Opinion & Commentary
Opinion and Commentary contains media articles written by CIS researchers.
Categories
Youth disgust weakens democracy
Political parties have become self-serving cliques whose methods, motives and messages have not changed since their grandfathers lit up their back room cigars. Read More
Cure for a bloated public sector
TARGET30 is not a slash-and-burn campaign; it simply asks people to consider what they really need government to provide. Read More
Outcry ignores role of travellers
What are the responsibilities of the Australian government to help citizens who get into trouble overseas? Read More
Tighten the rules on welfare payments
There is more to welfare reform than amalgamating the benefits. Read More
Child protection: generation lost by not being 'stolen'
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
Only migrant workers can fill the gap
Temporary, skilled migration is the only viable solution for the resources sector. Read More
Honesty the best policy for those in government
"HONESTY is the first chapter in the book of wisdom," said Thomas Jefferson. Without honesty there is no trust. Without trust, there is no confidence others will follow the rules. Abuse the virtue of... Read More
NSW health history shows Carr's feet of clay
If you believe the hype, Carr's entry into federal politics is a sign that the floundering incompetence which has typified the Rudd and Gillard administrations will now be replaced by the policy substance... Read More
Italy defaults on debt and sends lenders broke? So be it
The federal government will need to cut spending to ensure a surplus in 2012-13. Read More
Focus on 'prevention' abusing kids
Despite increasing government spending on programs meant to prevent child abuse and entries into care, record numbers of children are currently in Out of Home Care (OOHC) in Australia, and this is the... Read More
Budget surplus fetish means more harsh spending cuts
The federal government will need to cut spending to ensure a surplus in 2012-13. Read More
Myths, lies and adoption
IN 2009-10, 36,000 children were in out-of-home care in Australia and more than two-thirds had been there for at least two years. Many of these children will remain in out-of-home care indefinitely after... Read More
Sydney misses the boat on ferry reform
Sydney’s ferry system should go private to lowers costs for tax payers. Read More
The future of the ALP may lie in rediscovering a voice from its past
Which political party would William McKell support in 2011? Read More
Should poker machine gambling be restricted?
Reforms to make people pre commit the amount of money they are going to play on the pokies. Read More
Prophecies of an egalitarian utopia based on false assumptions
The Spirit Level aims to break away from these ethical conundrums and to replace them with the authority of science. It says governments should redistribute incomes, not because it is moral but because... Read More
Carbon tax could have united us all
More than 3 million households will be worse off come July, about a third of Australian taxpayers. Indeed, many thousands of individuals with incomes between $67,000 and $80,000 face the prospect of their... Read More
ASEAN must include US in talks on South China Sea
Indonesia was positioning itself as an ‘honest broker’ in the South China Sea dispute. Now it appears much more circumspect. Read More
Foreign investment will boost food security
Foreigners acquiring Australian farm land appears to unite all political parties, we shouldn’t allow commercial decisions to be overridden my populist votes. Read More
Donation disclosure a first step to intimidation
The donations disclosure threshold needs to balance competing policy considerations. Read More
Campaign xenophobia driven by foreign donations ban
Almost everyone in mainstream politics says they oppose xenophobia, but foreigners have few friends among advocates of campaign finance reform. Read More
Campaign bans muzzle debate
Third-party campaigns are one of the checks and balances of a liberal democratic political system. Read More
Demand driven only if it suits
Gillard rightly denies that her demand-driven system was a voucher system but doesn’t push for choice and competition. Read More
Won’t someone think of politicians when it comes to pay rises?
With confusion and routine bickering about parliamentary pay, politicians’ remuneration should be fixed to a multiple of the median full-time wage. Read More
Greens unlikely to emulate German success
Why is it that the Australian Greens cannot break out of their ghetto while their German friends are about to replace the traditional party of the Left? Read More
Dangerous developments for democracy?
Depending on our own policy views, interest group successes can look like policy failures. But we should think very carefully about the implications of declaring these campaigns bad for democracy. Read More
A crisis eating away at Europe's freedom
Europe’s moral credibility hangs in the balance after Hungary enacted a law to limit press freedom. Read More
Germany proves clumsy with foreign matter
The ghosts of multiculturalism are haunting Germany, a country that has failed with the concept. Read More
The fracturing of Australian politics
The palpable sense of a rift between voters and their political representatives is not unique to Australia but a global phenomenon, especially in many developed countries. Read More
Patients, doctors could pay for Super Clinics election ‘pork’
The Gillard government appears set to go ahead with the electoral pork that GP Super Clinics are. Read More
A world away
While candidates in the federal election sidestepped foreign policy for the sake of a few marginal seats, Australians as a whole are more interested in the world than they are given credit for, says John... Read More
The perils of multi-party Australia
It may be nerve-wrecking for the Australian public to watch the negotiations between the parties and the independents in the wake of the federal election but other countries have managed and are managing... Read More
City got big but never grew up
A little bit of Sydney history illustrates the point that transport, infrastructure and other problems have nothing to do with the level of the population, but how well we handle the challenges that accompany... Read More
The Italian omen
Is everything back to normal for Europe? Was the European crisis just a storm in a teacup? Asks Oliver Marc Hartwich in Business Spectator, 12 August 2010. Read More
What's missing from the population debate
To seriously meet the challenges of population growth, we first need to deal with some problems with the functioning of our federation, argues Jessica Brown in Business Spectator, 12 August 2010. Read More
Baking a recipe for migration
If Australians need reminding why migrants can be a great benefit to society, they only need to look at the German bakery in Sydney's Queen Victoria Building , says Oliver Hartwich in Business Spectator... Read More
A bigger country is inevitable
We are having a false public debate about population, something we can barely control anyway, so all of the very real challenges of population growth and ageing are not being addressed, says Jessica Brown... Read More
Scrap 'Cash for Clunkers' scheme, not older cars
Instead of scrapping hundreds of thousands of perfectly functional cars for imaginary benefits, the Prime Minister would be better advised to scrap her lunatic proposal, says Oliver Marc Hartwich in The... Read More
Europe’s lesson too late?
