IPA Review – Summer 2021

Those blaming Australia for problems with China should examine Xi Jinping’s destructive changes in direction, as we carefully weigh our response, argues author and history scholar Paul Monk. The past two years have seen a series of developments in Australia’s relations with China which have upended long-standing hopes and assumptions. It’s important that we not only ride out the current

Freedom itself is under threat as the ever-growing State damages liberalism and individualism, argues historian and IPA Adjunct Fellow, Bradley Bowden. The success of modern liberal-democracies has been built upon three pillars: democracy, economic and political liberalism, and an embrace of an energy-intensive economy, Many assume democracy is the key element of the three, as millions laid down their lives

In tracing the life journey of Bill Leak, journalist and biographer FRED PAWLE also learnt much about worrying changes in Australian culture. Being accused of racism is the best assurance these days of being the opposite. From late 2017 to early 2021, on the rare occasions I found myself in social situations requiring small talk, I would occasionally divulge, in

What happened in Wuhan is a worry but what’s happening here now is even more disturbing, argues IPA Adjunct Fellow Cian Hussey. Until quite recently, few journalists were willing to even report on the possibility COVID-19 originated in a laboratory. Sharri Markson is an exception, and deserves credit for this. When the new coronavirus emerged in late 2019 and early

An Australian ‘Canon within a Canon’ is problematic yet essential for appreciating the classics and recognising new ones, writes literary critic PETER CRAVEN. The word canon can be a ticklish point for anyone who has spent his life preoccupied with writing and its postulated transfiguration into something called literature. The term canon—with its derivation from the essential and defining part

The 400 private jets used to ferry participants to a conference on reducing emissions symbolise how international climate policy is made, argues Professor Emeritus of Government Aynsley Kellow. The 26th Conference of the Parties (COP26), held recently at Glasgow, highlighted many of the worst aspects of how international climate science and policy occurs. Close analysis also displays the extremely dubious

Taking the Humanities more seriously in Western nations including Australia would help preserve our identity, values, and way of life, argues IPA Senior Fellow Sherry Sufi. Nations of the English-speaking Western world face a crisis so unique that even thinking about it—let alone explaining it—can be a challenge. The United Kingdom, the United States, Canada, New Zealand, and Australia ostensibly

In free societies men and women can—under the rule of law—pursue their own self-interest through “truck, barter and exchange” (to use Adam Smith’s words). The stunning increase in prosperity since about 1800 is entirely due to the evolution of society in the direction of freedom and the institutions and values that support a free and commercial society; or what economist