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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.

Australia’s complacency and the Bondi beach shooting
Peter KurtiDecember 15, 2025WALL STREET JOURNAL
Whether Australia responds to the murders at Bondi with clarity or caution will reveal not...
Alexander Downer: Leadership Between Allies and the Region
Alexander Downer, Michael Stutchbury, Tony ParkinsonDecember 12, 2025
Join us for the book launch of A Step to the Right: The Life and...
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...
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...
The future does not belong to the axis of autocracy: Andrew Neil on a World in Disorder!
Andrew Neil, Michael StutchburyDecember 1, 2025

Veteran broadcaster Andrew Neil joins CIS Executive Director Michael Stutchbury for a conversation about 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...

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...
Drawing the Line: Moral Conflict and the Fragility of Liberal Tolerance
Peter KurtiOctober 9, 2025AP90
Liberal democracies face an unprecedented challenge: how to govern societies where citizens no longer disagree...
The rule of law, excessive regulation and free speech
Paul TaylorSeptember 11, 2025AP88

Foreword In the day that the 2024 parliamentary session concluded, more than 30 bills were...

The ties that bind. Reconciling value pluralism and national identity
Peter KurtiJune 12, 2025AP81

Executive summary Australia’s multicultural democracy is under increasing pressure, not only from economic uncertainty but...

The Darkest Path: The Puzzling Resilience of Antisemitism. Acton Lecture 2025
Rabbi Benjamin EltonMarch 19, 2025OP206

Foreword The annual Acton Lecture, presented by the Culture, Prosperity & Civil Society program at...

Fractured Loyalties. Australian citizenship and the crisis of civic virtue
Peter KurtiMarch 6, 2025AP79

Can citizenship survive the end of tolerance? One of the principal tenets of a secular...

Whichever way you dice it, compulsory voting is evil
Derek ChongJanuary 23, 2006The Canberra Times

One of the great myths of Australian politics is that voting isn’t really compulsory. The...

The wrongs of pushing a bill of rights
Alan AndersonJanuary 4, 2006The Age

The Bracks Government’s plan for a Victorian bill of rights is the latest step in...

Individuals can make a difference in the face of global threats
Miranda DarlingNovember 22, 2005The Canberra Times

There are few countries in the world where the threat of a potential avian flu...

No worries on Aussies’ generosity
Sinclair DavidsonAugust 24, 2005The Courier Mail

The Australian welfare lobby often calls for increases in taxation. Presumably this is to fund...

‘Kangaroo Court’: Family Law in Australia
June 11, 2005

‘Kangaroo Court’: Family Law in Australia By John Hirst Reviewed by Barry Maley Read full...

State crosses line between secular, sacred
Steve EdwardsMay 18, 2005The Geelong Advertiser

The stated aim of the Australian Labor Party, according to its constitution, is to bring...

Antisemitism Is Not a Jewish Problem, It’s an Australian Problem | Frydenberg, Finlay & Sackville
Peter Kurti, Michael Stutchbury, Josh Frydenberg, Lorraine Finlay, Ronald Sackville AO KCApril 10, 2026

Michael Stutchbury, Executive Director of the Centre for Independent Studies, opens this panel discussion with...

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...

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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