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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 Ethics of Economic Freedom
Herbert GierschMarch 3, 1989OP24

An economic order is always based on a certian set of moral principles. This applies...

Endangered Freedom
Thomas SowellNovember 1, 1988OP22

In the fifth John Bonython Lecture, Thomas Sowell argues that public life in Western countries...

The Long Debate on Poverty
R.M. HartwellMay 10, 1988OP21

The Centre for Independent Studies Occasional Papers series provides an opportunity for authors to present...

Social Welfare: The Changing Debate
David GreenMay 5, 1988OP20

The Centre for Independent Studies Social Welfare Program has commissioned studies by qualified economists and...

The Enemies of Progress
Ralph HarrisJuly 4, 1986OP16

Why is it that politicians of all parties still shrink from giving enterprise, competition and...

Policies and Prescriptions: Current Directions in Health Policy
Cotton M. Lindsay, Michael A. Walker, John Logan, John Goodman, Andrew Doman, J. RichardsonMay 1, 1986PF4

As Professor Cotton Lindsay reminds us in his first contribution to this volume, health economics...

Humankind and the infinite resource base
Marian L. TupyApril 2, 2026OP212

This paper examines the human ability to expand our resource base into infinity. Given human...

The Legislative Fantasy. Hate Speech, Culture, and Institutional Failure
Dimitri BurshteinMarch 26, 2026AP103

Foreword The Bondi Beach attack of 14 December 2025 forced a reckoning that many Australians...

Overcoming Enmity and Restoring Tolerance. Antisemitism’s challenge for the civic compact
Damien FreemanFebruary 5, 2026AP99

Foreword When the Book of Genesis speaks of enmity between the serpent and the descendants...

Progressive Intolerance. The contemporary antisemitism landscape in Australia
Philip MendesJanuary 22, 2026AP98
The evidence is comprehensive and damning. From universities to trade unions, from civil society organisations...
Reframing an Ancient Hatred: the intersection of left-wing antisemitism and anti-Zionism
Julie ClaridgeDecember 11, 2025AP97
Anti-Zionism has evolved to create a further mutation of antisemitism, cloaking bias and discrimination in...
Political legitimacy, harm protections and our freedoms
Paul TaylorNovember 10, 2025OP211
This article considers different concepts of ‘legitimacy’ and their contribution to understanding the difference between...
Back the plan and save Australia from hatred
Peter KurtiJuly 14, 2025DAILY TELEGRAPH
Our Jewish neighbours, colleagues and friends are facing harassment, threats and exclusion in ways this...
Lattouf judgment evidence of an ABC that has badly lost its way
Tom SwitzerJune 26, 2025DAILY TELEGRAPH

The Federal Court’s judgment in favour of journalist Antoinette Lattouf represents not just humiliation for...

When hatred finds a home in our institutions
Peter KurtiJune 12, 2025SPECTATOR

I recently watched the documentary October 8, a searing and distressing film about the aftermath...

When it feels like Australia is falling apart, hard truths can bring us back
Peter KurtiJune 12, 2025DAILY TELEGRAPH

Faced with violent protests, rising antisemitism and growing cultural division, Australians are entitled to ask...

Why hope still matters in a divided world
Peter KurtiApril 17, 2025AFR

Hope is easily dismissed as illusory when the grounds for holding fast to it appear...

Identity politics, enclaves, undermine common values
Peter KurtiMarch 12, 2025DAILY TELEGRAPH

Hastily-convened citizenship ceremonies around the nation raised suspicions that the federal government was trying to...

A Case for Helpful Government Intervention | Emma Dawson
Emma Dawson, Robert ForsythFebruary 3, 2026

In this thought-provoking episode of Liberalism in Question, we welcome Emma Dawson, Executive Director of...

Indigenous Expectations are Skewed | Senator Kerrynne Liddle
Kerrynne Liddle, Robert ForsythJanuary 26, 2026

Join us on Liberalism in Question as Senator Kerrynne Liddle shares her insights on why...

Progressive Intolerance. The contemporary antisemitism landscape in Australia
Peter KurtiJanuary 23, 2026

The question this report poses is whether Australia’s progressive institutions are capable of the honest...

“People are just sick of it” | Alexander Downer
Robert Forsyth, Alexander DownerJanuary 19, 2026

In this episode of Liberalism in Question, former Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer joins us...

A Short History of Liberalism in the Middle East | Joshua Landis
Robert ForsythJanuary 14, 2026

In this episode of Liberalism in Question, we dive deep into the complex and often...

Trump and the red wave | Dave Rubin
Robert Forsyth, Dave RubinJanuary 6, 2026

From Donald Trump to the lockdowns, Dave Rubin sits down with Robert Forsyth to discuss...

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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