IPA Review Articles

4 September 2023

Greater government accountability could help reduce the massive waste and opportunity cost of white elephant projects, economics professor and former Productivity Commission chairman Gary Banks argued at a recent Melbourne book launch. As observed in my foreword to the new book White Elephant Stampede, the elephant seems to have acquired a special place in the lexicon of public policy. For

4 September 2023

Urgent action is needed to prevent Australia’s construction industry from collapsing under the weight of rising labour costs, red tape, and excess government spending, argues IPA Research Fellow Kevin You. September 2023 will mark the 10th anniversary of the opening of the Gold Coast University Hospital: a 750-bed, state-of-the-art health facility next to Griffith University’s flagship campus. The construction of

4 September 2023

Alan Joyce will depart from his role as Qantas CEO in November, leaving as his legacy one of the world’s most woke airlines. Given its impeccable political correctness, it is somewhat surprising that after declaring a $1.4 billion half-year profit, the airline declined to return any of the $2.7 billion dollars it received in government subsidies during the COVID-19 pandemic. For passengers,

4 September 2023

In this edition of the IPA Review you will see important and original research on topics vital to Australia’s future. They are a pointer to future research activities of the IPA. On page 8 IPA Research Fellow Dr Kevin You examines our construction industry with all its issues, and discusses the effect of the changes to industrial relations being introduced

4 September 2023

Even if the Voice to Parliament fails in the referendum the war to divide us will be far from over, warns IPA Director of Research Morgan Begg. One of the best benefits of Australia’s Constitution is that constitutional alterations require the approval of the Australian people at a referendum. The consequence of this requirement is that proposals to change the Constitution

20 July 2023

Energy expert Vaclav Smil clearly explains why ‘net zero by 2050’ is simply impossible, writes public policy analyst Tristan Prasser. Have you ever wondered how the world will transition to an all-renewable future? Or whether it is even possible? Have you ever thought about why we have fewer famines today despite there being more people than ever before, and what

28 June 2023

Three classic tales put voices and faces to Australia’s remarkable pioneers, in this first of a two-part essay by literary critic PETER CRAVEN. What on earth are we to make of the pioneers who settled Australia and made it, for better or for worse, what it is? There is that meditative figure of Frederick McCubbin, pensive and stoical as it

20 June 2023

Dries founder John Hyde deserves honour and still shows the best path forward for our nation, writes former IPA executive director Mike Nahan. John Hyde—former executive director of the IPA and leader of ‘the Dries’—received an Order of Australia (general division) in the 2023 Honours List –a timely and deserved honour. John received the honour for services to the community

6 June 2023

David Kemp’s magnum opus imparts hope that Australian liberal democracy can adapt to tackle this century’s many challenges, writes IPA Senior Fellow Richard Allsop. David Kemp’s now complete multi-volume masterpiece is the perfect antidote to any sense of despair readers with a liberal disposition might be feeling at the state of politics and society in Australia in the 2020s. The

19 May 2023

The ideology of Aboriginal empowerment is doing far more harm than good—especially in dysfunctional remote communities, writes Gary Johns in this book extract. The problem with the empowerment thesis (apart from its falsity) is that … every problem that occurs among Indigenous Australians can thereby be traced back to the original European sin of colonisa­tion and dispossession. This is a