Centre for Independent Studies

What do Australians really think about social media? We're joined this week by CIS policy analyst Monica Wilkie, who will share the results of her new CIS survey on the subject. Does social media connect or isolate? Is its impact on society mostly positive or negative? Which generation relies on social media the most, and for what purposes? And at a time when two-thirds of Australians want Faceboo...

The dry continent is home to massive groundwater resources, but we don't even know how much freshwater rests right under our feet. Grahame Campbell FRSN is a tireless advocate for data-driven resource management, but when it comes to groundwater, we just don't have the data. Despite spending billions on the Murray-Darling Basin Plan, Australia's governments still don't understand how the surface w...

“The goal should be to shrink, focus and improve the state.” On the show this Wednesday, we welcome Adam Smith Institute’s Matthew Lesh. Recently, writing in the IPA Review and The Australian, Matt says assessing public policy responses to covid comes down to the competence, rather than size, of government. Despite countless alternative explanations — such as differences in population size, style...

March, 4th 2021 marked the 25th anniversary of the Howard Coalition government’s election. In honour of the occasion, former prime minister John Howard and CIS executive director Tom Switzer sat down for a conversation about the policy successes (and failures) of his government as well as the current economic, cultural and foreign policy challenges facing Australia. In 1995, Mr. Howard had inherit...

Donald Trump turned America on its head and shocked the world, taking an isolationist approach to foreign policy, shaking up global institutions and fomenting the rise of ‘fake news’. How did the reality TV star win over the hearts and minds of so many regular Americans from Ohio to Florida? And how, after four years, does he have more supporters than ever? This week, three-time foreign correspond...

Does prosperity depend on discipline, rational planning, and strict adherence to scientific principles? Or is it more about having an "ambidextrous frame of mind"? Professor Peter Murphy joins us this week to discuss his book The Political Economy of Prosperity: Successful Societies and Productive Cultures. Prof. Murphy talks to us about the paradoxes that shape our daily lives. Anyone who has eve...

On the show this Wednesday, we welcome former CIS scholar John Lee. Recently writing in The Australian, John highlighted the new US administration has not removed Trump’s tariffs and other economic measures against China. Instead it has reaffirmed a previous assessment by then secretary of state Mike Pompeo that genocide is being committed in Xinjiang and the US Navy recently sailed a guided-missi...

📩 Download the new report now: https://www.cis.org.au/publications/occasional-papers/the-new-president-what-bidens-foreign-policy-agenda-means-for-australia/ Joe Biden comes to the presidency amid great expectations for a return to normalcy in American foreign policy, but that doesn’t necessarily mean a more benign international environment for Australia. The United States has global priorities a...

This week, legal scholar Joshua Forrester joins us to discuss how words like harm and safety have been redefined by political activists to attack fundamental freedoms. Citing no less authorities than Plato and Confucius, he argues that 'concept creep' has undermined not only our language, but our politics. Emblematic of the dangers of redefinition is the warping of John Stewart Mill's classically...

Indigenous educational disadvantage has persisted despite countless initiatives, programmes, and spending from governments and communities. For solutions to help truly close the gap, CIS hosts a stellar panel in our latest webinar: Dr Lorraine Hammond AM, Nyunggai Warren Mundine AO, and Jacinta Nampijinpa Price. The educational plight of indigenous students has endured despite countless initiative...

China has responded to the coronavirus by turbocharging its surveillance state -- and it has successfully sold its new brand of 'digital authoritarianism' as a best practice model to the rest of the world. Governance and security expert Lydia Khalil will join us for Season 3 of On Liberty, this Wednesday, 3 February 12:30 pm. Lydia will discuss how the coronavirus gave China the opportunity to put...

Rob discusses liberalism with Peter Kurti, director of the Culture, Prosperity and Civil Society Program at the CIS, who surprisingly says he is not a liberal but a conservative and then explains why. ______________________________________________________________________________________________ CIS promotes free choice and individual liberty and the open exchange of ideas. CIS encourages debate am...

Professor Simon Haines is a distinguished scholar, teacher and author, and a passionate advocate for the humanities. CEO of The Ramsay Centre for Western Civilisation, Simon joins Rob to discuss the genesis and origins of liberalism. ______________________________________________________________________________________________ CIS promotes free choice and individual liberty and the open exchange o...

