Barry Maley
Senior Fellow, Social Foundations Program
Barry’s research primarily focuses on social policy with particular attention to family and taxation. Other areas of interest include cultural change, the British and Continental Enlightenment of the eighteenth century, the scope and limits of government, ethics, and civil society.
Barry joined the Centre in 1989 after retiring as Senior Lecturer in Behavioural Sciences, University of New South Wales. While he was teaching at UNSW, Barry contributed a chapter titled ‘The Entrepreneurial Spirit’ to The Entrepreneur in Society (CIS, 1983). Since then, he has written numerous books and policy monographs, including Family & Marriage in Australia (2001), Divorce Law and the Future of Marriage (2003), and Family on the Edge (2009).
Over the last 20 years or so, Barry has addressed numerous groups and conferences about his work and published in excess of 150 opinion pieces in all major newspapers on a wide variety of topics. He was a Eureka Prize finalist in the field of ‘Ethics’ for his book Divorce Law and the Future of Marriage (2003). He has been appointed to several professional advisory committees of the federal government – most recently the Australian Health Ethics Committee, 2006–08.
- Email:bmaley@cis.org.au
Publications by Author
-
REVIEW ESSAY: What’s Wrong With Benevolence: Happiness, Private Property, and the Limits of Enlightenment
| 10 Dec 2012 | POLICY MagazineWhat’s Wrong With Benevolence: Happiness, Private Property, and the Limits of Enlightenment By David Stove
-
REVIEW ESSAY: The Poverty of Progressivism
| 14 Dec 2010 | POLICY MagazineGoodbye to All That? On the Failure of Neo-Liberalism & the Urgency of Change Edited by Robert Manne and David McKnight... Read More...
-
REVIEW ESSAY: Democracy and the Moral Life
| 01 Sep 2010 | POLICY MagazineThe Servile Mind: How Democracy Erodes The Moral Life By Kenneth Minogue (Encounter Books, 2010.)
-
Family on the Edge: Stability and Fertility in Prosperity and Recession
| 16 Sep 2009 | Policy MonographsBarry Maley argues that unless family law and policies rapidly change, family stability and a buoyant birth rate will be... Read More...
-
BOOK REVIEW:The Commercial Society: Foundations and Challenges in a Global Age
| 09 Sep 2007 | POLICY MagazineThe Commercial Society: Foundations and Challenges in a Global Age by Samuel Gregg (Lexington Books, 2007).
-
BOOK REVIEW: Promises, Performance and Prospects: Essays on Political Economy 1980-1998
| 06 Mar 2006 | POLICY MagazinePromises, Performance and Prospects: Essays on Political Economy 1980-1998 by Antonio Martino
-
BOOK REVIEW: 'Kangaroo Court': Family Law In Australia
| 07 Jul 2005 | POLICY Magazine'Kangaroo Court': Family Law in Australia by John Hirst (Black Inc, 2005).
-
BOOK REVIEW: Family Matters: Family Breakdown and Its Consequences
| 03 Mar 2005 | POLICY MagazineFamily Matters: Family Breakdown and its consequences by Patricia Morgan (New Zealand Business Roundtable, 2004).
-
REVIEW ESSAYS: Habits of the Mind & Habits of the Heart
| 12 Dec 2004 | POLICY MagazineThe Roads to Modernity: The British, French and American Enlightenment by Gertrude Himmerlfarb (Knopft, 2004).
-
Divorce Law and the Future of Marriage
| 02 Mar 2004 | Policy MonographsNo-fault divorce law has precipitated marital instability in Australia, discouraging people from marrying, staying together,... Read More...
-
Reforming Divorce Law
| 01 Sep 2003 | Issue AnalysisMarriage has evolved from a relatively stable bond to a highly uncertain one. High divorce rates, the substitution of cohabitation... Read More...
-
Family and Marriage in Australia
| 25 Jun 2002 | Policy MonographsThe growing instability of the nuclear family is a fundamental cause behind a great deal of juvenile crime, youth suicide... Read More...
-
Families, Fertility and Maternity Leave
| 12 Jun 2002 | Issue AnalysisSound family policy is being side-tracked by the concentration on the role of maternity leave in raising the fertility rate.... Read More...
-
COMMENT: The Elite Gatekeepers
| 06 Jun 2000 | POLICY MagazineHow the Media Captures Public Policy: By trying to accomodate the seemingly endless parade of victims in the media, the state... Read More...
-
SCHOOL'S BRIEF: Australia's Prospects in the Global Economy
| 09 Sep 1999 | POLICY MagazineSelected economic excerpts from State of the Nation 1999.
-
BOOK REVIEW: Measuring Immorality: Social Inquiry & The Problem of Illegitimacy
| 06 Jun 1999 | POLICY MagazineMeasuring Immorality: Social Inquiry & The Problem of Illegitimacy by Gail Reekie (Cambridge University Press, 1998.)
-
Children's Rights : Where the Law is Heading and What it Means for Families
| 05 May 1999 | Policy MonographsBarry Maley cautions that while children are citizens entitled to the protection of the state, he believes that some recent... Read More...
-
BOOK NOTES: Feminist Amnesia
| 03 Mar 1998 | POLICY MagazineFeminist Amnesia: The Wake of Women's Liberation by Jean Curthoys (Routledge, 1997.)
