IPA Review – Autumn 2023

IPA Review – Autumn 2023

Editorial - Scott Hargreaves

When The Important Is The Urgent

Featured Articles

Queensland’s Dam Fools

Queensland’s Dam Fools

Queensland’s desalination plant provides a prime example of how caving in to the green lobby harms our society, the economy, and the environment, writes communication consultant Bruce Kingston. Water is often ignored because of its ubiquity, but without it we humans can maintain life for only some three or four days. Major dam projects in Australia in the first half

Swede Success

Swede Success

The Swedes proved an alleged crisis—whether COVID or, say, climate change—is no excuse for curtailing our freedom, argues public policy analyst Scott Prasser. Sweden—with its extensive government regulation and social engineering—used to seem to me to be like the world’s largest prison, a sort of real-life version of that 1960s British TV series, The Prisoner, about a make-believe, contrived village

Coal Closures Dark Age

Coal Closures Dark Age

Recklessly closing more coal-fired power stations threatens to condemn Australians to a new dark age, argues IPA Research Fellow Kevin You. In April 2023 the Hunter Valley in New South Wales will lose an icon, which—for the last two generations—has been providing reliable, baseload power to factories, businesses, schools, and families in NSW and the rest of the Eastern seaboard

Book Reviews

Advancing Australian Liberalism

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

Scott Hargreaves

Secure Borders And Shape The Culture

An economist’s research shows the benefits of well-managed migration programs, and the downside of open borders, writes IPA Executive Director Scott Hargreaves. This book is not specifically about Australian culture or our immigration policies, but should be compulsory reading for anyone concerned with either or both. Talking about immigration, or what kind of culture we have or want in Australia,

Swede Success

The Swedes proved an alleged crisis—whether COVID or, say, climate change—is no excuse for curtailing our freedom, argues public policy analyst Scott Prasser. Sweden—with its extensive government regulation and social engineering—used to seem to me to be like the world’s largest prison, a sort of real-life version of that 1960s British TV series, The Prisoner, about a make-believe, contrived village

All IPA Review – Autumn 2023 Articles

Pioneer Life Comes Alive

Pioneer Life Comes Alive

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

Singular Courage

Singular Courage

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

Advancing Australian Liberalism

Advancing Australian Liberalism

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

When Push Comes To Shove …

When Push Comes To Shove …

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

Secure Borders And Shape The Culture

Scott Hargreaves

Secure Borders And Shape The Culture

An economist’s research shows the benefits of well-managed migration programs, and the downside of open borders, writes IPA Executive Director Scott Hargreaves. This book is not specifically about Australian culture or our immigration policies, but should be compulsory reading for anyone concerned with either or both. Talking about immigration, or what kind of culture we have or want in Australia,

Queensland’s Dam Fools

Queensland’s Dam Fools

Queensland’s desalination plant provides a prime example of how caving in to the green lobby harms our society, the economy, and the environment, writes communication consultant Bruce Kingston. Water is often ignored because of its ubiquity, but without it we humans can maintain life for only some three or four days. Major dam projects in Australia in the first half

Australia’s Rightful Place

Scott Hargreaves

Australia’s Rightful Place

We must accept globalisation is now in reverse, and agree energy security is national security, argues IPA executive director Scott Hargreaves. As we witnessed Russia’s tanks rattle through Ukraine’s countryside, and China’s balloons floating over North America, so too have we witnessed the end of the globalisation era. Spanning roughly from the fall of the Berlin Wall to the invasion

When The Important Is The Urgent

Scott Hargreaves

When The Important Is The Urgent

The IPA believes in the timeless values of freedom and the Australian way of life, but sometimes we have to put the focus on the very urgent and very important. Two extremely current issues are the Voice to Parliament, and the looming energy crisis in Australia driven by net zero obsessions. As you receive this, know that this month NSW

Swede Success

Swede Success

The Swedes proved an alleged crisis—whether COVID or, say, climate change—is no excuse for curtailing our freedom, argues public policy analyst Scott Prasser. Sweden—with its extensive government regulation and social engineering—used to seem to me to be like the world’s largest prison, a sort of real-life version of that 1960s British TV series, The Prisoner, about a make-believe, contrived village

Coal Closures Dark Age

Coal Closures Dark Age

Recklessly closing more coal-fired power stations threatens to condemn Australians to a new dark age, argues IPA Research Fellow Kevin You. In April 2023 the Hunter Valley in New South Wales will lose an icon, which—for the last two generations—has been providing reliable, baseload power to factories, businesses, schools, and families in NSW and the rest of the Eastern seaboard