Cis Podcast

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?

On the show this week, Salvatore Babones returns to discuss the future of housing and rental prices with Eliza Owen of CoreLogic. Many Australian homeowners and renters will be nervously waiting to see what effects the RBA's interest rate increases will have on their home loans and rent payments. While increases to the cash rate may help ease house price pressures, and stem inflation, many first home buyers know this represents an increase to their monthly repayments. According to Eliza Owen's research these rate hikes have slowed the property market as property values in Sydney are down almost 5% since mid-February’s peak. In fact, Owen reports that monthly sales volumes across Australia have generally been trending lower since November 2021."

We welcome Simon Breheny, Public Policy Manager at Philip Morris International and former Policy Director at the Institute of Public Affairs. Simon argues that it’s more humane, less costly, and more effective to focus on reducing harm caused from consumption of lifestyle products, like tobacco and drugs, rather than only seeking to prevent use entirely. Choking supply of potentially harmful drugs doesn’t prevent access to, or use of, drugs. But it can unnecessarily result in riskier conditions for users. The goal should be to reduce potential harm, not prevent drug use itself. Harm reduction is not pro- or anti-drug use, but it is pro-user – meaning that it directs unconditional support to individuals without judgment or persecution. Has the ‘war on drugs’ failed? Are we too heavy-handed in regulating use of drugs? How can policymakers reduce harm for users? ______________________________________________________________________________________________ CIS promotes free choice and individual liberty an

Glenn Fahey speaks with Professor Pamela Snow to discuss the correlation between poor literacy education and later disadvantage in life. Professor Snow has undertaken extensive research into how people end up in the youth justice, out-of-home care systems and factors leading to non-participation in mainstream education. Currently, 30-40% of students aren’t meeting minimum literacy benchmarks, the task is to ensure every teacher in every classroom in the country teaching K-2 has access to the best knowledge and practice on how to teach literacy. Disadvantaged young people who don’t get good early literacy opportunities fall out early from mainstream education because they are not coping. Her research uncovered alarmingly high levels of unidentified oral language difficulties and high rates of very low literacy in these prisons and out-of-home.

Guest host Tom Switzer speaks to journalist Chris Uhlmann on the likelihood of a clean energy transition and the increasing energy crisis affecting not only Australia but the world. Have politicians been too focused reaching "energy goals" that they have neglected to think about the short term? Can Australia realistically move away from coal and gas-powered energy sources in a cost-effective manner? Is all this energy transition talk just spin by politicians to get elected? In August 2016 Premier Daniel Andrews trumped a permanent ban on the exploration and development of all onshore unconventional gas. Now, with the energy crisis biting, Andrews has demanded gas from “our ground” be delivered cheaply to his state. As Chris recently wrote in The Sydney Morning Herald "The energy transition is inevitable, but it will be a lot harder than politicians, activists, service sector chief executives and billionaire energy hobbyists would have you believe. In trying to solve the current crisis, the political class sh

We speak to Emma Hurst MLC, member of the NSW Upper House, on what role the government should play in animal welfare. Australia has the fourth fastest growing vegan market in the world and plant-based vegan options have become common and widely available in many of our favourite restaurants. With the increased ethical implications of sustainable and responsible farming, does it make sense for people to turn to these new options? Emma argues that better outcomes for animals, as well as farmers are not mutually exclusive. Increasingly over the last few years we've seen animal welfare protests block off major streets, confront patrons in restaurants and trespasses onto farms to create disruptions. But do these types of protests help or hinder the cause for animal welfare and ethical farming? Can we realistically shift our dairy and meat-based farming to plant-based farming alternatives and remain viable?

President of the NSW Young Liberals, Deyi Wu joined Salvatore Babones to discuss whether our younger generations have lost interest in politics, and if there is a bright future for either party. The recent federal election has shown us that independent grassroots campaigns threaten both major parties and could permanently change establishment politics. Issues, such as housing affordability, inflation, interest rates and climate are important to younger voters, but have the major parties lost touch with them? Can our politicians deliver good policy outcomes over the long term? After all, the future generations will have to live with the consequences of the actions (or inaction) of current governments at all levels. Deyi was elected president on the Young Liberals in March 2021 and is the first woman of Asian descent, and only the fifth ever woman to lead the organisation after Catherine Cusack, Marise Payne, Gladys Berejiklian and Natasha Maclaren-Jones. Deyi has written for The Financial Review and has a co

