Recently the IPA published very important research indicating that Australians are fed up with the endless welcome to country ceremonies and acknowledgments that are now clogging up our civic life.
I do believe that the Aboriginal people of Australia can be proud of how their forebears adapted to life on a continent capable of such extremes, particularly since they were cut off from the technological innovations spread by trade and conquest across the rest of the globe.
Nevertheless, it rankles to be constantly lectured about the incredible relationship the Aborigines had to their lands, as it is implied that the European and other immigrants who followed are by contrast without culture, and incapable of feeling any such sense of place and connection.
This is one of the reasons why I was so determined when we established the Australian Canon—of the great works of Australian culture—that we include Johnno by David Malouf. I approached it as a Victorian thirty years ago and will always remember the author’s extraordinary evocation of Brisbane, the deep meanings and associations in every mile of its streets and every house he inhabited, and his every encounter with the local landscape.
I do hope then you will enjoy as much as I did the essay on Johnno by esteemed literary critic and longtime collaborator, Peter Craven, on page 28. He states clearly that Malouf produced in that novel not just the finest portrait of Brisbane, but indeed the finest portrait by any author of any Australian city. I defy anyone who reads that great work to conclude Australians are incapable of feeling a connection to place (in this case a city, but Peter has similarly analysed in this magazine the works which record the experience, and contemplative response to the bush, of the Pioneers and those who came after).
Those of you who have fond memories of being raised—or raising a family—in the archetypal Queenslander, so suited to northern climes, can also draw a contrast with the Statist vision of build-to-rent, which promises to herd young Australians into apartments not as a means to ensure they can live the Australian dream, but rather because it suits the rapacious business models of industry super funds, trade unions and those in political and policy elites. This excellent article by Professor Sinclair Davidson appears on page 22.
It’s perhaps also fitting that it is a Queensland MP, Garth Hamilton, who in our cover story on page 8, outlines various means by which our tax system could support families and facilitate home ownership rather than consigning them to a treadmill of scarce and overpriced housing coupled with unendurable mortgages and policy driven increases in the cost of living. Reform of any kind is—as the German political scientist Max Weber famously put it—like slow boring through hard wood. We were happy to publish ambitious proposals by a two term MP indicating he is willing to give it a crack.
Between lockdowns and climate catastrophism, no wonder our children are anxious.
I have written elsewhere that the centre right across the globe is experiencing a “crisis of narrative”, in which it seems to be unable to connect with voters via a narrative that offers a way out of our current malaise of big state and fiscal crisis. Reading the review of Boris Johnson’s political memoirs by Michael Barrett on page 52 did not get me any closer to solving this puzzle, as Johnson’s mode of governance was for a time extremely popular with the British public, but seemed to leave the UK and the Conversative Party in an even bigger mess than when he found them. But make up your own mind.
The strategies by which we achieve change in ways that recover rather than reduce our freedom is the lasting concern of the indefatigable entrepreneur and libertarian, Ron Manners. In Nathan Cuthbertson’s thoughtful review of Ron’s latest book on page 68 you’ll get a sense of Ron’s approach and that of the intellectual and activist heroes who inspired him.
As to the realities of politics in Australia in 2025, Dr Andrew Russell on page 44 offers his thoughts on the roots of the Liberal Party’s disastrous election campaign, and muses on the opportunities the short-lived sundering of the Coalition might have presented.
Back in March I was at a small IPA event in Adelaide, at which child psychologist Clare Rowe held the audience spellbound as she outlined the devastating impact that catastrophist narratives of climate change are having on the nation’s youth. We have included that speech on page 16 so you can get a sense of Clare’s passion, which has led her to become an Adjunct Fellow at the IPA and drive forward our new Childhood Climate Anxiety Project.
Speaking of catastrophism, Adam Creighton on page 60 provides a critical review of a tendentious book full of academics celebrating the response of Australian governments to the Covid pandemic. In a damning indictment he reveals the smoking gun for their lack of concern with unintended consequences: the failure to address the impact on young people of lockdowns. Between lockdowns and climate catastrophism, no wonder our children are anxious.
Sometimes it’s best to take the long view, and the long arc of Western Civilisation provides a context in which to do so. To counter those who ignore or are ignorant of our shared history, Professor Brad Bowden on page 34 provides a fascinating overview of the intellectual foundations of the newly-installed Pope Leo XIV, which stretch back from Chicago via St Augustine all the way to Plato.
This is the editorial from the Winter 2025 edition of the IPA Review by Editor of the IPA Review, Scott Hargreaves. Articles once loaded online are listed here. IPA Members receive a print edition and online versions of articles are progressively released in the months following publication. To join/subscribe see here.
