Competition in electricity retailing hasn’t delivered what was promised: lower prices for consumers. The failure is worst in Victoria, the state with the most retailers and the longest experience of deregulation. Profit margins appear to be higher than in other retail sectors – and more than double the margin that regulators considered fair when they...

Overview On the night of 7 July, the wind was hardly blowing in South Australia and the sun had gone down. Two coal plants had closed earlier that year, and an electricity connection that provides power from Victoria was effectively closed for upgrades. As a result, gas was supplying nearly all the state’s power needs...

Climate policy has been divisive and politically brutal territory over the past decade, playing a decisive role in the downfall of Liberal leaders John Howard and Malcolm Turnbull (in 2009), and then Labor's Kevin Rudd and Julia Gillard. A new report by the Grattan Institute says a credible 'convergence' can be built around the Coalition's...

After a decade of toxic political debates and a policy bonfire, there is an opportunity to forge a stable and compelling policy on climate change that could be supported by both sides of politics. Abipartisan approach to reducing greenhouse gas emissions is within reach. This policy roadmap builds on the Coalition’s current climate policies while...

Overview Australia has begun to address climate change. The Commonwealth Government has committed to reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 26–28 per cent below 2005 levels by 2030. But we do not have a comprehensive, credible domestic policy framework to achieve this target. We do not even have bipartisan support for the central planks of such...