Cis Podcast

On April 4, CIS hosted and broadcasted an Oxford-style debate on the motion “The Voice to Parliament is needed to address Indigenous matters.” This year Australia will hold a referendum on whether to change the constitution and ensure that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders’ views are better represented in Parliament. Is the Voice about giving Indigenous Australians a right to express their views on policy through representatives elected by their communities? Or would the Voice provide cover for an activist government to legislate radical policy with no genuine democratic consent? On the affirmative side were Australia’s first Indigenous Senior Counsel, Anthony McAvoy, and constitutional lawyer Shireen Morris. Against the proposition were Northern Territory Senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price and head of CIS Indigenous Forum Nyunggai Warren Mundine. Referendum question: The question to be put to the Australian people at the 2023 referendum will be: “A Proposed Law: to alter the Constitution to recognise t

Andrew Neil joins Tom Switzer for a conversation about political and public-policy subjects — from British politics and the travails of the Royal family to the energy transition and the changing media industry to the Ukraine crisis and the rise of China. Andrew Neil is one of the world’s most prominent print and broadcast journalists, having been a long-time editor of the Sunday Times and chief political interviewer on the BBC. He is chairman of Press Holdings Media Group, which publishes The Spectator and Spectator Australia magazines.

Salvatore Babones returns to discuss the new CIS Intergenerational research program with Program Director Matt Taylor. Despite the 30-year economic boom that preceded the Covid pandemic, there is growing evidence that younger Australians have not shared in the benefits to the same extent as generations before them. These younger generations will bear the brunt of paying back the $617 billion of government debt incurred in the wake of the government response to Covid, debt that is set to peak at an eyewatering $1.2 trillion in 2025-26. As the cost of financing government debt and expenditures arising from an ageing Australia climb to historic levels, there will be fewer and fewer working age Australians per retiree. Since younger Australian will face far greater fiscal challenges compared to earlier generations, it is imperative that the Australian electorate — especially younger voters — make informed decisions at the ballot box. The CIS Intergeneration program will focus on policy reform that will ensure

Rob chats to Lorraine Finlay, Human Rights Commissioner with the Australian Human Rights Commission, about the importance and nature of human rights. A convinced believer is liberalism, Lorraine understands human rights as absolutely important which give is our humanity. She is also aware that they are not inevitable. Nor do they come from government but are only expressed through government.

Guest host Glenn Fahey returns to discuss challenges facing new immigrants to Australia with Melissa Monteiro, CEO of the Community Migrant Resource Centre. As a community practitioner, Melissa has worked to ensure peoples from worn-torn nations are able to find community and start life new, particularly those immigrants from less-developed countries who settle in Western Sydney. In a report from 2016 from the Forum on the Settlement of Syrian and Iraqi Refugees, it showed that over 30 agencies representing government, local services, schools, religious and civil society organisations were brought together to focus on the key settlement issues that will confront this particular cohort of Syrian and Iraqi humanitarian entrants. Focusing on areas such as education, employment training, health and short- and long-term housing. It takes an incredible amount of community resources manpower to set up resettlements for newly arriving migrants. Are we seeing a greater influx of migrants then previously before?

Guest host Simon Cowan reenters the budget bunker to discuss the second federal budget in 2022 with Australian Financial Review Economics editor in Parliament House, Canberra John Kehoe. Simon and John break down the budget and cover what the mainstream media has missed. It's Labor's turn. After a victory in the Federal Election in part due to the former Liberal Government's mishandling of the economy, the new Federal Treasurer Jim Chalmers is set to deliver his 'wellness' budget. Are we set for more big government spending? Can Labor turn around Australia's deficit woes? Will Labor keep their promise of additional funding to health and defence?

Salvatore Babones returns to discuss the rise of nationalism amongst China's youth with Yun Jiang, inaugural China Matters Fellow at the Australian Institute of International Affairs. China’s youths have become more nationalistic, especially compared to the previous generation. Many outside China attribute the increasing nationalism to the Communist Party of China (CPC)’s patriotic education campaign as well as its control of information in China. According to Yun Jiang, it would be wrong to see this rising nationalism as purely a result of brainwashing, instead, that is just one of many factors. The current generation of middle-class millennials have grown up during an era in which China has become more prosperous and powerful. Therefore, for them, especially those living in big cities of Shanghai or Shenzhen, they feel greater pride in China’s achievements. Does the growing nationalism bolster Xi Jinping's power? What does this mean for the future of China's Communist political system? Are younger Ch

Katharine is a leading figure in education practice and policy and founder as well as principal of London's Michaela Community School. It’s no secret that Australian schools’ performance has been in decline for many years. That’s not for a lack of funding, nor a lack of commitment from countless dedicated educators. But more can be done to advance the learning of all students, no matter their background. It’s a culture of high expectations, consistently well-managed classes, high behavioural standards, and commitment to explicit teaching that are the not-so-secret sauce behind educational success. There is no better example of this in the world than the London-based, Michaela Community School. Despite serving mostly disadvantaged students, they’ve delivered exceptional outcomes. More than half of their school leavers have achieved the equivalent of an A grade — more than 2.5 times better than the national average — helping to earn Michaela international praise.

To celebrate 100 Episodes of On Liberty we flip the script and CIS executive director Tom Switzer interviews regular On Liberty host Salvatore Babones. Over 100 episodes, Salvatore has interviewed a wide range of guests on an incredible range of topics. We hear from Salvatore on what he has learnt about Classical Liberalism and political orthodoxy in Australia and around the world from his many interviews. As well as how On Liberty has shaped Salvatore's views, his new position as Director of China and Free Societies at CIS and what's next for the international affairs portfolio at CIS.

