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John Roskam

Executive Director

John Roskam has been the Executive Director of the free market think tank the Institute of Public Affairs since 2005. Before joining the IPA he taught political theory at the University of Melbourne. He was previously the Executive Director of The Menzies Research Centre in Canberra, has been a senior adviser and chief of staff to federal and state education ministers, and was the manager of government and corporate affairs for a global mining company.

His publications include Australia's Education Choices (with Professor Brian Caldwell), 'Terrorism and Poverty' in Blaming Ourselves, 'Liberalism and Social Welfare' in Liberalism and the Australian Federation, and 'The Liberal Party and the Great Split' in The Split Fifty Years Later.

His fortnightly column appears in The Australian Financial Review. He is a member of the Editorial Board of The Australian Journal of Public Administration, and Connor Court Publishing, and the Advisory Board of The Centre for Advanced Journalism at the University of Melbourne. He is a Fellow of the Institute of Public Administration, Australia in Victoria, and is an Honorary Fellow of Campion College.

RELATED NEWS & PUBLICATIONS

Ideas and Liberty

Gender quotas bake in cookie-cutter MPs

John Roskam 9 April 2021 Freedom of speech, Ideas and liberty,

One of the problems when you start replacing merit as the criterion for appointment to a position or role, or to become a Liberal Party MP, with some other basis for selection is it’s difficult to...

PUBLICATIONS

Woke Warriors Are After The PM

John Roskam 26 March 2021 Ideas and liberty, Ipa today,

One thing all the recent media attention on the behaviour of MPs and their staff in Parliament House has not done is derail the Morrison government’s policy reform agenda – because there isn’t...

Originally appeared in Australian Financial Review

PUBLICATIONS

Only Universities Think The World Hasn’t Changed

John Roskam 12 March 2021 Education and skills, Ipa today,

John Dewar, the vice-chancellor of La Trobe University in Victoria, is one of the country’s most perceptive vice-chancellors. As his university faces the potential loss of hundreds of jobs, at a...

Originally appeared in Australian Financial Review

PUBLICATIONS

Pandemics Not State Libs’ Real Problem

John Roskam 26 February 2021 Ideas and liberty, Ipa today,

It’s true the coronavirus has made the job of being in opposition difficult. It’s understandable at times of crisis the public want stability and unity, not criticism and division. What’s less...

Originally appeared in Australian Financial Review

PUBLICATIONS

Morrison’s 2050 U-Turn Is A Job Killer

John Roskam 12 February 2021 Climate change, Finance and economics,

Less than two years ago, Scott Morrison won the so-called “climate change election”. His victory was due in no small part to the Coalition’s successful attacks on the ALP’s climate change...

Originally appeared in Australian Financial Review

PUBLICATIONS

‘She Won’t Be Right’ Is A Rising Worry For Australians

John Roskam 29 January 2021 Ideas and liberty, Ipa today,

Before The Economist magazine became the in-house journal for the woke business elite, it printed a fascinating article entitled “The burden of history” about how the past is viewed in the...

Originally appeared in Australian Financial Review

RESEARCH AREAS

Saving The Australian Way of Life – Transcript

John Roskam 25 January 2021 Freedom of speech, Ideas and liberty,

Read Tony Abbott’s comments here. Watch the video here. John Roskam: Hello – My name is John Roskam – I am the Executive Director of the Institute of Public Affairs. I’m...

PUBLICATIONS

Former Prime Minister Tony Abbott Joins The IPA’s Fight For Australian Values

John Roskam 25 January 2021 Ipa today, Media releases,

The Institute of Public Affairs has today announced that the 28th Prime Minister of Australia, the Hon Tony Abbott will join the IPA as a Distinguished Fellow. Mr Abbott will be working with the...

PUBLICATIONS

Measuring Old Corals & Coral Reefs (Part 2)

John Roskam 20 January 2021 Climate change, Ipa today,

Late last year, I went on an expedition in search of a type of very old coral known as massive Porites. Stuart, Shaun and I dived five very different coral reefs between Cairns and Townsville. The...

Originally appeared in Jennifer Maroshasy Blog

PUBLICATIONS

Beware The Anti-Trump Tyrants

John Roskam 15 January 2021 Freedom of speech, Ipa today,

The year recently ended revealed that the authoritarian impulse is never very far from the surface. It may lay dormant for a time but it never goes away. Here in Australia, and indeed around the...

Originally appeared in Australian Financial Review

PUBLICATIONS

Time To Tell The Truth About 2020

John Roskam 18 December 2020 Ipa today, Keeping you in touch,

In his book The Fear and the Freedom – Why the Second World War Still Matters, the historian Keith Lowe writes about how the nations and individuals who survived through war coped with the...

Originally appeared in Australian Financial Review

IPA TODAY

Modern Labor’s Forgotten Workers

John Roskam 4 December 2020 Dignity of work, Ideas and liberty,

What ACTU boss Sally McManus said about blue-collar workers at the National Press Club a few days ago doesn’t quite compare with Hillary Clinton describing Donald Trump’s supporters as a...

Originally appeared in Australian Financial Review

John Roskam

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