-
REVIEW ARTICLE: Transforming Men
| 03 Mar 1997 | POLICY MagazineChanging Patterns of Dependency and Dominance in Gender Relation by Geoff Dench (Transaction Publishers, 1996.)
-
BOOK NOTES: The Family: There Is No Other Way
| 03 Mar 1997 | POLICY MagazineThe Family: There Is No Other Way edited by Bill Muehlenberg, Joseph Santamaria, Peter Westmore and Mary Helen Woods (Australian... Read More...
-
BOOK REVIEW: Radicalism, Feminism and Fanatacism: Social Work in the Nineties
| 06 Jun 1996 | POLICY MagazineRadicalism, Feminism and Fanaticism: Social Work in the Nineties by Brian T. Trainor (Avebury Publishing, 1996.)
-
Home Repairs: Building Stronger Families to Resist Social Decay
| 05 Feb 1996 | Policy Forum -
REVIEW ARTICLE: Family Folly
| 06 Jun 1995 | POLICY MagazineCreating the Links: Families and Social Responsibility, Final Report by The National Council of the International Year of... Read More...
-
FEATURE: The Ethics and Politics of Environmentalist Deception
| 03 Mar 1995 | POLICY MagazineThe extinction 'crisis' as a case study in environmentalist exaggeration.
-
COMMENT: Continued Comment for FEATURE: Does the Family Need a Family Policy?
| 09 Sep 1993 | POLICY MagazineContinued commentary on the feature article, Does the Family Need a Family Policy?
-
FEATURE: Animal, trees and Morals
| 09 Sep 1993 | POLICY MagazineSome modern advocates of species preservation argue that mankind has absolute moral responsibilities in this area and that... Read More...
-
REVIEW: A Framework For Family Policy
| 03 Mar 1992 | POLICY MagazineThe Family in the Welfare State by Alan Tapper (Allen & Unwin, 1990.)
-
FEATURE: Education, Training and Competitive Advantage
| 12 Dec 1991 | POLICY MagazineThe Australian federal government's creation of a 'unified system' of higher education and its training Training Guarantee... Read More...
-
FEATURE: Failing Families, Vanishing Australians and the Welfare State
| 06 Jun 1990 | POLICY MagazineAustralia's fertility rate, like that of several other Western countries, has fallen well below the level needed to sustain... Read More...
-
BOOK REVIEW: New Roads Backwards
| 06 Jun 1990 | POLICY MagazineTools of Change: New Technology and the Democratisation of Work by John Mathews (Pluto Press, 1989.)
-
CRITICAL REVIEW: Welfare versus Happiness: Charles Murray's 'In Pursuit'
| 03 Mar 1989 | POLICY MagazineCharle's Murray's book In Pursuit of Happiness and Good Government (Simon & Schuster, 1988), builds on the many insights... Read More...
-
The Entreprenuer in Society
| 01 Apr 1983 | Policy ForumThese papers explore the role of the entreprenuer in society.
Opinion & Commentary by Author
-
Rarely a case of happy ever after
| 18 Sep 2009 | The AustralianMarital relationships in Australia have never been more unstable. The consequences of divorce for individuals and children... Read More
-
Birth rate bubble
| 16 Sep 2009 | ABC NewsAustralia is in the middle of an unusual, unrecognised and unintended experiment that may give us insight into the connections... Read More
-
Babies: blight or blessing?
| 24 Jul 2008 | The Canberra TimesAustralia’s birth rates and faltering fertility are in the news again. Cardinal Pell has made a powerful statement about... Read More
-
Dysfunction runs in the family
| 17 Sep 2002 | The Courier MailThe preoccupation with paid maternity leave and our falling fertility rate is shifting attention away from deeper problems.... Read More
-
Leave off, tax breaks can redress child costs
| 01 May 2002 | The AustralianThree fundamental issues underlie the maternity leave debate. First is the form and level of assistance governments should... Read More
-
Children pay the price of gender feminism war
| 12 Dec 2001 | The Sydney Morning HeraldFor some radical feminists, males are patriarchal oppressors and the family is their torture chamber. Hence their taboo on... Read More
-
The damage done by the decline of marriage
| 08 Dec 2001 | The AgeIn the past generation, Australian family life and marriage have undergone a revolution that has left wounds in the lives... Read More
-
To populate or not to populate...
| 05 Dec 2001 | The Canberra TimesThe question of legal and illegal immigration is likely to occupy the incoming federal government for some time to come.
-
Time to fit the crime
| 02 Feb 2001 | The Courier MailThe first duty of government is to protect the citizen’s person and property, and to do so consistently, humanely and effectively.... Read More
-
Children Missing in the Young Country
| 09 Jan 2001 | The Courier MailTo keep the level of Australia’s population steady, without immigration, an average of 2.1 births per woman is needed.... Read More
-
Global Warming Raises Political Temperature
| 05 Jul 2000 | The Courier MailThe National Party convention at Tweed Heads a few weeks ago made clear its opposition to Australia ratifying the 1997 Kyoto... Read More
Ideas@TheCentre by Author
-
Ditch the national curriculum
| 21 Oct 2011 | Ideas@The CentreA national curriculum is not the answer to improved education results.
