Recent publications
IPA welcomes dumping of media laws
"The Gillard government's decision to abandon its proposal to regulate the media is a victory for freedom of speech in Australia," said Chris Berg, director of policy at free market think tank the Institute of Public Affairs. "The media regulation...
Why the press gallery failed us, and why they will again
One of the most revealing stories in modern Australian politics comes from James Button-a speechwriter for Kevin Rudd for a short time in 2009. Button's recent and fascinating book, Speechless: A year in my father's business, details the now...
Gillard government's new censorship regime worse than internet filter
The Gillard government's new online censorship policy may result in Australians having even more restrictions on their internet use than under the government's original internet filter policy, according to Simon Breheny, Director of the Legal...
ASIC push for surveillance powers goes too far
"The Australian Securities and Investments Commission's push to access the personal data of all Australian web users shows exactly why the government's proposed mandatory data retention regime should not go ahead," said Simon Breheny, Director of...
Regulator lets the cat out of the bag: data retention not just about national security
"The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission's demand to access Attorney-General Nicola Roxon's proposed data retention regime reveals how dangerous this regime could be," said Simon Breheny, Director of the Rule of Law Project at the free...
Roxon's data retention scheme worse than Australia card
"Attorney-General Nicola Roxon's proposal to force internet service providers to log details of every Australian's internet usage is one of the most significant threats to individual liberty in Australian history," said Simon Breheny, director of...
New poll on bias at The Age could explain circulation collapse
Free market think tank the Institute of Public Affairs today released new poll data which reveals that of those The Age readers who believe the newspaper shows bias, 70% believe that the newspaper is biased towards Labor and the Greens. John...
Where's ABC?
The Federal Government's reappointments to the board of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation put a political showpiece ahead of corporate commonsense. In an attempt to demonstrate that it could go where no other government had gone...
Unbinding Book Barriers: Why Australia should scrap parallel import restrictions on books
The Productivity Commission is considering whether to liberalise Australia's parallel import restrictions for books. Unbinding Book Barriers finds that prices of books could fall by more than 30 per cent, without harming authors, Australian...
Is Facebook making our kids violent?
Moral panic is never too far away from the Australian media. The widespread claims that the internet is corrupting youth and encouraging violent behaviour completely misunderstands technology, the people who use it and the nature of crime itself....