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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.

Ideas about Freedom
Kenneth MinogueApril 6, 1986OP15

Ideas about Freedom: A Discussion delves into the mysterious regions of liberal and conservative philosophy....

Affirmative Action: The New Discrimination
Gabrielle MoensDecember 18, 1985PM8

Gabriel Moens finds that the philosophical and practical ramifications of such 'affirmative action' may be...

The Anti-Capitalist Mentality: Post Mortem for an Ideology
R.M. HartwellAugust 15, 1985OP14

In the 2nd John Bonython Lecture Professor Hartwell traces the history of the anti-capitalist mentality...

Hayek’s ‘Serfdom’ Revisited
Norman BarryJune 1, 1985R7

Champions of a cause have always been easy victims of the authoritarian tendency to worship...

Chaining Australia: Church Bureaucracies and Political Economy
Geoffrey BrennanAugust 1, 1984R6

If we lived in a perfect world, church bodies would not have gotten together to...

Free to Shop
Geoff HogbinMay 18, 1983PM 4

Shopping hours and standards in Australia are far behind those of other countries. The trend...

Lessons from the Freiburg School: The Institutional Foundations of Freedom and Prosperity
Wolfgang KasperJuly 1, 1993OP44

West Germany’s post-war economic success was based on the ideas of the ‘Freiburg School,’ a...

Multicultural Citizens: The Philosophy and Politics of Identity
Chandran KukathasApril 1, 1993R9

This volume of essays has its origin in a conference on multiculturalism sponsored by the...

Restoring the true republic
Geoffrey de Quincey Walker, Suri Ratnapala, Wolfgang KasperFebruary 26, 1993PF10
Marriage, Divorce and Family Justice
Barry MaleyJanuary 1, 1993PM25

Family Law in Australia fails to acknowledge and support the institutional character of marriage as...

Welfare State and the Problem of the Common
David ThomsonDecember 20, 1992OP43

Modern welfare states involve large –scale pooling of risks and resources by peoples of different...

How Much Justice does a Society Need?
Kenneth MinogueNovember 15, 1992OP40

Hard-headed people often say that perfect justice is impossible, merely a dream. the philosopher Kant...

Religious tests a red line we shouldn’t cross
Peter KurtiJanuary 29, 2026DAILY TELEGRAPH
Morrison deserves credit for insisting accusations of Islamophobia must not shut down necessary debate. But...
It’s judgment day: time for unis to kick politics off campus
Steven SchwartzJanuary 29, 2026THE AUSTRALIAN
The problem is not academic freedom itself. The problem is that universities have forgotten what...
Fear after Bondi is putting free speech on trial
Peter KurtiJanuary 14, 2026AUSTRALIAN FINANCIAL REVIEW
Instead of rushing to add new laws to an already swollen statute book, we should...
The royal commission into the Bondi attack should probe the uncomfortable question
Peter Kurti, Michael StutchburyJanuary 10, 2026CANBERRA TIMES
What should Australia have done over the past two years to prevent this moment —...
It is time for good people to act 
Julie ClaridgeDecember 24, 2025ONLINE OPINION
What we saw that Sunday at Bondi not only highlighted the immediate and palpable threats...
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...
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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