Centre for Independent Studies

Conversation with former Prime Minister John Howard and CIS executive director Tom Switzer on the threats to Australia’s core cultural institutions and beliefs. Australia is still a free country, but our politically correct times are such that many serious subjects cannot be discussed openly without inspiring condemnation from what John Howard once called “self-appointed cultural dieticians.” Some...

Michael Stutchbury, editor-in-chief of the Australian Financial Review, launched at the CIS Peter Hendy’s Why Australia Slept: How the Australian community sleep-walked across the decades jeopardising its abundant natural blessings. Australia is in danger of sleepwalking into the future. For decades, Australia “slept” through a period of high tariff protection and heavily regulated industries. As...

As Treasurer, Dominic Perrottet is focused on financial discipline and making better use of the resources government has, enabling it to improve services and invest in critical infrastructure, while at the same time lowering the tax and regulatory burden. ____________________ The Centre for Independent Studies (CIS) promotes free choice and individual liberty, and defends cultural freedom and the...

Dr Jeremy Sammut, Senior Research Fellow at the centre, gives his submission during the second public hearing of the House of representatives standing committee on the social policy and legal affairs in Canberra for the enquiry into local adoption. ____________________ The Centre for Independent Studies (CIS) promotes free choice and individual liberty, and defends cultural freedom and the open ex...

Simon Cowan's participation to a discussion panel with Elaine Pearson, Erin Watson-Lynn, Katharine Murphy and Merriden Varrall on the ABC show The Drum. ____________________ The Centre for Independent Studies (CIS) promotes free choice and individual liberty, and defends cultural freedom and the open exchange of ideas. CIS encourages debate among leading academics, politicians, media and the publi...

Short intervention of Jennifer Buckingham from the CIS in the Education Card of A Current Affair about Gonski 2.0 and NAPLAN. ____________________ The Centre for Independent Studies (CIS) promotes free choice and individual liberty, and defends cultural freedom and the open exchange of ideas. CIS encourages debate among leading academics, politicians, media and the public. We aim to make sure good...

Xi Jinping seeks to entrench his legitimacy as unchallengeable ruler for the next decade or more, by leading the People’s Republic into international leadership, with its governance becoming a global model. Tom Switzer is joined by Rowan Callick, one of Australia’s leading China watchers, in conversation at The Centre for Independent Studies. ____________________ The Centre for Independent Studies...

Peter Costello delivered 12 budgets — 10 of them surpluses — and when he left office, Australia’s economic position was the envy of the world: large surpluses, no debt, high growth and low unemployment. With his wealth of experience and expertise, Costello tells us what we really need to know about the 2018/19 Budget and Australia’s fiscal direction. ____________________ The Centre for Independent...

ABC Nightlife host Philip Clark breakdown the budget with guests Simon Cowan from the Centre for Independent Studies, Peter Martin, Economics Editor for the Age and Cassandra Goldie, Chief Executive of the Australian Council of Social Services. ____________________ The Centre for Independent Studies (CIS) promotes free choice and individual liberty, and defends cultural freedom and the open exchan...

The Treasurer Scott Morrison will hand down the 2018 Federal Budget next week. What will it tell us about the state of our economy and political environment? Tom Switzer asks two experts from the left and right of the political spectrum. Ben Oquist, Executive Director - The Australia Institute Simon Cowan, research fellow in the economics program - Centre for Independent Studies __________________...

Is this Gonski 2.0? Federal Education Minister Simon Birmingham and Jennifer Buckingham from The Centre For Independent Studies answer all your questions about changes to the education system. ____________________ The Centre for Independent Studies (CIS) promotes free choice and individual liberty, and defends cultural freedom and the open exchange of ideas. CIS encourages debate among leading aca...

Senate Economics References Committee Sydney 24/04/2018. Comments by CIS economic researchers Simon Cowan and Mathew O'Donnell. ____________________ The Centre for Independent Studies (CIS) promotes free choice and individual liberty, and defends cultural freedom and the open exchange of ideas. CIS encourages debate among leading academics, politicians, media and the public. We aim to make sure go...

