“Mainstream parties that respond to a populist surge by adopting its economics do not recover their voters.” OECD chief Mathias Cormann told CIS’s Consilium that 2026 is an echo of 1976 and needs the same policy reformation Read the weekly ideas: cis.org.au/ideas-october-23-…

America Is Bigger Than the President: AEI's Robert Doar on Trump, Ukraine and the Midterms How should classical liberals and conservatives judge Donald Trump's second term? In this wide-ranging conversation, Robert Doar, President of the American Enterprise Institute (AEI), joined CIS Executive Director Michael Stutchbury for a frank assessment of American politics ahead of the 2026 midterm elections. Watch here: youtu.be/LV3wuKZATiY?si=a8px…

54% of Australians believe migration has historically benefited the country. Just 25% say the same about migration today, and 52% now call its impact negative. New CIS research from Parnell Palme McGuinness Read the weekly ideas: cis.org.au/ideas-october-16-…

A survey of 377 Australian teachers found they scored just 4.5 out of 10 on basic teaching principles and 88% still believe the debunked “learning styles” myth. New CIS research from Trisha Jha Read the weekly ideas: cis.org.au/ideas-october-9-2…

In 1976, a Sydney schoolteacher built CIS out of his backyard shed. No government funding. No commissioned research. 50 years on, that independence still depends on people who choose to pay for it 👇 Support our work: cis.org.au/support/donate/to…

A fourth interest rate rise this year, a record 24.1% tax take and government spending at 26.9% of GDP, the highest since the mid-1980s. CIS's Michael Stutchbury on how Australia is becoming a second-rate country again Read the weekly ideas: cis.org.au/ideas-october-2-2…

"The young reach for inclusion and the old for prohibition, not because they disagree about the seriousness of the problem, but because they hold different views of what tolerance requires." — Peter Kurti, CIS 👇 Support our work: cis.org.au/support/donate/to…

Compliance now eats more than half of board time. Australia's productivity gains this decade are the worst in 60 years. The two facts are related 👇 Support our work: cis.org.au/support/donate/to…

Jobs in AI-exposed sectors have grown in the three years since ChatGPT launched. The jobs apocalypse hasn't arrived. The regulation designed to prevent it is arriving anyway 👇 Support our work: cis.org.au/support/donate/to…

Australia already has ~100 federal regulators. The answer to AI? Create one more, inside the PM's department. CIS Senior Fellow Stephen Walters on the productivity cost 👇 Support our work: cis.org.au/support/donate/to…

The federal government's own Intergenerational Report forecasts just 2% economic growth a year for the next 40 years, down from 3% over the past 40 — with unending deficits and record income tax. CIS on what it leaves out Read the weekly ideas: cis.org.au/ideas-september-2…

We’re drowning in debt Australia used to be so flush it could have paid off the federal debt and still had change. Those days are emphatically over. Canberra has now sailed past $1 trillion in debt — about $37,000 for every Australian — while every state except Western Australia owes more than a full year’s revenue. Victoria and the ACT owe more than two. And as old, cheap debt is refinanced at today’s higher rates, interest payments will take an increasingly large bite out of government budgets — money that can’t be spent on schools, hospitals, roads or anything more politically rewarding. Yes, Australia’s debt still looks moderate beside many other advanced economies. But taking comfort from that is rather like congratulating yourself on your credit-card balance because the neighbours have maxed-out theirs. Australia started from an exceptionally strong position. We’ve spent much of that advantage — and we only get to do that once.

"Local governments represent the aggrieved neighbours, not the outsiders who would benefit from more density." The people who would live in the homes don't get a vote on whether they're built. Support our work: cis.org.au/support/donate/to…

Give more buyers more money for the same number of homes and prices rise. The lucky few win. Everyone else pays more and funds it. Two supply-side fixes from CIS's submission to the Productivity Commission 👇 Support our work: cis.org.au/support/donate/to…

"Australia's housing affordability crisis is primarily a result of planning and land-use regulations that restrict the supply of new housing." Peter Tulip, CIS submission to the Productivity Commission Support our work: cis.org.au/support/donate/to…

May's headline tax cut: $250 a year. It needed its own acronym. It doesn't start until 2027/28. That's the government's answer to a generation that has stopped believing effort decides the outcome. Support our work: cis.org.au/support/donate/to…

Young Australians aren't asking for anything new. A home. A family. A business. Financial stability. The same list their parents had. The difference is they no longer believe it's reachable Read the research: cis.org.au/publication/gener… Support our work: cis.org.au/support/donate/to…

"Societies need to ram home that antisemitism is a form of racism." Historian Lord Andrew Roberts delivered CIS's 37th John Bonython Lecture this week on confronting the surge in anti-Jewish hatred since October 7 Read the weekly ideas: cis.org.au/ideas-september-1…