Publications
Our publications are the most important means of contact between the Centre's ideas and its general readership. Since 1976, The Centre for Independent Studies has produced some of the most authoritative publications in Australasian academia. From the influential Lands of Shame to the authoritative Will China Fail? CIS has published hundreds of publications covering topics from the social policy to legal affairs to religion and education.
In addition to books, the CIS publishes a range of shorter publications: Issue Analyses deal with controversial and current issues and Policy Mongraphs investigate and offer policy solutions. Since 1984, Policy magazine has published feature articles and reviews authored by some of the foremost national and international thinkers on public policy and ideas. The quality of writing and the diversity of topics in Policy ensure its status as a 'must read' by leading politicans, businesspeople and academics.
Hard copies of our publications are available for purchase through the bookstore. Many of the smaller publications are also available for download.
CONTRIBUTIONS
If you would like to write for The Centre for Independent Studies, please email This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it with 'writing for CIS' in the subject field. We ask that you contact us for approval before writing a piece for the Centre's publications. The Centre retains the right to edit any accepted article upon submission. The Centre would like to stress that the views expressed are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Centre's staff, advisers, directors or officers.
Please contact the Centre at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it for permission to reprint our publications.
All Indigenous Affairs Publications
FEATURE: Reconciling Culture and Advancement
This is the address and reply by Alison Anderson, NT Minister for Indigenous Advancement, to the NT Legislative Assembly...
FEATURE: Enabling Indigenous Prosperity
Indigenous prosperity on Indigenous lands is possible only when we stop treating Aboriginal people as inherently different.
Panacea to Prison? Justice Reinvestment in Indigenous Communities
High Indigenous incarceration has elicited a long list of so-called solutions over the years. Yet the percentage of Aboriginal...
Sustainability of Indigenous Communities
Social indicators of Indigenous disadvantage prove that the orthodox methods of delivering services to Indigenous people...
Indigenous Education 2012
Indigenous Education 2012 reviews the lack of progress by states and territories in improving Indigenous literacy and numeracy....
Overcoming a Culture of Low Expectations
The most important thing we can do to encourage disadvantaged Australians into work – including people with disabilities,...
NSW Community Discussion Paper: Improving Educational Outcomes for Aboriginal People
By ending the raft of current discriminatory, costly and ineffective Indigenous education policies, the New South Wales Coalition...
Charlatan Training: How Aboriginal Health Workers Are Being Short-changed
Aboriginal Health Workers (AHWs) have been short changed. They have not only been provided with charlatan training but also...
FEATURE: How to Make Real Progress in Closing the Gap
Randomised trials can help determine policies that can work in Indigenous affairs.
Review of Higher Education Access and Outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander People
Australia has a serious problem in low participation in higher education by students from low socio-economic backgrounds....
Submission to Remote Participation and Employment Servicing Arrangements
The Discussion Paper’s focus on participation and employment in remote Indigenous communities is welcome because it distinguishes...
FEATURE: One Disease at a Time: Eradicating Scabies in East Arnhem Land
Inspirational leadership can make a difference to Aboriginal health.
Alcohol Restrictions in Indigenous Communities and Frontier Towns
The double standards applied to the enforcement of liquor legislation have contributed to the alcohol problems present in...
Submission to the Indigenous Sub-committee of the Steering Committee for the Review of Government Services Provision. 2011
Submission to the Indigenous Sub-committee of the Steering Committee for the Review of Government Services Provision. 2011 Overcoming...
FaHCSIA Indigenous Economic Development Strategy 2010
Governments state that their objective is for Indigenous townships to develop and prosper like mainstream Australian towns....
Submission to Indigenous Home Ownership Issues Paper 2010
Part 1 of this submission shows that incorrect data and lack of analysis on Indigenous home ownership continues to mislead...
FEATURE: Living in Two Worlds—Reconciling Tradition and Modernity in Aboriginal Life
The Jewish people offer a guide to how a distinct Aboriginal cultural identity can be maintained in the modern world.
Submission to Native Title Leading Practice Agreements Discussion Paper 2010
The Native Title process is only one of the processes returning land to traditional owners. The lack of benefits to the Indigenous...
Private Housing on Indigenous Lands
Legislation and programs to introduce private housing and businesses on Indigenous land are flawed. Tenure of Indigenous...
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...
Indigenous Education 2010
The 2009 NAPLAN literacy and numeracy tests confirm the continued failure of Indigenous education. The government's 'closing...
Indigenous Employment, Unemployment and Labour Force Participation: Facts for Evidence Based Policies
Professor Helen Hughes, Senior Research Fellow at the CIS and Mark Hughes highlight that Indigenous non-labour force participation...
BOOK REVIEW: Up from the Mission: Selected writings
Up from the Mission: Selected Writings by Noel Pearson (Black Inc, 2009).
FEATURE: Shopping for Health
Improving health conditions in remote Indigenous communities depdends on better stores. Often the local store is the only...
Closing the Accountability Gap: The First Step Towards Better Indigenous Health
Sara Hudson argues that the untargeted nature of government spending in indigenous health means that it is difficult to know...
REVIEW ESSAY: Working Towards Liberation
The divided Indigenous intelligentsia is a poor guide to the problems and possibilities of Indigenous Life in Australia.
New Inquiry — Remote Community Stores in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Communities 2009
Communities in the Northern Territory and in other native title areas need to have private property rights if they are to...
Indigenous Participation in University Education
The government’s use of race-based ‘average’ educational performance measures denigrates Indigenous achievement, ignoring...
Revisiting Indigenous Education
Aboriginal and Torres Islander children in remote communities must not be viewed as ‘different’ from other Australian...
From Rhetoric to Reality: Can 99-year Leases Lead to Homeownership for Indigenous Communities?
