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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.

Population Growth: Curse or Blessing?
Peter T. BauerMay 7, 1990OP28

Population growth is widely regarded as self-evidently a cause of poverty and backwardness in Third...

Socialism Is Dead But Leviathan Lives On
James M. BuchananMay 3, 1990OP30

In the seventh John Bonython Lecture, James Buchanan observes that the death of socialism has...

Welfare State or Constitutional State?
Suri RatnapalaMay 3, 1990PM15

In this contribution to the CIS Social Welfare Research Program, Suri Ratnapala, Lecturer in Law...

Are We Winning?
Antonio MartinoMay 1, 1990OP29

Although classical liberal ideas are at present in the ascendancy, there is no guarantee that...

The Education Monopoly Problem
Edwin G. WestDecember 12, 1989OP26

Professor Edwin West has for many years been a leading authority on, and advocate of,...

The Egalitarian Conceit: False and True Equalities
Kenneth MinogueSeptember 15, 1989OP25

In this CIS Occasional Paper, Professor Kenneth Minogue traces the roots of modern egalitarianism to...

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...
Warning Australia: wrong way, go back
Peter KurtiDecember 27, 2024DAILY TELEGRAPH

As we approach year’s end, there is growing fear that Australia is foundering. Cost of...

Disagree with Antoinette Lattouf, but silencing her wasn’t the answer
Tom SwitzerDecember 18, 2024THE AUSTRALIAN

Friday marks one year since the ABC sacked journalist Antoinette Lattouf. By reflecting the intolerant...

Freedom of speech not protected through censorship
Tom Switzer, Emilie DyeNovember 26, 2024Centre for Independent Studies

The federal government’s decision this week to withdraw its legislation requiring social media companies to...

War on misinformation doomed to fail: tariffs a case in point
Simon CowanNovember 2, 2024CANBERRA TIMES

Experts in misinformation will no doubt be closely following the extraordinary claims being thrown around...

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Having an authority to rule on what is truth is deeply problematic
Simon CowanOctober 18, 2024CANBERRA TIMES

There is no better sign of the loss of faith in democracy than the belief...

Gaza intake strains our generosity … and security
Peter KurtiAugust 20, 2024DAILY TELEGRAPH

Many are questioning the wisdom of the Albanese government’s decision to grant visas to Palestinian...

Jessica Brown on Today Tonight – Dole Dynasties
September 28, 2011
Jacob T. Levy on Rationalism, Pluralism, and Hayek’s History of Liberal Thought
August 31, 2011
Q&A: Rationalism, Pluralism, and Hayek’s History of Liberal Thought
August 29, 2011
Rationalism, Pluralism, and Hayek’s History of Liberal Thought – Jacob Levy
August 29, 2011
Big Ideas Forum – You Can’t Say That: Freedom of Speech & the Invisible Muzzle
August 5, 2011
The Annual Acton Lecture on Religion & Freedom: Q&A
August 5, 2011
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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