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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.

Worlds Apart: Remote Indigenous disadvantage in the context of wider Australia
Jacinta Nampijinpa PriceJanuary 25, 2021PP34

Remote and very remote Indigenous communities have become victims of a ‘wicked problem’. A combination...

Victims of failure – how the COVID-19 policy response let down Australians
Monica WilkieDecember 9, 2020AP18

The government response to COVID-19 has imposed restrictions on Australians unseen in peacetime. As Australians...

Planning restrictions harm housing affordability
Peter TulipDecember 3, 2020PP33

Planning restrictions reduce the supply of housing and hence raise its price. This paper summarises...

Parents’ perspectives on home-based learning in the covid-19 pandemic
Glenn Fahey, Blaise JosephSeptember 30, 2020AP15

School closures during the covid-19 pandemic temporarily shifted schooling from the classroom to the home....

Sacred & Profane: Faith and Belief in a Secular Society
Peter KurtiSeptember 20, 2020

Peter Kurti lifts up the stone on questions that our secular society thought it had...

Australia, the United States and China in a post-Covid world
Richard AlstonSeptember 14, 2020OP175

After three decades of prosperity and relative peace, Australia suddenly confronts a trifecta of crises:...

Hamas Palestine Gaza
Don’t be fooled by Hamas
Peter KurtiNovember 10, 2023SPECTATOR

Many Christians were clearly unsettled by the determination with which the Israel Defence Force (IDF)...

Australia is ruled by ‘experts’
Peter KurtiAugust 28, 2023SPECTATOR

Politicians can’t live without experts. Faced with technical complexity all around them — whether in...

Harvard University affirmative action reveals flaw in zero-sum equality push
Simon CowanJuly 15, 2023CANBERRA TIMES

In a heavily anticipated decision, the United States Supreme Court recently ruled that two major...

Religious schools
Majority keeping the faith in religious schools
Peter KurtiApril 26, 2023DAILY TELEGRAPH

Pot shots are taken regularly at religious schools whenever their beliefs come into conflict with...

Aston byelection
Aston a blow but far from an existential crisis for the Libs
Tom SwitzerApril 3, 2023THE AUSTRALIAN

There are dangers in writing liberalism’s obituary. If politics is ultimately determined by living standards,...

Wong’s gruel of postcolonial guilt
Peter KurtiFebruary 9, 2023SPECTATOR

No country has a spotless past. Countries such as Great Britain, that disengaged from their...

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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