The lack of private property rights on communal title land has prevented Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders from becoming...
OPINION: Out With the Old: Are the CDEP Reforms Enough?
Making Indigenous Australians in remote communities work-ready requires much more than changes to CDEP.
CDEP: Help or Hindrance? The Community Development Employment Program and its Impact on Indigenous Australians
Established more than thirty years ago, the Community Development Employment Projects (CDEP) program has expanded to range...
Indigenous Education in the Northern Territory
The causes of failing education—inequitable school facilities, inappropriate curriculums, and inadequate teaching—in...
Submission to the Senate Select Committee on Regional and Remote Indigenous Communities 2008
Submission to the Senate Select Committee on Regional and Remote Indigenous Communities 2008. The findings of this research...
BOOK REVIEW: Divided Nation? Indigenous Affairs and the Imagined Public
Divided Nation? Indigenous Affairs and The Imagined Public by Kirsten Storry (Melbourne University Press, 2007).
Kava and after in the Nhulunbuy (Gulf of Carpenteria) Hinterland
Ending kava sales will have positive effects only if the factors that make the Nhulunbuy hinterland dysfunctional are tackled....
Lands of Shame: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander ‘Homelands’ in Transition
Some 90,000 of Australia’s 500,000 Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders live appallingly deprived lives in ‘homelands’...
BOOK REVIEW: Bad Dreaming: Aboriginal Men's Violence Against Women and Children
Bad Dreaming: Aboriginal Men's Violence Against Women and Children by Louis Nowra (Pluto Press, 2007).
What Is Working in Good Schools in Remote Indigenous Communities?
School‑side and community‑side interventions with which good schools are trying to break the cycle of low attendance,...
BOOK REVIEW: Aboriginal Affairs 1967-2005: Seeking a Solution
Aboriginal Affairs 1967-2005: Seeking a Solution by Max Griffiths (Rosenberg Press, 2006).
Indigenous Governance At the Crossroads: The Way Forward
Under the current local government framework, there are too many layers of government in remote Indigenous communities, resulting...
Tackling Literacy in Remote Aboriginal Communities
Literacy rates among children and adults in remote Aboriginal communities are appallingly low, and cannot be reversed without...
School Autonomy: A Key Reform for Improving Indigenous Education
The government school model is failing Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and urgently needs reform. School...
BOOK REVIEW: Overcoming Indigenous Disadvantage: Key Indicators 2005
Overcoming Indigenous Disadvantage: Key Indicators 2005: a Productivity Commission, 2005.
Education and Learning in an Aboriginal Community
The principal reason why so many Aboriginal people are unable to find jobs is that children in remote areas, such as the...
Welfare Reform and Economic Development for Indigenous Communities
Noel Pearson's lecture is to set out a case for a comprehensive reform agenda in Cape York Peninsula.
The Economics of Indigenous Deprivation and Proposals for Reform
For remote Indigenous communities to have productive employment opportunities with mainstream earnings, decent health outcomes,...
Lessons from the Tiwi Islands: The Need for Radical Improvement in Remote Aboriginal Communities
The governance structures created during the last 30 years for remote Aboriginal communities are so dysfunctional that the...
A New Deal for Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders in Remote Communities
A New Deal for Aborigines: Private property rights, educational reform, health care privatisation, and the application of...
INTERVIEW: Life and Death in Baniyala
Jenness Warin speaks to Djambawa Marawili about the state of education, welfare and health for Australia's indigenous peoples,...
FEATURE: A Future For Indigenous Youth
There are ways of saving young Indigenous Australians from disaster.
State of the Nation 2001: A Century of Change (CD ROM)
A CD version of a major report that finds Australia is in the midst of profound social and economic change sometimes for...
COMMENT: Beyond Wik- Making Native Title Work
Australia is challenged with the difficult tasks of putting in place a legal framework which firmly recognises and defines...
BOOK REVIEW: Past Wrongs, Future Rights
Past Wrongs, Future Rights by Michael Warby (Tasman Institute, 1997.)
BOOK REVIEW: The Human Wrongs of Indigenous Rights
The Human Wrongs of Indigenous Rights by Ron Brunton (IPA Backgrounder, Insitute of Public Affairs, 1997.)
REVIEW ARTICLE: After Mabo
Mabo: The Native Title Legislation edited by M. A. Stephenson (University of Queensland Press, 1995.)
COMMENT: The Value of Property Rights: A Rejoinder to Bradshaw & Ewing
The value of property rights lies in their ability to coordinate plans, and to allow resources to be used or conserved in...
COMMENT: Reconciliation and Resources: Mineral Rights and Aboriginal Land Rights As Property Rights
Comment on Jacob T. Levy's Reconciliation and Resources.
COMMENT: Further Comment on Reconciliation and Resources: Mineral Rights and Aboriginal Land Rights as Property Rights
Further comments on Jacob T. Levy's Reconciliation and Resources.
REVIEW ARTICLE: Mabo: A Judicial Revolution
Mabo: A Judicial Revolution- The Aboriginal Land Rights Decision and Its Impact on Australian Law edited by M.A. Stephenson...
BOOK REVIEW: Black Suffering, White Guilt
Black Suffering, White Guilt? by Ron Brunton (Institute of Public Affairs, 1993.)
NOTES & COMMENTS: Crimes of 'Racist Violence'
The report of the National Inquiry into racist violent in Australia.
FEATURE: Ending Aboriginal Poverty
Aboriginal self-determination and land rights policies have done nothing to stem the growth in Aboriginal unemployment that...
BOOK REVIEW: The Failure of Aboriginal Affairs Policy
Give and Take: The Losing Partnernship In Aboriginal Poverty by David Pollard (Hale and Iremonger, 1988.)
