Victorian Donation Law Changes A Threat To Free Speech
The Andrews government’s proposed changes to Victorian donations law are undemocratic and a threat to freedom of speech, according to free market think tank the Institute of Public Affairs...
Malcolm Turnbull’s Thoroughly Liberal Blasphemies
What’s been obvious to anyone outside the Canberra bubble for the last six months might finally have dawned upon Malcolm Turnbull and his ministers. The Coalition can win the next federal...
Originally appeared in The Australian Financial Review
Why Politicians Are Going Nowhere
The refusal to celebrate Australia Day by a handful out of the more than 500 local councils around the country represents more than just another example of “political...
Originally appeared in The Australian Financial Review
Four Facts about Inequality in Australia
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...
Australia Can’t Be Silent Amid The Misery Of Venezuela
Venezuela is a failing socialist state. The economy is 40 per cent smaller than a few years ago. Nine in 10 households are unable to afford enough food. Infant mortality has risen 30 per cent...
Originally appeared in The Australian
Submission To The Senate Select Committee On The Future Of Public Interest Journalism
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...
The Freedom Conundrum
Recently I attended the Centre for Policy Studies’ Margaret Thatcher Conference on Security 2017 at the august Guildhall in the heart of the City of London. The theme of the day was threats to the...
Originally appeared in The Spectator Australia
With Little Thought To Consequences, Gay Marriage Could Reduce Freedom
After this country’s politicians eventually work out who is and isn’t entitled to sit in Parliament, hopefully they’ll turn their attention back to more important things –...
Originally appeared in The Australian Financial Review
Blockchain Offers An Innovative Solution To The Brexit Customs Puzzle
This week the government released a new paper calling for the “freest and most frictionless trade possible” with the EU. Ideally, Britain wants no customs border, which, the paper admits, would be...
Originally appeared in BrexitCentral
Big Government’s War On Young Australians
The major parties, unions and the bureaucracy have declared economic war on young people which threatens to create an invisible underclass locked out of economic participation. In March, the...
Originally appeared in The Spectator Australia
The Republican Suicide Squad
When Bill Shorten gave the keynote address the Australian Republican Movement annual dinner last month, Peter Fitzsimons gushed at how impressive was; blissfully unaware he had just killed any...
Originally appeared in The Spectator Australia
Equity Debate We Have To Have
A debate about inequality in Australia is long overdue. But we shouldn’t be talking about it the way the left and the Labor Party want to. A discussion only about economic inequality misses...
Originally appeared in The Australian Financial Review
The Left’s Exotic Venezuelan Romance Meets Reality
In London’s posh South Kensington on Sunday afternoon I witnessed anti and pro-Venezuelan government protests form outside the Venezuelan embassy. On the pro-government side stood...
Originally appeared in The Spectator Australia
The Right Needs To Stop Pandering To The Left
Britain’s chattering classes have reached a new consensus: liberal free market economics is unpopular and a failure. This is an extraordinary shift. Just 20 years ago, as the Soviet Union...
Originally appeared in CapX
Australia Is Not An Unequal Society – And The Politics Of Envy Hurt It
Sigh. Yet another round of debate on “inequality”. Yesterday Richard Denniss was warning us that even those “lefties” at the IMF thought inequality could be a drag on...
Originally appeared in The Australian Financial Review
The Old Alliance Of Liberals And Business Has Turned Uneasy
On Wednesday, this newspaper’s chief political correspondent Phillip Coorey reported that at a private dinner in Sydney on Monday evening Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull urged the leaders of...
Originally appeared in The Australian Financial Review
Ideological Evasion
Malcolm Turnbull’s speech to London think tank Policy Exchange on 11 July provided an insight into his government’s ideology, and there was little to like for conservatives. In a speech dedicated...
Originally appeared in The Spectator Australia
Rebelling Against Fake Experts: Citizens Across The Globe Are Turning Their Backs On So-Called Experts Who Think It’s Their Job To Tell Us How To Live
A New Yorker cartoon earlier this year showed a passenger standing up in a plane saying to his fellow passengers: ‘These smug pilots have lost touch with regular passengers like us. Who thinks I...