Cis Podcast

Iron, Ideas, and Abundance: Supply Side Mistakes and Lessons. This week on The Stutchbury Sessions, Michael reflects on his recent visit to Western Australia, the engine room of the nation’s prosperity.  From the billion tonnes of iron ore dug out of the Pilbara to the decades-long export ban that once kept Australia poor, this episode revisits how lifting restrictions unlocked one of the greatest booms in our history. It’s a lesson in abundance: when governments get out of the way, entrepreneurs and investors unleash prosperity. Read our recent productivity research:  Addressing Australia’s Productivity Problem. CORE Blueprint to Unshackle Productivity: https://www.cis.org.au/publication/addressing-australias-productivity-problem-core-blueprint-to-unshackle-productivity/  The Productivity Problem. Australia’s Growth Slump Is Undermining Prosperity: https://www.cis.org.au/publication/the-productivity-problem-australias-growth-slump-is-undermining-prosperity/ 

Why are Australians voting for bigger government? In this episode of The Stutchbury Sessions, we explore the paradox of a wealthy nation choosing more handouts, higher spending, and larger public debt. From cost-of-living subsidies to universal childcare, Australians are increasingly embracing policies that expand the welfare state, even as they fuel deficits and weaken productivity. Drawing on CIS research from Robert Carling and recent remarks by Liberal leader Sussan Ley, we unpack the rise of “voting for a living,” where more than half of Australians now rely on government for most of their income. What does this mean for future taxpayers, younger workers, and Australia’s long-term prosperity? Join us as we tackle the culture of dependency, the risks of a $1 trillion public debt, and the political challenge of saying no to endless handouts. Read or listen to Robert Carling's Research: https://www.cis.org.au/publication/leviathan-on-the-rampage-how-the-growth-of-government-is-draining-australias-economic-v

Recent Australian laws risk undermining fundamental freedoms and weakening the principles that underpin a democratic society. In The Rule of Law, Excessive Regulation and Free Speech, Dr Paul M Taylor argues that government responses to challenges such as misinformation, online harms, privacy and hate speech are increasingly disproportionate and, in some cases, ineffective. “While governments are right and bound to protect citizens from genuine harm, measures that curtail political expression, encourage censorship, or prioritise one right over another threaten the very principles of accountability and fairness that the rule of law is designed to safeguard,” Dr Taylor says. The paper highlights several recent developments, including: The proposed misinformation bills, which would have incentivised excessive censorship without adequate safeguards for free expression. The expansion of the eSafety Commissioner’s powers, raising concerns about transparency, accountability and overreach. The rushed passage

Feed your intelligence with policy research and commentary designed to enhance our liberal democracy. Join Michael Stutchbury and guests every Thursday for your 10 minute briefing.  In Australia, a growing sense of polarisation is erupting, evident in the recent 'March for Australia' rallies, where tens of thousands voiced concerns over mass migration's impact on housing, infrastructure, and wages, only to see their protests co-opted by far-right extremists and white nationalists. This mirrors the earlier pro-Palestinian marches, where genuine compassion for Gaza was tainted by support for Iran's theocratic regime. These divisions reflect a world grappling with identity, immigration, and geopolitical upheaval. Australia’s success as an immigrant nation is undeniable, yet mismanaged housing policies have fueled misdirected anger toward migrants. As global powers like Putin, Xi, and Kim Jong-un challenge the liberal order, Australia must counter these cultural rifts with honest, fact-based debate to preserve o

Listen to our new show, The Stutchbury Sessions on Apple, Spotify, Amazon, iHeartRadio, PlayerFM or listen on your browser.   Watch this episode here: https://youtu.be/sv9pXQxa9bo In this episode of Liberalism in Question, host Robert Forsyth engages in a thought-provoking discussion with Mark Leach, co-founder and CEO of "Never Again Is Now", on the rise of anti-Semitism in Australia, the erosion of Western liberal values, and the need for cultural renewal. They explore how anti-Semitism is a broader threat to Australian society, rooted in declining confidence in Western civilisation's core principles like individualism, equality, and pluralism.

In this inaugural edition, CIS Executive Director and former Editor-in-Chief of the Australian Financial Review, Michael Stutchbury, outlines how Australia once enjoyed extraordinary prosperity, built on bipartisan reforms of the 1980s and 1990s that liberalized markets, cut tariffs, and opened the economy to global competition. Yet, since prosperity peaked in 2011–12, signs of decline have mounted: stagnant productivity, shrinking real incomes, persistent deficits, mounting debt, weak business investment, soaring energy costs, and a lower growth potential as estimated by the RBA. The problem is not simply cyclical, Stutchbury says. As politics shifted from creating wealth to redistributing it, spending grew while reform stalled. New entitlements and universal programs have expanded government outlays, crowding out private investment. To restore prosperity, Australia must pursue the four reforms outlined in this episode. Australia has reinvented itself before; it must find the courage to do so again. Subscri

In this episode, Rob sits down with Trisha Jha, a policy analyst at the Centre for Independent Studies, to explore the relationship between liberalism and education. They discuss how liberal principles, like individual freedom, pluralism, and limited government, may require an educated population to survive.  Trisha Jha is a Research Fellow in the Education program, where she leads a stream of work on the science of learning, as well as projects on school improvement and educational policy. Trisha has previously had roles as a secondary teacher, including through the Teach for Australia program, in state and independent schools in regional Victoria. She has also worked as a senior policy adviser to opposition leaders in Victoria. She holds a Masters of Teaching with a specialisation in Research from Deakin University and a Bachelor of Arts in International Relations from the Australian National University.