Member of Parliament Ken Wyatt visited the CIS to give a speech on Indigenous Health and explain his view that simply “more funding” is not the solution. ____________________ The Centre for Independent Studies (CIS) promotes free choice and individual liberty, and defends cultural freedom and the open exchange of ideas. CIS encourages debate among leading academics, politicians, media and the publ...

Former prime minister Tony Abbott has recently called for slashing immigration to deal with Australia’s housing and infrastructure challenges. As a result, he has sparked a debate that goes beyond ideology. Meanwhile, opinion polls indicate growing opposition to high levels of migration that have helped shape public policy in recent decades. Has Australia’s long economic expansion been dependent o...

March 13 marked the 25th anniversary of the 1993 federal election contest between the incumbent Paul Keating and John Hewson. In the lead up to the recession ‘we had to have’, John Hewson emerged as the leader of the opposition Liberal party. He set out early and launched his Fightback policy in late 1991 representing the Coalition’s new future policy direction. Join our panelists for a discussion...

The CIS had the pleasure to welcome Sadanand Dhume, a resident fellow at the Washington-based American Enterprise Institute and distinguished commentator on Indian politics. Narendra Modi is India’s most powerful prime minister in the past three decades. He is also the most dominant leader in the combined 67-year-old history of his right-of-centre Bharatiya Janata Party and its predecessor party....

After nine years of centre-right governments under Prime Ministers John Key and Bill English, New Zealand has new leadership. Led by Labour Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, and supported by New Zealand First and the left-wing Greens, the new coalition has pledged to take the country in a different direction. Changes to industrial relations, housing and even monetary policy are on the cards. So, how...

Leigh Sales at the CIS discussed the growth of social media and its implications on the public policy landscape. ____________________ The Centre for Independent Studies (CIS) promotes free choice and individual liberty, and defends cultural freedom and the open exchange of ideas. CIS encourages debate among leading academics, politicians, media and the public. We aim to make sure good policy ideas...

Britain’s ruling Conservative Party is falling deeper into disarray. With Brexit negotiations faltering, and against the backdrop of last year’s election disaster, there is a real danger that Prime Minister Theresa May’s days are numbered. Meanwhile, Britain’s Labour Opposition – which may be the next governing party at Westminster – is extending its march to the left. ____________________ The Cen...

The Australian economy is in its 27th year of continuous economic growth. Unemployment rate is 5.4 percent. The global economic outlook is bullish yet real wages remain flat. What is Labor's economic agenda? Shadow Treasurer, The Hon Chris Bowen MP, outlines the economic reforms the Labor Party intends to implement should they win the next election. Elected to the House of Reps in 2004, Chris Bowe...

Join our full lineup of panellists Jacinta Price, Peter Fitzsimons, Anthony Dillon, Geoffrey Winters, Norma Ingram & Jeremy Sammut for a debate on Australia Day. Calls are growing to move Australia Day away from January 26. But is having the national day on the anniversary of the First Fleet’s arrival in 1788 really insensitive to Indigenous people? How would changing the date help the plight...

Urgent action is needed to address the epidemic of violence in Indigenous communities. Aboriginal women are between 37 and 80 times more likely to experience family violence than non-Indigenous women. For too long, the voices of the victims of domestic violence have been oppressed and silenced. As part of the ongoing advocacy to address this issue, The Centre for Independent Studies (CIS) Indigeno...

People have lost faith in both the free market and in government. Capitalism and investing are now pejorative terms, while the government is increasingly seen as unable to balance its budget — and as wasting taxpayer money on poorly-judged strategies. However, there is increasing interest in social impact investing: a strategy that could restore faith in market strategies, prevent excessive govern...

Whistleblower Edward Snowden revealed that the NSA hacked the internet as a key part of the ‘Five Eyes’ intelligence program. Since these revelations in 2013, legislation has largely served to give a secure legal backing to what was previously an undisclosed, covert and sometimes informal national surveillance program. In the private sphere, we are now on the brink of an AI revolution, where machi...

Minister for Social Services Christian Porter outlined the rationale and benefits for welfare policy changes, including the Basics Card and drug testing of welfare recipients. ____________________ The Centre for Independent Studies (CIS) promotes free choice and individual liberty, and defends cultural freedom and the open exchange of ideas. CIS encourages debate among leading academics, politicia...