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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 Road Not Taken- Hayek’s Slippery Slope to Serfdom
Neil McInnesNovember 1, 1998OP65

In 1944 Friedrich Hayek published The Road to Serfdom, a warning against the totalitarian dangers...

Freedom of Speech in the Constitution
Nicholas AroneyOctober 13, 1998PM40

In recent years, the decisions and methods of the High Court of Australia have been...

The Modern Mask of Socialism
Antonio MartinoOctober 1, 1998OP66

After the fall of the Berlin Wall and the end of the Cold War, many...

The Last Refuge: Hard and Soft Hansonism in Contemporary Australian Politics
Chandran KukathasSeptember 21, 1998IA4

The arrival of Pauline Hanson's One Nation on the Australian political scene has been the...

Tax Injustice: Keeping the Family Cap-in-Hand
Lucy SullivanJuly 10, 1998IA3

There is a growing awareness of financial pressure on the family, together with anomalies in...

Equal Pay for Work of Equal Value: Moving Toward, Or Away From, Wage Justice for Women?
Helen HughesJune 26, 1998IA2

Equal pay for equal work initiatives in the 1970s gave Australia a lead in closing...

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...
Time to say bye-bye to the wokerati’s bullying tactics
Simon HefferFebruary 1, 2025THE AUSTRALIAN

On Australia Day, Sydney’s Circular Quay, between the magnificent Harbour Bridge and the Opera...

Civic virtue or vice
Peter KurtiJanuary 23, 2025THE SPECTATOR

As the sun rises on national Australia Day celebrations, it will hardly dispel the long...

‘Woke is broke’ as a conservative tide travels around the Western world
Tom SwitzerJanuary 18, 2025THE AUSTRALIAN

It has become obvious to all but the most ideologically obdurate that a conservative tide...

Cancer warning labels on wine? Put a cork in it
Steven SchwartzJanuary 14, 2025THE AUSTRALIAN

The US Surgeon General’s proposal to slap cancer warnings on wine bottles is the latest...

Voice to parliament
Citizenship based on rights won’t restore nation’s civil society
Peter KurtiJanuary 2, 2025THE AUSTRALIAN

As the new year opens, discussion heats up about contenders for Australian of the Year....

State-sanctioned ‘truth’ is still a danger under the Greens and teals
Tom Switzer, Emilie DyeDecember 30, 2024THE AUSTRALIAN

Australia dodged a bullet this year when the federal government withdrew its contentious legislation to...

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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