Rob discusses issues of liberalism and the university with then Vice Chancellor of the University of Sydney, Michael Spence. Michael is concerned about whether the growing lack of common beliefs will threaten liberal society. He is committed to the vision of the university as a crucial institution in the liberal community. They discuss challenges and opportunities of the modern university in achie...

Parnell McGuinness is a columnist at the Sydney Morning Herald, Australian Financial Review, and is Managing Director at Agenda C. Parnell’s family, especially her late father P.P. (Padraic Pearse) ‘Paddy’ McGuinness, an anti-authoritarian, non-conformist individualist, have spent most of their lives fighting for classical liberalism. Parnell decries to the lack of nuance in liberalism and the nee...

Glenn Fahey is a Research Fellow in Education Policy at the CIS. Previously Glenn has held a series of both policy and research intensive positions in the field of education and economics, as well as being a pizza shop manager. In conversation, Glenn's pizza shop job turned out to be one important reason why he is committed to Liberalism. ___________________________________________________________...

Rob interviews Tim Wilson, who at the time of recording was MP for Goldstein, about the issues raised by his recent book The New Social Contract: Renewing the Liberal Vision for Australia (2020). They discuss Robert Menzies’ vision of a liberalism ‘for individuals not for individualism’ and the need for a society in which individuals have a stake and commitment. Tim is concerned that there are too...

Stan Grant an experienced journalist, thinker and writer has thought deeply about liberalism to which he is attracted by an innate love of freedom. And yet he is aware of liberalism’s limitations in dealing with issues of history and identity. Rob and Stan discuss the dynamic nature of liberalism, the way that indigenous rights may be included within it, and why this can enhance an Australian libe...

In an energetic discussion of both sociology and history Salvatore Babones, Associate Professor of Sociology at the University of Sydney, is unashamedly upbeat about liberalism and its place in history and the future. And he is not that worried about ‘cancel culture’ or the threat of authoritarian societies either. ___________________________________________________________________________________...

Identity politics and political correctness continue to fuel the culture wars. To understand how these ideas have taken over, CIS will be hosting Dr Gad Saad for a special On Liberty Extra. Gad’s latest book, The Parasitic Mind: How Infectious Ideas are Killing Common Sense eviscerates the nonsense and logical fallacies that riddle politically correct ideology. Gad details how, what he calls, “Dan...

The 2020 CIS Nanny Awards take a look back at the year's best and most absurd attempts of the state to try to meddle and infringe on our daily lives. Presented by CIS Executive Director, Tom Switzer and Emeritus Professor Steven Schwartz. 1st; All Governments - All Covid-19 related measures, laws, lockdowns and restrictions! 2nd; NSW Police - For fining a man $1000 for eating a kebab on a bench in...

For Christians the world over, Christmas is primarily a religious celebration. Yet Protestant dissenters outlawed the celebration of Christmas in seventeenth century Britain. In Scotland, Christmas Day only became a public holiday in 1958. Meanwhile for many non-practicing Christians (and even for non-Christians), the real Christmas is the Consumer Christmas celebrated in shopping malls, while for...

Rob chats with Professor Ian Harper, member of the Reserve Bank Board and dean of the Melbourne Business School, about liberalism as a prejudice to freedom and not a strict doctrine, why becoming a Christian believer reaffirmed his conviction about the freedom of the individual, about whether the Church has been an enemy or friend of liberalism, and the need for moral restraint for freedom to be p...

Welcome to our new podcast Liberalism in Question with host Rob Forsyth. This will be a new listen only series on our YouTube Channel. If you prefer to listen through your chosen podcast network check out the links at the bottom of the description. In a wide ranging conversation, Rob chats to former prime minister John Howard AC about what liberalism is, why it is best combined with conservatism,...

With the coming of the "Quad" and the successful completion of Australia's participation in the Indian-led Malabar naval exercises, Australians are increasingly looking to India for the future. Indian-Australians are playing a leading role in building that future with their creation of the School of Policy and Governance (SPG), a new institution dedicated to "creating India's leading graduate inst...