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• Culture, Prosperity & Civil Society

This program defends and promotes the traditional values and principles of a free and liberal democratic society and open economy in Australia.

In a related area of research we investigate the place of religion in society.

The Moral Sense: An Essay
James Q. WilsonAugust 1, 1994OP50

What are the sources of moral order? This is an important question when violence, dishonesty,...

Literature and Freedom
Mario Vargas LlosaFebruary 1, 1994OP48

In this CIS Occasional Paper, Mario Vargas Llosa highlights the mutually beneficial relationship between literature...

Private Welfare
James CoxNovember 16, 1993PM22

When we speak of welfare, we usually have in mind the benefits dispensed by the...

Questions of Conquest and Culture
Mario Vargas LlosaSeptember 9, 1993OP47

In the tenth John Bonython Lecture, the Peruvian writer Mario Vargas Llosa reflects on mestizaje,...

Economics, Faith and Moral Responsibility
Robert SiricoAugust 1, 1993OP46

In this CIS Occasional Paper, Robert Sirico defends the institutions of the free and open...

Another Look at the Culture Cringe
L.J. HulmeJuly 7, 1993OP45

The notion of the Australian cultural cringe is one of the myths that undermine the...

Ideas about Freedom
Kenneth MinogueApril 6, 1986OP15

Ideas about Freedom: A Discussion delves into the mysterious regions of liberal and conservative philosophy....

Affirmative Action: The New Discrimination
Gabrielle MoensDecember 18, 1985PM8

Gabriel Moens finds that the philosophical and practical ramifications of such 'affirmative action' may be...

The Anti-Capitalist Mentality: Post Mortem for an Ideology
R.M. HartwellAugust 15, 1985OP14

In the 2nd John Bonython Lecture Professor Hartwell traces the history of the anti-capitalist mentality...

Hayek’s ‘Serfdom’ Revisited
Norman BarryJune 1, 1985R7

Champions of a cause have always been easy victims of the authoritarian tendency to worship...

Chaining Australia: Church Bureaucracies and Political Economy
Geoffrey BrennanAugust 1, 1984R6

If we lived in a perfect world, church bodies would not have gotten together to...

Free to Shop
Geoff HogbinMay 18, 1983PM 4

Shopping hours and standards in Australia are far behind those of other countries. The trend...

CIS Nanny State Awards for 2025
Peter KurtiDecember 11, 2025SPECTATOR FLAT WHITE
Each year, CIS gathers the most ridiculous examples of intrusioninto our lives, to find the...
Hanson’s burqa antics dodges hard questions on multiculturalism
Peter KurtiNovember 27, 2025AFR

Eight years after her first burqa stunt, Pauline Hanson pulled it out of the wardrobe...

Tolerance ends where darkest hatred begins
Peter KurtiNovember 12, 2025DAILY TELEGRAPH

Tolerance is often treated as an unqualified virtue. But even virtues have limits. When men...

Sir Frank Lowy reflects on anti-semitism
Michael StutchburyOctober 14, 2025

Last weekend I was honoured to catch up again with Frank Lowy, surely Australia’s most...

Prison
Don’t let death become an easy way out for criminals
Peter KurtiSeptember 3, 2025DAILY TELEGRAPH
Hume’s death raises serious questions. Not just about his rights, but about ours. About the...
Bob Carr’s genocide claims are dangerous for social cohesion
Peter KurtiJuly 29, 2025AFR

Labor’s Friends of Israel group has made this point forcefully. They call for principled criticism,...

Australia’s Hate Speech Failure | Dimitri Burshtein
Dimitri BurshteinMarch 31, 2026

The tragic events at Bondi Beach on 14 December 2025 expose a deepening crisis in...

Angus Taylor at CIS: Economic Reform, Immigration, and Australia’s Cost of Living Crisis
Angus Taylor, Michael StutchburyFebruary 19, 2026

Speaking at his first address outside Canberra since being elected Leader of the Opposition by...

Education Reform in Australia | Jennifer Buckingham
Robert Forsyth, Jennifer Buckingham OAMFebruary 17, 2026

Join us on Liberalism in Question for an enlightening discussion with Dr. Jennifer Buckingham, former...

Australia’s Liberal Odyssey: Tracing Freedom’s Path
Robert Forsyth, Greg MelleuishFebruary 10, 2026

In this thought-provoking episode of Liberalism in Question, we delve into the rich tapestry of...

Our Civic Compact is Shattered
Peter KurtiFebruary 10, 2026

Explosive 316% Jump in Antisemitic Attacks: Could This Be the End of Australia’s Harmony? Dive...

Reflecting Back: John Howard and Alexander Downer on Power, Alliances and Australia
John Howard OM AC, Alexander DownerFebruary 6, 2026

Alexander Downer and former Prime Minister John Howard join author Tony Parkinson and CIS Executive...

Submission to the Independent National Security Legislation Monitor (INSLM)
Peter KurtiSeptember 25, 2025

Submission to the Independent National Security Legislation Monitor (INSLM) Review of the definition of a...

Submission to the Senate Inquiry on Information Integrity
Michael StutchburySeptember 12, 2025

On behalf of the Centre for Independent Studies (CIS), we are pleased to provide the...

Submission to the Senate Economics References Committee Inquiry into Personal Choice and Community Impacts 2015
August 11, 2015

The CIS submission into the Senate Economics References Committee Inquiry proposed two tightly targeted areas...

Submission to the Senate Legal and Constitutional Affairs Committee on the value of a justice reinvestment approach to criminal justice in Australia
Sara HudsonNovember 17, 2013

To address the underlying causes of Indigenous offending, we need to focus on education and...

Submission to Native Title Leading Practice Agreements Discussion Paper 2010
Helen Hughes, Mark Hughes, Sara HudsonNovember 30, 2010

The Native Title process is only one of the processes returning land to traditional owners....

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