Australia’s extraordinary modern prosperity, built on the supply-side economic liberalisation of the 1980s and 1990s and boosted by the China-fuelled resources boom, is being squandered. In Our Prosperity is Slipping Away: Submission to Economic Reform Roundtable, Michael Stutchbury writes that urgent reform is needed to stop the slump. “History shows such periods of relative affluence are rare and temporary, as seen in the 1850s–80s, early 1950s and late 1960s–early 1970s,” Stutchbury says. “Australia’s most recent peak in prosperity occurred in 2011–12 and has been in decline ever since.    “Rather than taking the policy decisions necessary to sustain growth, the political process has descended into a contest over redistributing shrinking wealth.   “The Reserve Bank’s downgrading of productivity forecasts confirms an unacceptable low-growth future.”  The paper urges the Economic Reform Roundtable to reject this trajectory and commit to making Australia “an aspirational and enterprise-driven high-growth nati

Watch here: https://youtu.be/DgqdELXU4BI In this episode of Liberalism in Question from the Centre for Independent Studies, economist Robert Carling discusses the alarming rise in Australian government spending and its long-term consequences.

For all references and graphs, read the paper here: https://www.cis.org.au/publication/the-productivity-problem-australias-growth-slump-is-undermining-prosperity/  Key Findings: Labour productivity growth has halved, sliding from 2.4% a year in the late 1990s to just 1.2% in recent years. Australia is falling further behind the United States, with the productivity gap now wider than it was in the early 2000s. Business investment – a driver of growth – is subdued, starving firms of the latest technology and techniques needed to compete globally. Cox outlines that even small, sustained improvements in productivity compound into large gains. Conversely, persistently slow growth risks turning policy development by political parties into a zero-sum scramble for slices of a shrinking pie, undermining social cohesion and democratic norms. The paper identifies a triple threat: Dwindling innovation diffusion, in which Australian firms are adopting new ideas more slowly than global leaders. Rising regula

Watch here: https://youtu.be/9bFoGoxcuQY When Peter Kurti published "The Ties That Bind: Reconciling Value Pluralism and National Identity in Australia", Jude felt compelled to disagree vehemently, though only in a rhetorical sense!   “Australia’s multicultural democracy is under increasing pressure, not only from economic uncertainty but from the moral and cultural disagreements that have intensified in recent years. Deep cultural and moral diversity presents both remarkable opportunities and profound challenges for our national identity,” writes Peter.  Jude’s response? When disagreements grow too intense, the state must eventually intervene and take sides. He warns of ‘the tyranny of the majority’, the danger that majority opinion in a democracy can suppress dissenting voices or infringe on the basic rights of minorities. So, what happens when illiberal opinions become the dominant norm?  This is not a merely theoretical concern. We live in a time of growing social division. The war in Gaza, for example, h

Australia’s government expenditure has surged to a post-war high (except for the pandemic-era spike) of 38–39% of GDP, up from 34–35% before the 2008 global financial crisis, a new Centre for Independent Studies paper outlines.   In Leviathan on the Rampage: Government spending growth a threat to Australia’s economic future, economist Robert Carling warns that federal spending alone has climbed from 24–25% to 27.6% of GDP since 2012–13, fueled by a culture of entitlement and relentless program expansion in social services, defence and debt interest.   Key Findings Real per capita federal spending has risen 1.8% on average annually since 2012–13, far exceeding Australia’s 0.5% productivity growth and more than double real GDP growth. A dozen fast-growing programs — including the NDIS, aged care, defence, schools, Medicare and child care — account for 63% of the increase in federal own-purpose spending in that period and now represent around half of such spending. Public debt interest is projected to rise 9.5

A new Centre for Independent Studies paper underlines the importance of developing early number sense in children, with advice for both parents and teachers, as well as invaluable exercises. In  Early Numbers, Big Ideas. Fostering Number Sense in Young Children, authors Dr Nancy C. Jordan and Dr Nancy Dyson say children's trajectories in mathematics are shaped early. and the development of early number sense will reap benefits in later schooling and adult life.  “Foundational mathematical knowledge at school entry is a strong and consistent predictor of later achievement, with effects that persist through primary and even secondary schooling,” Dr Jordan says. “Children who begin school with low numeracy skills are significantly more likely to continue struggling with mathematics across their schooling years, and early gaps in understanding tend to widen over time if left unaddressed,” she says. “All the evidence reinforces the need to ensure all children get off to a strong start in developing key founda

Watch Here: https://youtu.be/29qPdsxMHss  “Freedom or death!” The rallying cry of revolutions, constitutions, and rights movements shaped the modern world — and liberalism was its architect. Built on the belief that individuals should be free to choose their paths, pursue their dreams, and speak their minds, liberalism became the moral and political foundation of the 20th century. But in the 21st, the definition of freedom is expanding — and straining. We seek freedom not just from tyranny, but from discomfort, constraint, and even contradiction. Liberalism promised liberty, but has it delivered too much choice — or the wrong kind? Has the pursuit of personal freedom begun to erode shared values, social cohesion, or even the self? Thucydides said, “The secret to happiness is freedom.” But is that still true — was it ever? Join Rob Forsyth and Priyan Max Jeganathan for this challenging discussion on the limits of freedom.

