Submissions

19 October 2018

This submission responds to the University of Tasmania’s Draft University Behaviour Policy and Procedure. This submission raises concern that the proposed policy seriously threatens freedom of expression and infringes legal rights. The University of Tasmania is currently one of Australia’s highest ranked universities on freedom of speech in the IPA’s Free Speech on Campus Audit 2017. The University is one of few

9 July 2018

The Institute of Public Affairs welcomes the opportunity to provide a submission to the Senate Inquiry into Impediments to Business Investment. This submission focusses on the role that public policy has played in causing a down-turn to business investment, and approaches that can be taken to reverse this trend. Australia is a land of great potential and opportunity. Yet bad

15 June 2018

Occupational licensing is government regulation of the conditions under which someone can legally practice an occupation. The requirements can relate to education attainment, experience, personal character, residency, and payment of membership fees to professional industry bodies. In Australia, many occupations require a license to legally operate, including doctors, lawyers, electricians, hair dressers, weed controllers, and driving instructors. Occupational licensing imposes

24 April 2018

Below is an extract from the IPAs submission to the Senate Economics References Committee This Senate Inquiry is highly questionable. It refers to an undertaking made by private companies in relation to a public policy. Decisions which companies make around remuneration, pricing, and investment are the preserve of those companies. Businesses are not communal property to be intervened with at

22 March 2018

Proposed changes to vegetation management law in Queensland are burdensome red tape and an erosion of property rights. This submission will refer to three major reforms included in the Vegetation Management and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2018 that are representative of the broader red tape problem in Australia and the failure to acknowledge private property rights. In particular, the abolition

30 January 2018

Inquiry into the future of work and workers in Australia We refer to the above inquiry, and provide a submission to the Senate Select Committee on the Future of Work and Workers (the Committee) on behalf of the Institute of Public Affairs (IPA). There is no doubt that technological changes present challenges for the modern workforce as it integrates advances

13 November 2017

This is the full text of a letter from IPA Senior Fellow, Dr Jennifer Marohasy, sent to the Hon Josh Frydenberg MP, Minister for Environment and Energy, on 12 November, 2017. Previous posts relating to the issues covered in this letter can be found here.   Dear Minister Re: Suspend announcement of new record hot days – Inform WMO that

21 August 2017

It is widely agreed that a free and independent press is an essential part of a democratic order. This submission addresses itself to the implications of the words free and independent. Government Intervention in the market for journalism risks undermining the reason we value publicly interested journalism in the first place – its role in providing a check on government

18 July 2017

Recent IPA research shows that penalty rates were introduced in order to deter weekend work. Overtime, the justification of penalty rates has shifted to being a compensatory measure. As preferences and circumstances have changed over time, the need for additional compensation for weekend and public holiday work has also changed. On this basis, the recent decision of the Fair Work

16 June 2017

The Government’s proposed levy should be abandoned. It is a tax on all Australians which will increase the cost of buying a house and starting a business, was designed without consultation, and is predicated on highly illiberal grounds. The IPA’s Daniel Wild suggests in a submission to the Inquiry into the Major Bank Levy Bill 2017 and the Treasury Laws