Opinion & Commentary

Opinion and Commentary contains media articles written by CIS researchers.

Tighten the rules on welfare payments

08 Jun 2012 | ON LINE Opinion

There is more to welfare reform than amalgamating the benefits. Read More

Child protection: generation lost by not being 'stolen'

05 Jun 2012 | The Drum

It is incredibly simplistic and misleading to blame the serious problems many troubled children experience on the decision to take them into care. Read More

Religious freedom must not be taken for granted

24 Feb 2012 | ABC Online

The importance of religious belief is both derided and attacked in our public debates. Tony Abbott's Christian faith is often used as a stick with which to poke, if not beat, the Opposition Leader Read More

If only phone hacking were the real scandal

20 Aug 2011 | The Spectator

For all the tankers of ink that have been spilt analysing Rupert Murdoch’s recent travails, nobody has seen fit to mention the dark irony at the heart of the phone-hacking scandal. Which is that the... Read More

Brits recoil from teaching respect for authority at home or school

15 Aug 2011 | The Australian

Following last week's riots in Britain, politicians and commentators have similarly been asking the wrong question. What caused thousands of (mainly) young males to torch buildings where they live, loot... Read More

A confident secularist society would tolerate school religion

28 Jul 2011 | The Sydney Morning Herald

A confident secular society, one that trusted in its rationalist public institutions, should have no problem with occasional church-run classes. Read More

Beware pink totalitarianism

15 Jul 2011 | The Spectator

Gay marriage dissenters deserve the same respect as advocates Read More

Getting the nanny state out of alcohol retail

28 Mar 2011 | Online Opinion

To Australian regulators, beer, wine and spirits seem to be in the same danger category as guns and porn – and thus have to be hidden from the public's view in specialised stores. Read More

Beer and a fag? Forget it: matron is watching you

Luke Malpass | 07 May 2010 | Spectator Australia

There is a new type of paternalism behind the latest taxes on alcohol and cigarettes, says Luke Malpass in Spectator Australia, 7 May 2010 Read More

Look to punks, not drunks, for good laws

Jeremy Sammut | 22 Feb 2010 | The Age

Melbourne’s reputation as gloomsville and the puritanical capital of Australia has been enhanced recently by the Victorian government’s miscalculated attempts to curb binge drinking-fuelled street... Read More

Nanny state can’t save us from ourselves

Jessica Brown | 27 Jan 2010 | The Age

Is it ever appropriate for the government to legislate to protect us from ourselves? Read More

Publications

TARGET30: Reducing the burden for future generations

David Murray AO, Maurice Newman, Simon Cowan | 01 Jul 2013 | Policy Forum

TARGET30 is a campaign promoting smaller government and cutting government spending to less than 30% of GDP in the next 10... Read More...
After the Welfare State: Politicians Stole Your Future … You Can Get It Back

Tom Palmer | 08 Apr 2013 | Occasional Papers

History, economics, sociology, political science, and mathematics are the tools to understand and evaluate welfare states,... Read More...
Tax Welfare Churn and the Australian Welfare State

Andrew Baker | 27 Mar 2013 | TARGET30 Research Papers

The welfare state currently consumes $316 billion a year; however, much of this spending is not targeted at those who need... Read More...
TARGET30 SNAPSHOT: Tax Welfare Churn and the Australian Welfare State

Andrew Baker | 27 Mar 2013 | TARGET30 Snapshots

The welfare state currently consumes $316 billion a year; however, much of this spending is not targeted at those who need... Read More...
Re-moralising the Welfare State

Peter Saunders | 13 Mar 2013 | Occasional Papers

The welfare state should be fair as well as caring. Fairness requires that claimants are not treated more favourably than... Read More...

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