Hey readers would be familiar with Anthony Ruelas, a 15-year-old student in Texas, who broke his school’s code for dealing with asthma attacks by helping an asthmatic student to the school nurse. The school’s code says the teacher was to send an... Read more

On 19 January 2016, Professor Bob Carter, Emeritus Fellow of the IPA passed away following a heart attack suffered the week before. He died peacefully in the company of his family. We have lost a great scientist and a very fi ne person. I first... Read more

Daniel Chirot and Scott Montgomery from the School of International Studies at the University of Washington have telegraphed the Enlightenment into ‘four big ideas’ that they present through the writings of Adam Smith, Karl Marx, Charles Darwin,... Read more

Decisions by international corporations to invest in Australian economic sectors, such as agriculture, housing, and energy no doubt affect employment and more importantly, the lifestyles and wellbeing of Australians to different degrees. You don’t... Read more

A history of mateship could be a history of Australia. In fact, in the years when the Old Left view of the Australian story dominated the history books, it often was. In these tales, quintessential Australians such as the shearers demonstrated... Read more

The English Civil War is definitely not as familiar to us in Australia now as it once was. Only a few decades ago, the 17thcentury (along with the Tudors) was a core element of the typical school history course. Likewise, most undergraduate history... Read more

It’s impossible to understand Australia’s political history of the 1950s and 1960s without understanding the Labor Party Split. And it’s impossible to understand the Split without understanding the role of Bartholomew Augustine (B.A)... Read more

In recent years, there seems to have been an ever-increasing number of public controversies around some aspect of causing offence. From the Andrew Bolt case in Australia to the use of trigger warnings on United States campuses, there seems to be an... Read more

In the 176 page report into smoking produced by the Preventative Health Taskforce—which Labor used as a blueprint for plain packaging— cigars are mentioned just twice. Once, buried in a footnote to a graph showing declining smoking rates across... Read more

The Australian of the Year is meant to go to citizens who ‘shape our nation, inspire us and are role models for us all’. However, the last few years have shown that the award is now strictly given to activists who endorse trendy, progressive... Read more

A ‘black swan event’ refers to the unprecedented— something that changes how we previously perceived reality. The Murray-Darling Basin is a place replete with black swans (both figuratively and literally), particularly the Lower Lakes, Coorong... Read more

To fulfil its role as a public broadcaster the Australian Broadcasting Corporation no longer requires government funding. Notwithstanding the Essential public opinion polls in 2013 and 2014 indicating widespread support for the ABC, debate... Read more

On December 12 2015, headlines stated that the newly concluded United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) meeting in Paris was a success, and world leaders managed to complete an agreement that will help prevent climate change.... Read more

In 1967 Australians voted in favour of a constitutional referendum proposal in greater numbers than had ever been achieved before, and has ever been achieved since. That referendum removed racial discrimination from the Australian Constitution,... Read more

‘Sometimes societies become too stupid to survive’. For me, that’s one of the most important things Mark Steyn said on his tour of Australia with the IPA in February 2016. It’s funny, insightful and sad. As he said during the tour, there are... Read more

The Royal Commission into Trade Union Governance and Corruption, which ran for a total of twenty one months throughout 2014 and 2015, at times resembled a political carnival. A headline attraction was the appearance of former PM Julia Gillard, who... Read more

On the evening of 19 February 2016, Mark Steyn gave a lively and inspired speech for more than 450 IPA members at the 2016 IPA Gala Dinner at the Park Hyatt in Melbourne. He spoke in favour of free speech; of the hindrance 18C holds on that right;... Read more