Will Australia learn the lessons from Europe’s past too late? Asks Oliver Marc Hartwich in Business Spectator, 29 July 2010. Read More
Europe shows the alternative to growth is decline
Growth is not everything, but without growth everything is more difficult, says Oliver Marc Hartwich in The Australian 23 July 2010 Read More
It's time Henry had an umpire
It’s not always easy to discern where factual information ends and political posturing begins, creating widespread cynicism about official forecasts of public finances. Read More
Australia’s choice between growth and decline
It is hardly surprising that Australians worry about further population increases but we only need to look to Europe’s changing demographics to see that the alternative would be even less appealing. Read More
Nuclear’s new dawn
The Swedish parliament recently reversed the country’s decades-long anti–nuclear policy, so is it time to re-open the debate about nuclear power in Australia now? Read More
The spectacular descent of Kevin Rudd
The central lesson in Rudd’s demise is that at some point, the polls have to take back seat to the policy. Read More
PM Rudd’s demise signals more modest Australian foreign policy
Prime Minister Gillard’s diplomacy will be much more cautious compared to Kevin Rudd, says John Lee in the Straits Times , New Straits Times and Jakarta Post 25 June 2010. Read More
Ken Henry should get a new career – as a pollie
Treasury secretary Ken Henry has no business trying to stifle debate, says Oliver Marc Hartwich in The National Times, 23 June 2010. Read More
Policy debate isn’t helped when the Left descends into hatred
The abuse of Peter Saunders conceals more serious welfare questions in New Zealand. Read More
Students are bound to be the biggest losers
The stand-off between Julia Gillard and the teachers union is a no-win situation, says Jennifer Buckingham in The Weekend Australian, 1 May 2010 Read More
Nick Clegg isn't the Messiah...
Nick Clegg, Policy Exchange, David Cameron, Conservative Party, Liberal Democrats, UK election, Labour, Gordon Brown Read More
Britain needs new Thatcher but everyone in denial
None of the parties will acknowledge the size of the problem the winner of the British general election will face, says Peter Saunders in The Australian, 29 April 2010 Read More
Political idol: why TV offers more creative answers than politicians
We need more creativity in policy making, says Oliver Marc Hartwich in the Sydney Morning Herald, 28 April 2010 Read More
Migrants add to growth hopes
There is a mistaken view that population growth and immigration policy should be conditioned on existing capacity constraints, argues Stephen Kirchner in The Canberra Times, 26 April 2010. Read More
Perpetuating the Canberra Reflex
There are many questions about the role of local government that should be considered before it is recognised in the Commonwealth constitution, says Oliver Marc Hartwich in Government News, 19 April 2010 Read More
The Next Fall of Rome
Demographic change in Europe could have disastrous consequences for the future, says Oliver Marc Hartwich in Business Spectator, 15 April 2010 Read More
Rights charter would empower only lobbyists
A federal charter of rights would only empower special interest groups. Read More
Charter of rights no protection for the vulnerable
A charter of rights that many of us imagine will not be the charter we actually get. Read More
Research key to balancing pay equity with jobs growth
The Australian Fair Pay Commission's final decision on minimum wages needed to draw more broadly on research, consultations and submissions and rely less on formal procedures of a forensic nature. Read More
Activists should stop talking about global warming and start acting
If climate activists had spent the past 10 years acting instead of wasting time at talkfests such as the one at Copenhagen, we would already have a price signal on greenhouse gas emissions. Read More
Battle for ownership of broad non-Labour church
Malcolm Turnbull’s downfall as Liberal leader was an unusual event for right-of-centre Australian politics. A central cause was disagreement on a policy issue, the emissions trading scheme. Usually the... Read More
How 'liberal' is the Liberal Party?
Last weekend, Australians re-elected John Howard’s Liberal Party for a third term in government. It was a hard-fought campaign, and some commentators are claiming that it has left the nation ‘bitterly... Read More
Guts to say no before it's too late
Why such a panic about a mere 430 boat people? Given the scale of the problem, was it not absurd that millions of taxpayer’s dollars should be spent on it? How farcical that a substantial part of... Read More
Smaller government the answer for Fiji
Fiji has scored rather poorly since independence on economic growth, security and social harmony. The country has suffered from backsliding, racial distrust, fear and pessimism. Last Thursday’s Court... Read More
The Paradox of Australian Liberalism
In colonial Australia the majority of people called themselves liberals and saw liberalism as the means of attaining political and social progress. Yet for a large part of the twentieth century Australian... Read More
Picking Winners
In a recent article in The Evening Post (19/6/00), Michael Wilson advocated the selective promotion of new industries by government and ridiculed those in New Zealand who fear that this would only end... Read More
Continental drift: inching away from federalism
The gradual shift of power among Australia’s governments, examined by Robert Carling in The Australian Financial Review, 30 April 2010 Read More
Building Prosperity
From protected backwater on the global periphery to outward-looking player, Australia has come a long way since the closed economy settings of the Menzies to Fraser era. Considerable progress towards greater... Read More
Beyond Romanticism: Questioning the Green Gospel
Over the past forty years, environmentalism has emerged as one of the major political movements that transcend national boundaries. Its concerns have motivated people from a variety of backgrounds to become... Read More