Andrew Bushnell
Andrew Bushnell was a Research Fellow at the IPA until 2020. His focused on criminal justice reform, freedom of speech, and the future of democracy.
As well as being the author or co-author of several major research reports, his work appeared in print in the Australian, the Australian Financial Review, the Daily Telegraph, the Sydney Morning Herald, the Canberra Times, the Adelaide Advertiser, the Spectator Australia, and the IPA Review. He was also interviewed on television on ABC and Sky News, and on radio on the ABC, 2GB, 3AW, and Triple J.
He previously worked at the Department of Defence in Canberra and the Department of Education in Melbourne. He holds a Bachelor of Arts (Hons.) and Bachelor of Laws from Monash University and a Master of Arts in Applied Ethics from Linköping University, Sweden. He is a PhD candidate at the University of Melbourne.
You can find Andrew on Twitter at @abushnell_IPA and at his website www.andrewbushnell.net
21 June 2021
Truth Comes Second To Telling People How To Think
On Wednesday, the High Court has the opportunity to defend academic freedom in Australian universities, but to do so it must explicitly reject a lower-court ruling that this vital principle is more or less obsolete. What it decides will be a marker for the state of our civilisation. On that day, the court will hear arguments in the dispute between
11 June 2021
Where Ideas Go To Die
In 2018, marine scientist Dr Peter Ridd was sacked from his professorship at James Cook University (JCU) for being critical of some of the university’s research. Few readers will be unfamiliar with the outlines of the dispute, and the support for his appeal(s) against the dismissal has been heartening. Only as the case has progressed, however, has it become clear
25 January 2021
The Fair Go – Going, Gone: The Decline Of The Australian Way Of Life, 2000 to 2020
Key findings : The quality of the Australian way of life is collapsing. The Australian Way of Life Scoreboard, which measures the quality of the Australian way of life, has declined by 28.5% since 2000. 23 of 25 measures relevant to the Australian way of life have declined since 2000. This decline can be found across every area of Australian life,
6 January 2021
It Reeks Of Blasphemy, But Might More MPs Give Us Better Service?
Australian democracy faces a crisis of representation. People feel alienated from our politics and our institutions. Donkey votes are up, minor parties’ votes are up, and the major parties are riven by internal dissent. In a way, even the proposed Indigenous Voice to Parliament can be seen as an attempted end-run around the dysfunction of our electoral process. In short, no-one seems to think that our Federal Parliament can do its
11 December 2020
Warts And All Memorial
As its name makes clear, the Australian War Memorial exists to memorialise the service and sacrifice of Australians in war, as a reflection of our shared commitment to our country and each other. It does not exist to denigrate our national character nor to pander to the worst kinds of elite self-hatred so lamentably prominent across our national institutions. Yet
25 October 2020
What The ACT Election Results Tell Us About Our Rulers In The Bubble
Last weekend’s ACT election results have again revealed how out of touch our nation’s capital city is with mainstream Australians. While it is tempting to write off the ACT Legislative Assembly as little more than a glorified city council, ACT elections are one of the clearest indicators of elite opinion that we have – and the results are alarming. ACT
21 October 2020
No Country For Bold Men
This article from the Spring 2020 edition of the IPA Review is written by IPA Research Fellow, Andrew Bushnell. One of the striking features of the coronavirus recession is that, as IPA research has demonstrated, a chart of the economy now displays a ‘K’ shape. The K’s ascending line displays how bureaucrats and the bureaucracy-adjacent are doing fine, while the
17 September 2020
The Rise Of The Bureaucrats
Victorians seem to have accepted the need for their extended Covid lockdown, which has been the longest and harshest anywhere in the developed world. A Roy Morgan poll conducted by SMS across 8-9 September found continuing majority support for the curfew and movement restrictions. Premier Daniel Andrews enjoys a 70 per cent approval rating. Leaked internal polls from the opposition
15 May 2020
When Everything Is Flattened
This article from the Autumn 2020 edition of the IPA Review is written by Research Fellow at the IPA, Andrew Bushnell. Awareness is growing that the coronavirus disease might cause two catastrophes. Speaking on the night of 24 March 2020, Prime Minister Scott Morrison put it this way:  We’re dealing with two crises. We’re dealing with a health crisis
12 May 2020
Consummate Conservative
This article from the Autumn 2020 edition of the IPA Review is written by Research Fellow at the IPA, Andrew Bushnell. Sir Roger Scruton, philosopher and conservative, died on 12 January at the age of 75 after a six-month battle with cancer. Over his career, Scruton published more than 50 works of philosophy, polemic, fiction, and memoir. His speciality was
