Issue Analysis
Issue Analysis (IA) are shorter publications that deal with controversial and current issues.
Categories
Time to Dump Australia’s Anti-Dumping System
This report argues that Australia should scrap its anti-dumping and countervailing system. The report examines the meaning of dumping and its place in Australian law. It details the history and recent...... Read More
Relics of a Byzantine IR System: Why Awards Should Be Abolished
Awards are uniquely Australian, and practically as old as the country itself. But in Australia’s modern, competitive economy, the award system is an anachronism. Along with new statutory conditions,...... Read More
In the Pay of the Piper: Governments, Not-for-Profits, and the Burden of Regulation
Reforms intended to boost confidence in Australian charities risk turning the charitable sector into just another arm of government. Peter Kurti argues that the real problem is that charities appear to...... Read More
The Fraught Politics of Saying Sorry for Forced Adoption: Implications for Child Protection Policy in Australia
Many Australians will believe a national apology for forced adoption is overdue. But there is a danger that the apology will delegitimise the use of adoption for child protection purposes and make it more...... Read More
Australia and the Asian Ascendancy: Why Upskilling is Not Necessary to Reap the Rewards
Government programs to upskill the Australian workforce for the Asian Century are a solution to a non-problem. With more than a million Asian-born Australians, millions of speakers of Asian languages,...... Read More
Keeping PISA in Perspective: Why Australian Education Policy Should Not Be Driven by International Test Results
International student assessments such as the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) and the Trends in International Maths and Science Study (TIMSS) provide useful information for individual...... Read More
After the Riot: the Meaning for Multicultural Australia
The riot on 15 September in the Sydney CBD by Muslim protestors has raised questions about the health of Australian multiculturalism. Are the values that have made Australia a successful ‘immigrant nation’...... Read More
Australia’s Future Fiscal Shock
Government is facing the arduous task of securing sustainable expenditure, revenue and debt beyond the current four-year horizon of the budget estimates, says Robert Carling in Australia’s Future Fiscal...... Read More
Australia's Asia Literacy Non-Problem
New large-scale Asia literacy programs are not necessary for Australia to prosper in the Asian Century. There are approximately 2 billion English speakers globally, while English is spoken by about 800...... Read More
Faraway, So Close: How the Euro Crisis Affects Australia
Europe’s economic crisis has been shaking financial markets for the past three years. Countries like Greece, Ireland, Portugal, Spain and even Italy are in danger of defaulting on their debt. The continent’s...... Read More
Overcoming a Culture of Low Expectations
The most important thing we can do to encourage disadvantaged Australians into work – including people with disabilities, children in jobless families, and Indigenous people living in remote communities...... Read More
The Henry Tax Review: A Liberal Critique
The public release of Australia’s Future Tax System—known as the Henry review—in May 2010 sparked an ongoing debate in Australia about the structure and efficiency of the country’s tax system....... Read More
A Waste of Energy: Why The Clean Energy Finance Corporation is redundant
The federal government’s plans to establish a Clean Energy Finance Corporation (CEFC) should be scrapped. As a commercially oriented company, it competes with private investors. As a company with a public...... Read More
The Decade-long Binge: How Government Squandered Ten Years of Economic Prosperity
Government spending in New Zealand has increased enormously over the past decade in order to meet social goals. From 2000-2010 spending increase from $35 billion to $70.5 billion, a 57% increase in real...... Read More
Free-Trade Ferries: A Case for Competition
Sydney needs a network of ferries that is able to cater to the city’s changing demographics but is also financially sustainable and responsible. The current state-controlled model has proved inefficient,...... Read More
School Funding, Choice and Equity
CIS Research Fellow Jennifer Buckingham says the three main goals of school funding – equity, efficiency and excellence – are not being met in the current system. Instead, we need a new school funding...... Read More
Why a Growing Australia is Nothing to Fear
Australia’s population is growing because our economy is booming and our society is confident about the future. Rather than pretend population growth is not happening, we should be actively trying to...... Read More
Tax, Borrow, Spend: How the States Compare
The report evaluates and compares the recent performance of the six Australian states in fiscal management, looking at indicators such as debt, government spending and taxation. It does so from a limited...... Read More
Europe’s Painful Farewell: An Essay on the Decline of the Old World
Europe is a continent in crisis. The financial problems of many European economies became visible to the rest of world when Greece only narrowly escaped bankruptcy in May 2010. Ever since, more unpleasant...... Read More
Healthy Stores, Healthy Communities: The Impact of Outback Stores on Remote Indigenous Australians
The federal government’s initiative to improve remote community stores is crowding out the competition and not delivering on its promises.... Read More