coronavirus

“With Victoria Police reportedly withdrawing charges against BLM protest organisers, the principle should be extended to all those who peacefully exercised their democratic right to protest,” said Morgan Begg, Director of the Legal Rights Program at the Institute of Public Affairs. On Tuesday, Nine newspapers reported that Victoria Police would be withdrawing charges laid against two organisers of the Black

New polling data released today by the Institute of Public Affairs has found a significant majority of Australians believe it is critical for Australia be able to manufacture its own vital supplies amidst China’s growing assertiveness in our region and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The polling data, collected by Dynata, found 70% of respondents believed that it was very important

The Institute of Public Affairs has today published new research highlighting how the powers of detention in the Victorian government’s pandemic management legislation could be struck down for being incompatible with the Australian Constitution. “The powers of detention in this legislation are completely abhorrent to the rule of law,” said Morgan Begg, the Director of the Legal Rights Program at

Brisbane has been plunged into another snap lockdown after COVID-19 slipped into the community through an inexplicably unvaccinated doctor and nurse. Australia’s borders remain closed and tens of thousands are trapped overseas. Winter, with a higher transmission risk, is coming. Australia is stuck in COVID purgatory: lockdowns and domestic border closures at any moment, lives and livelihoods at risk, and

It’s true the coronavirus has made the job of being in opposition difficult. It’s understandable at times of crisis the public want stability and unity, not criticism and division. What’s less understandable is the parochialism and at times mean-spiritedness the crisis has provoked – which many premiers, with the notable exception of Gladys Berejiklian, have manipulated. The coronavirus and border

Before The Economist magazine became the in-house journal for the woke business elite, it printed a fascinating article entitled “The burden of history” about how the past is viewed in the different countries of the European Union. The piece began by quoting Javier Solana, then the EU’s foreign policy spokesperson who talked about how Americans and Europeans each interpret the exact same

Even as they shut their doors—quite possibly forever, in many cases—Melbourne’s battered hospitality businesses were still complying. The bars and restaurants and cafes for which Australia’s self-proclaimed cultural capital prided itself were still taking names and phone numbers at the door, still asking patrons to wear masks, still leaving bottles of hand sanitiser at the door. They were even keeping

In his book The Fear and the Freedom – Why the Second World War Still Matters, the historian Keith Lowe writes about how the nations and individuals who survived through war coped with the emotional consequences of their trauma. They did two things. First, they tried to forget what had happened. Then, what they couldn’t forget they created myths about. The

  Dear Treasurer, As you would be aware the Institute of Public Affairs (IPA) has long been concerned about issues of freedom of speech in Australia. The IPA strongly supports freedom of the press in Australia and opposes the existence of government owned and operated media organisations. For example, in 2012 the IPA strongly opposed the recommendations of the Finkelstein

Australia is not following the science. The decision to dither on the Covid-19 vaccines will not delay the economic recovery but could risk lives and undermine faith in immunisation. Last week the United Kingdom became the first country on the planet to approve the BioNTech-Pfizer vaccine. This week rollout began. The United States is expected to do the same in