We welcome Red Union Managing Director, Jack McGuire. Jack argues there are not enough options available to workers to seek representation – ultimately restricting freedom of association. Instead, workers have little choice but to engage with legacy monopoly unions – regardless of whether or not they share the union’s political motivations or policy advocacy. The only way to ensure constructive representation of members, according to Jack, is to have professional associations governed by practicing teachers and nurses, not professional union officials. Under the current anti-competitive settings, teachers and nurses are little more than cash cows for political purposes. But the interests of members must come before politics. Without more dynamic representation, workers will continue to face inflexible and impractical working conditions. The status quo entrenches big unions and big business and marginalizes small business and workers that require flexibility. Are monopoly unions failing to advance the inte

We welcomed Peter Gregory, author of the CIS paper The Territory Gap: Comparing Australia's remote Indigenous communities. The absolute and relative deprivation experienced by Indigenous people in remote and very remote Australia is well known. However, Indigenous people in remote areas are often lumped together as a single national category. There is little understanding of how the different states and territories perform in terms of the economic wellbeing of Indigenous people in remote and very remote areas. The major finding of this research is that the Northern Territory has the worst economic outcomes for Indigenous people in remote or very remote locations of any state or territory in Australia by some margin, while South Australia has the best. Why are remote Indigenous communities in the Northern Territory struggling? What is being done to help remote communities to ensure they thrive? Why are seeing the gaps in economic wellbeing across remote communities?

Speaking from Berlin, Sabine speaks with Rob about why she set up the Freiblickinstitut (Free Vision Institute) to promote open freedom of discussion and tolerance in public debate. They discuss some of the tragic moments of lost opportunity for liberalism in Germany history. Sabine explains why there is no German word for ‘Cancel Culture’ in German, even though the phenomenon exists in a country that has always had some form of censorship. She describes the unusual powers of the courts in Germany to decide matters of public debate as well as the unhelpful role of political consensus in stifling debate. Nonetheless she is hopeful for the future of liberalism in Germany.

Claire Lehmann, founding editor of Quillette sits down with Rob. Claire explains the philosophy of the Quillette project in promoting Enlightenment values of reason, the use of evidence, and free thought which first arose to confront unconscious left-wing bias in psychology. She believes ideological diversity is helpful in any search for truth because everyone has blind spots. Rob and Claire discuss the nature and dangers of tribalism in thought. She believes that while liberalism is not under threat in Australia there is the danger of importing populist movements of both left and right from the US.

Rob talks to Mike Bird, the Academic Dean at Ridley Theological College Melbourne, on the importance of secularism in contemporary Australian life and about his recent book Religious Freedom in a Secular Age (Harper Collins, May 2022). Mike contends that with a secular government religious bodies do not control the state and the state does not control religious bodies—to the benefit of both. They also discuss the threats to a secular government, which come surprisingly not from religious bodies but from those opposed to religion. The possibility of a peace between LGBTQI+ rights and religious freedom is canvassed.

On this episode Rob chats with former university vice-chancellor Steven Schwartz. Steven understands liberalism as an attitude that gives everyone an opportunity to flourish — an attitude of ‘live and let live’ so long as you do not interfere with others living their lives. He believes liberalism has won the big battle of ideas, but that it keeps on being undermined in the narrow world of practical politics.

On this episode Rob chats to author Roslyn Fuller. Liberals believe in the value of democracy, but Roslyn tells Rob there is truly little of it in the world today. This is because there is little direct power given to people in our system of government. Drawing on the example of ancient Athens, Roslyn outlines her preferred model of direct democracy. Her critique of the current representative democracy is that it is open to corruption and devoid of what the people actually want. Roslyn argues for a more direct engagement of people in decision making.

Rob sits down the Centre for Independent Studies executive director Tom Switzer. Tom discusses with Rob what so called ‘Classical Liberalism’ is and why he is convinced it is best for society. This leads to the question if it works better, why don’t more people believe in it?

A fierce reformer for liberalism, Ruth Richardson is asked whether the ship of reforming liberalism has sailed in the light of the many setbacks it has experienced in the last decades. They discuss how the restoration liberalism to its dynamic rightful place will depend on three things, the ideas of freedom, the institutions that buttress that freedom, and the individuals who champion that freedom—all of which have been missing of late.

In this discussion we hear a youthful take on Liberalism, Emilie is Australian Lead at Young Voices, an Advisor at GT Communications and former policy director at the Australian Taxpayers Alliance. Emily understands Liberalism as based on the understanding that only an individual can know what is best for their life. However, she is also aware that many of her generation are disillusioned with how they see the world and wrongly see the solution as more government.

We welcomed Mark Latham, Member of the NSW Legislative Council and Chair of the NSW Parliament’s Education Committee. There are important challenges facing teachers across Australia, resulting in significant attention from federal and state policymakers. Mark argues that teacher shortages are a serious problem impacting on the learning of children in very real ways – resulting in merged classes, out-of-field teaching, and the scrapping of some school support programs. He points to results of a recent survey of NSW teachers showing many are burnt out, overworked, and dissatisfied – leaving many to consider leaving the profession. The solution to address teacher shortages – according to the survey – is to reduce administrative burden, increase pay, and improve working conditions. Where are our teacher shortages? How can teacher supply challenges be resolved? Are we doing enough to build up and sustain an effective teacher workforce?