.social and Skye Predavec on the @australiainstitute.org.au website. australiainstitute.org.au/post/full-pr...