Society

This report illustrates the ongoing erosion of legal rights that persists in Australia. This has been measured by an analysis of the content of all legislation passed by the federal parliament in 2016. Our research is an audit of Commonwealth legislation passed in 2016, building on research the Institute of Public Affairs began in 2014.1 The IPA’s 2014 report The

An early test for Education Minister Rob Stokes comes with the news that Hurstville Boys Campus, a public school in Sydney’s west, has adopted “an agreed protocol” which effectively excuses some of its male students from shaking hands with females is yet another attack on our values and has no place in our taxpayer-funded schools. This decision came about following

Australia’s race commissioner Tim Soutphommasane is taking on an Orwellian mission this week, telling members of parliament they need to keep free speech restrictions in place to protect liberal values. The debate over section 18C of the Racial Discrimination Act is heating up ahead of a parliamentary committee report into the law due to be released later this month. Soutphommasane

Last Friday, the University of Western Australia Student Guild voted overwhelmingly in favour of changing the date of Australia Day and proposed to ban all future campus celebrations on January 26. Just hours before the general meeting was to set to begin, the Western Australian Students Aboriginal Corporation (WASAC) had requested that the motion to join the #ChangeTheDate campaign be raised and discussed at the Guild Council meeting. Even though the official submission date had closed the week earlier, the Guild allowed WASAC to

Last Friday, the University of Western Australia Student Guild voted overwhelmingly in favour of changing the date of Australia Day and proposed to ban all future campus celebrations on January 26. Just hours before the general meeting was to set to begin, the Western Australian Students Aboriginal Corporation (WASAC) had requested that the motion to join the #ChangeTheDate campaign be

The IPA’s Simon Breheny discusses the findings of the Galaxy Poll which found 48% of Australians support 18C reform with 38% opposed.

According to the results of an international opinion poll released a few days ago, there’s an “implosion of trust” around the world. The findings of the 2017 Edelman Trust Barometer reveal just 37 per cent of Australians trust the government. The comparable figure in the United States is 47 per cent, and 36 per cent in the UK. Despite all

This week, Warren Mundine proposed that Australia Day should be moved from January 26 to January 1, because the 26th marks the arrival of the first white settlers at Sydney Cove. He does not have a problem with the concept of Australia Day, but rather the date itself which he believes represents conflict and conquest. However, there is no evidence

At the beginning of each new year, we are encouraged to make some new resolution, or other. The idea is usually to seek to improve on our current situation through a worthy intent. However, intent can be the enemy of truth,because too often it provides a goal, without the discomfort of proper analysis – or even honest reflection. Also, at

In Reflections on the Revolution in France published in 1790, Edmund Burke concluded that “A state without the means of some change is without the means of its conservation”. That’s exactly what we learned in 2016. If the politicians won’t change the system, voters will change the politicians. The phenomena of Brexit and Donald Trump smashed the so-called political “centre”