Opinion & Commentary
Opinion and Commentary contains media articles written by CIS researchers.
Categories
Only a super-style savings system now will help Medicare survive
THE intergenerational reports have told us repeatedly that escalating government spending on health is unsustainable in an ageing Australia. But despite the warnings about the future of the health system,...... Read More
Big Brother deters charity
Reforms intended to boost confidence in Australian charities risk turning the charitable sector into just another arm of government.... Read More
It’s time for surgery: the public purse is in dire health
Reducing inefficient spending may harm vested interests, but meaningful reform cannot occur if no one is ever allowed to be worse off.... Read More
The magic pudding state
Australians want government to spend more money on us, but we do not want to hand any more of our cash over to the tax office.... Read More
Why a forex foray could burn the Reserve
With the Australian dollar trade-weighted index recently around 28-year highs, there have been calls for official intervention to weaken the exchange rate. But suggestions the Reserve Bank might need an...... Read More
Federal micro-managers to rule the schools
Responses to the federal government’s school funding proposal have been less than enthusiastic. People have rightly pointed out that increased expenditure on education does not guarantee better results....... 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
Gonski reforms at risk of failure to launch
Two camps have emerged in the Gonski wars, with one camp saying it's all about the money.... Read More
Unrealistic expectations of Australian defence spending
Australian defence planners must abandon inefficient big-ticket capital purchases in favour of a more sustainable and balanced defence force structure.... Read More
NDIS highlights welfare waste
It is time to end the tax-welfare churn and return the savings to taxpayers through tax cuts.... Read More
Don't let Iraq syndrome prolong the slaughter in Syria
The memory of the the rash military adventurism in Iraq is still fresh, but that must not prevent us from using force to help end the humanitarian crisis in Syria.... Read More
The politics of apologies: Easy moralism for past sins, but ignorance about the present
Official apologies tend to descend into simplistic condemnations of people and times past rather than criticising current practices.... Read More
Why adoption should, in some cases, continue
The "never again" approach to separating parents from children because of previous forced adoption practices has implicatons for current child protection policies.... Read More
Apologise but allow adoption
The federal parliament cannot ignore the politics behind the national apology and implications for child protection policy, which include casting doubt on adoption.... Read More
It's time for smaller government
Federal, state and territory, and local governments currently spend approximately $60 billion more each year than they should.... Read More
Need to cut fat before we all pay the price
Governments are seemingly incapable of breaking their addiction to increasing spending.... Read More
Buying votes does no one any good
There’s a danger we are blundering headlong towards the spending abyss.... Read More
Let’s get serious about tackling indigenous violence
For many remote Indigenous people, life is so bad that jail is often a better option.... Read More
Time to scrap the minimum wage?
To get the unemployed back into work, the government could allow businesses a six-month exemption from the minimum award wage.... Read More
Abundant Asian Century opportunities for an already Asia-savvy Australia
Tapping into the Asian Century bonanza does not mean that Australia requires costly education and training programs.... Read More