Parliamentary Research Briefs

Australian families are facing acute and immediate cost of living pressures, due to rapidly rising inflation, energy costs, and rising mortgage repayments. A key cause of rising inflation is debt and deficit government spending. New IPA research examines the relationship between government spending, inflation, and mortgage repayment rates. The key findings are: Governments must tackle inflation and the cost of

Our latest research brief discusses Australia’s alarming incarceration rate and nationwide worker shortages. IPA research has found that over-incarceration and worker shortages could be addressed by adopting sensible criminal justice reform. If the proposed offender employment program was adopted for low-risk non-violent offenders, government budgets could be improved by $2 billion every year through reduced prison costs and increased income

Australia is facing an unprecedented, country- wide shortage of workers, the effect of which is to reduce business investment, economic growth, and productivity, as well as forgone wages and government revenue. Urgent government action is needed to reduce the shortage of workers, with one promising initiative being to encourage more pensioners to re-enter the workforce by reduce the unfair penalty

Criminal justice reform is a combination of measures designed to arrest and reverse the rise of incarceration, reduce reoffending and crime, guarantee community safety, and save taxpayers money. This is an ambitious agenda but experience from the United States shows that it is possible—and for Western Australia, increasingly vital. Download the report here

The Institute of Public Affairs (IPA), Australia’s premier free market think tank, is dedicated to preserving and strengthening the foundations of economic and political freedom. The Parliamentary Research Brief program is designed to provide politicians and policy makers around the country with succinct information on various policy areas. Our new research brief outlines the importance of low-paid work in providing

The Institute of Public Affairs (IPA), Australia’s premier free market think tank, is dedicated to preserving and strengthening the foundations of economic and political freedom. The Parliamentary Research Brief program is designed to provide politicians and policy makers around the country with succinct information on various policy areas. Our new research brief outlines the decline to small business and entrepreneurship

The 2019 election result was driven by mainstream Australians rejecting an agenda to fundamentally transform Australia. The government now has an opportunity to build and reinforce institutional bulwarks against the forces which undermine mainstream Australian values. To achieve this, public policy should seek to reinforce a community of stakeholders which underpin the success of mainstream Australia and secure the Australian

15 Policies The Coalition Should Implement But Will Not And 5 Policies They Should Not Implement But Will (Click here to download the full list of policies.) A Statement on Liberal Philosophy Individual freedom is the central animating theme of liberalism. Governments exist and hold their legitimacy insofar as they protect the economic, social, and political freedoms of all Australians.

Our new research brief provides ten points about the Paris Climate Agreement. The binding international emissions reduction obligations imposed on Australia by the Paris Climate Agreement will result in significant and irreparable economic and social costs without producing a discernible environmental benefit. Australia is not “on track” to meet the Paris emission reduction obligations despite extensive and prolonged government intervention

The only way to bring down power prices is to pull out of the Paris Climate Agreement, according to research released today by the Institute of Public Affairs. “For Australia to meet the binding Paris Climate Agreement emission reduction obligations, further substantial reduction to emissions in the electricity, transport, and agricultural sectors is required. This will impose significant and irreparable