The re-elected government faces a long list of economic challenges, some of them created or exacerbated in its first term. This CIS review discusses some of the major challenges: budget repair; fiscal reform; productivity growth; and housing. Read the paper here: https://www.cis.org.au/publication/post-election-economic-challenges/  Subscribe to all our shows: Liberalism in Question features thought-provoking interviews with world experts in politics and culture from a Classical Liberal perspective. Subscribe here: https://liberalisminquestion.podbean.com/  The CIS Research Collection delivers our research papers in an audio format so that you can listen to them on the go. Subscribe here: https://cisresearch.podbean.com/ What You Need to Know About delivers concise insights from CIS experts, breaking down complex topics like policy, economics, and societal challenges. Subscribe here: https://whatyouneedtoknowabout.podbean.com/  CIS Events Experience: From the studios of CIS our events team brings you

Watch here: https://youtu.be/-NaJolceTlI Robert Forsyth interviews Dr. Michael Bird, who reflects on the relationship between liberalism and Christianity. Bird acknowledges the strengths of liberalism—its emphasis on individual liberty, pluralism, and democratic governance—but warns that when liberalism becomes detached from its Christian moral and philosophical roots, it risks undermining the very values it seeks to uphold. He argues that a purely secular liberalism can drift into relativism or moral vacuity, leaving society vulnerable to fragmentation. For liberal democracy to thrive, Bird suggests, it must remain tethered to a deeper moral vision—one that Christianity has historically provided.

Read the paper here: https://www.cis.org.au/publication/the-ties-that-bind-reconciling-value-pluralism-and-national-identity-in-australia/  Executive summary Australia’s multicultural democracy is under increasing pressure, not only from economic uncertainty but from the moral and cultural disagreements that have intensified in recent years. Deep cultural and moral diversity presents both remarkable opportunities and profound challenges for our national identity. This report explores whether value pluralism — the recognition that people will continue to hold fundamentally different moral, religious, and cultural beliefs — is compatible with a cohesive national identity in a liberal democracy. It argues that Australia’s future cohesion depends not on suppressing disagreement, but on managing it fairly through civic institutions, democratic procedures and mutual restraint. This entails rethinking national identity in light of enduring moral diversity so cultural differences do not threaten social harmony. Draw

Watch now: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HRlHwPrD850 Robert Forsyth interviews Glenn Fahey, director of the education program at the Centre for Independent Studies (CIS), who explores why a classical liberal think tank is deeply engaged in education policy. Fahey argues that education is the great enabler of freedom—central to the classical liberal vision of a society where individuals can shape their own lives. He explains that without access to high-quality education, people are denied the knowledge and skills necessary to participate in the economy, civic life, and democratic decision-making. Glenn Fahey also discusses the science of learning and how society is slowly getting back to evidence-based education approaches. Subscribe to all our shows: Liberalism in Question features thought-provoking interviews with world experts in politics and culture from a Classical Liberal perspective. Subscribe here: https://liberalisminquestion.podbean.com/  The CIS Research Collection delivers our research papers

The proposed tax on superannuation balances exceeding $3 million is poorly designed, economically damaging, and sets a dangerous precedent by taxing unrealised capital gains, a Centre for Independent Studies paper outlines. In How to Vandalise Savings: the New Super Tax, economist Robert Carling delivers a scathing critique of the tax, calling for the scheme to be shelved or substantially revised and deferred to a later start date than 1 July 2025. This analysis arrives at a critical juncture as the re-elected Labor government prepares to reintroduce legislation that had previously stalled before the May 2025 election. While the tax is marketed as affecting only a small number of high-balance super accounts, the paper makes clear that its impact will widen rapidly and disproportionately affect those who have saved prudently under previous rules. The new tax is often described as doubling the existing tax — which would be severe in itself — but in fact it is more than a doubling. The existing tax allows fo

Watch here: https://youtu.be/o6TVilPFQxo  Robert Forsyth speaks with Rohan McHugh, who contends that the liberal tradition’s “contest of ideas” — though vital for intellectual refinement — does not conflict with the enduring boundaries that have sustained Western civilization for millennia. These boundaries have been upheld by long-standing institutions and validated by their outcomes. While the classical liberal model deserves affirmation, McHugh argues it should be recognized as incomplete, especially when treated as a rigid framework that excludes metaphysical foundations. As American founding father John Adams famously stated, “Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.”