Author Archives: Georgia Folker

• Tough decisions needed on gas

  Tough decisions needed on gas

  31.05.2026

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  Australia has tough decisions to make about gas, and it needs to make them quickly, a new Grattan Institute report warns. 

  The report, Out of gas: Managing the decline of gas in Australia, calls on the federal and state governments to take more control of declining gas production and use, to achieve climate targets and protect users from high prices.

  ‘Australian households and businesses are using less gas every year. But governments have largely ignored this trend, and have failed to plan for the consequences,’ says report lead author and Grattan Institute Energy and Climate Change Program Director Alison Reeve.

  The report shows that gas is in decline in Australia:

  • More households now leave the gas network than join it.
  • The amount of gas burnt to generate electricity has been shrinking for a decade, and its role backing up renewables is small.
  • Industrial use of gas is declining as manufacturing changes and businesses electrify.

  But to hit net zero by 2050, gas use needs to fall faster.

  Governments should urgently implement policies to reduce gas use across the economy, so that they can control the rate of decline and prevent higher prices.

  The report urges state governments to set dates for ending gas use for heating and cooking in homes, if they haven’t done so already.

  And it urges the federal government to enforce stricter rules to ensure major industries transition away from using gas.

  ‘A declining gas market will need to be managed very differently,’ Ms Reeve says.

  ‘As demand declines, demand for the gas pipeline network will evaporate. This creates a risk of sky-rocketing prices for gas users and of stranded assets for gas network owners.’

  Less demand for gas will mean more demand for electricity. Governments need to ensure the electricity network can handle the increased demand from gas-to-electric switching.

  LNG demand will decline globally in the long-term. But at the moment it is a booming industry in Australia, so the federal government should ensure the industry pays more tax, keeps its emissions under control, and cleans up after itself.

  ‘Reducing gas use in Australia is a multi-decade project that must start today,’ says Ms Reeve.

  ‘Continuing to ignore the problem will result in a chaotic and inequitable process with higher costs for all.’

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• Axe car-parking rules to cut the cost of housing

  Tough decisions needed on gas

  31.05.2026

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  The rules that require new housing developments to include off-street parking needlessly drive up the price of homes and should be scrapped, according to a new Grattan Institute report. 

  The report, Wasted space: Axe car-parking rules to ease the housing crisis, finds that the rules add about $70,000 to the cost of building a typical two-bedroom apartment in Sydney, $62,000 in Melbourne, $113,000 in Brisbane, $95,000 in Adelaide, and $137,000 in Perth. 

  ‘Many people who live in apartments don’t want or need car-parking, but they are forced to pay for it anyway,’ says Grattan Institute CEO Aruna Sathanapally. 

  There are more car spaces than cars in apartment blocks in Sydney and Melbourne. Off-street parking accounts for 13 per cent of the built floor space of apartments in those two cities. And as much as 40 per cent of these spaces sit vacant each night.  

  About 40 per cent of households in studio or one-bedroom apartments, and 19 per cent of households in two-bedroom apartments, don’t own a car. And 58 per cent of households in family-sized apartments with three or more bedrooms have just one car, or none.  

  ‘The result is a wasteful mismatch across our major cities between what parking is mandated and what’s needed,’ says Dr Sathanapally. 

  Every year, Australia spends more than $1 billion building unwanted off-street parking.  

  The report calls on state governments and local councils to remove parking requirements for new housing developments.  

  Homebuilders would still be free to provide the spaces that residents want, but would no longer have to build parking that residents don’t want. 

  As well as cutting tens of thousands of dollars off the cost of new homes, this change would shave months off construction time and could tip an additional 140,000 dwellings in Sydney and Melbourne into commercial feasibility – homes that currently don’t stack up financially because of parking costs. 

  It would avoid the cost of constructing more than 86,000 unwanted car spaces nationwide over the next five years – spaces that would otherwise consume $5.2 billion in construction resources that could instead go toward building 9,000 extra homes. 

  Parking requirements are intended to stop cars from new developments clogging up residential streets — but they are a blunt, second-best tool. State and local governments should instead better manage demand for on-street parking in high-demand areas, via parking permits, time limits, and user charging. 

  ‘Letting Australian homebuyers choose the car-parking they need will make housing cheaper, get more homes built faster, and create more walkable, cleaner, and better-designed cities,’ says Dr Sathanapally. 

  ‘What are we waiting for?’ 

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• Act now to safeguard our democracy

  Tough decisions needed on gas

  31.05.2026

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  Australians cannot take the future strength and resilience of our democracy for granted, according to a new Grattan Institute report.

  The report, For the people: Future-proofing Australia’s democracy, shows that democracy is backsliding globally, and the world order in which Australia has flourished is being seriously tested.

  These are more turbulent times not just for our economy or standard of living, but for liberal democracies themselves.

  Australia has a history of democratic innovation to be proud of, and Australians consistently value democracy.

  But the report finds that satisfaction with how our democracy is working is fragile.

  ‘Over human history, liberal democracy is relatively recent, hard won, and precious,’ says report lead author and Grattan Institute CEO Aruna Sathanapally.

  ‘Our investigation exposes warning signs for Australia, and underscores that it will take work to ensure Australia’s democracy is fit for these turbulent times.’

  The report identifies five priorities for Australia to build a better and more resilient democracy:

  1. First, federal parliament sits at the centre of our democracy. We should make it more representative and better functioning, to engender greater trust and improve long-term decision-making and the administration of government.
  2. We must build engagement to ensure that Australians have a voice and feel a sense of belonging, particularly those who find themselves on the margins of the economy and society.
  3. We must protect our public sphere – where Australians inform themselves and engage in the contest of ideas – by ensuring the sustainability of our news media and investing in institutions that produce trusted information.
  4. In a democracy, process matters, but so do outcomes. Australians need confidence that our system of government can work for them and is capable of making difficult policy reforms in the public interest, not vested interests.
  5. Crises are the moments that build or erode trust – and we face a future of rolling shocks. Our governments need to be better prepared, by reducing our vulnerability to known risks, building fiscal buffers, and calibrating expectations about what governments can do to cushion the blow.

  ‘Reforms that show that those in power are willing to tackle our big challenges (such as the housing crisis, the climate emergency, and the imperative for serious tax reform) will not only deliver a better economy and society, they will build trust in our democratic system to deliver for the people,’ says Dr Sathanapally.

  ‘Australians expect a lot of their governments, but in a democracy we govern ourselves. So this is a task for all of us.’

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