This week we speak to Janet Albrechtsen, columnist for The Australian to discuss the 2022 federal election results. Last weekend's election was not so much a big Labor victory, but a massive backlash against the Liberals, especially in Western Australia and metropolitan inner-urban electorates across the nation. The 2022 federal election has not only brought about a change of government but has been one of the most interesting results in Australia's political history. In the days, weeks, and years ahead PM Albanese will need to navigate through a very different parliament. Labor’s new minority/majority government faces daunting challenges including climate policy, inflation, rising interest rates, as well as the China threat, and intensifying geopolitical challenges. Will Labor be pushed further by Greens and Independents? Have these results shown that Australia is fed up with our major parties? Why was there such a significant swing against both major parties?

Pacific countries often say they do not want to be drawn into geopolitics. All have adopted a “friends to all and enemies to none” foreign policy. However, the proposed security agreement between China and the Solomon Islands shows that geopolitics is well and truly thriving. Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare has said the Solomon Islands, a nation of about 700,000 people, was not taking sides. But the agreement has an immediate effect on every country in the region and it is very much connected, at least on the Chinese side, to geostrategic ambitions. In Australia, security analysts watched the story unfold with a mixture of dread because of the potential blow to Canberra’s strategic interests, and vindication that years of assessments about China’s military intent in the Pacific had seemingly been confirmed overnight. In the political arena, accusations came thick and fast that the federal government had “dropped the ball” in the Pacific and that diplomacy in the region had failed. This week's guest Mihai

Cancel culture, virtue signaling, pronouns in bios—"wokeness" is often compared to a virus, and one that is spreading with no signs of an emerging herd immunity. This week's guest Bob Catley was there at the creation, teaching political science at universities in Australia, New Zealand, and the United States in the 1960s, 70s, and 80s before entering Parliament for Labor in 1990. Catley argues that today's woke thinking is nothing new, but is the heir to 1960s radical activism. And he owns up to having unleashed it on Australia. Join us as we revisit the major battlefields of the culture wars with a culture warrior who has fought on both sides. Prof Bob Catley earned his PhD from the Australian National University and has held academic positions at the Universities of Adelaide, Delaware, Otago, the Northern Territory, and the Sunshine Coast. He was the federal Member for Adelaide from 1990-93. An expert on US foreign policy, he is also the author of The (Strange, Recent But Understandable) Triumph of Liber

On the show this week, we welcome Executive Director of the Samuel Griffith Society, Xavier Boffa, as he recaps developments in Australia’s constitutional arrangements. State border closures and mandates have tested the limits of the federation in responding to the pandemic. International sports stars have been at odds with federal-state divides. Political figures have been pronounced guilty by courts of public opinion rather than the rule of law. What are we to make of Australia’s many constitutional developments of recent years? Is Australia’s constitution and federation safeguarded? What are the risks and benefits of a national integrity commission? Writing at The Spectator, Xavier argues that we mustn’t let the law be used as a political weapon. He warns this would only further debase public discourse and erode our democratic and constitutional foundations. Xavier convenes the annual conference of the Samuel Griffith Society and coordinates its activities to promote discussion of constitutional matter

Chinese Communist Party leader Xi Jinping will soon be appointed to a third term as President of China. A third term only made possible by his change to China's constitution, back in 2018, to eliminate term limits. Is this determination to retain the formal reins of power a sign of strength, or a sign of weakness? We talk to Chinese politics expert Professor Elizabeth Larus of Mary Washington University about the state of play in China's Politburo. We'll be asking Professor Larus about Xi's agenda and the legacy he is creating for China's future. And whether China's draconian coronavirus lockdowns are really only about public health, or perhaps have a political purpose as well? Professor Larus has close connections in Taiwan, and will offer insights into its defence against a potential Chinese invasion.

This week On Liberty talks to Prof James Allan of the University of Queensland. In his latest column for Australian Spectator, James explains why the acolytes of irrationality so often turn to accusations of 'hate speech'. As opposing hate is "one of the few remaining first principles that virtually all of us sort of accept". That's why so many activists "throw around the charge of hate with gay abandon". We'll be asking James about hate, humour, the definition of 'gender', and the lack of viewpoint diversity on university campuses and its implications for teaching and research. We will be taking your questions about cancel culture, the weaponisation of hate, and the future of education, so we hope you can tune in. Prof James Allan is the Garrick Professor in Law at the University of Queensland and a weekly columnist for Australian Spectator magazine. His academic research centres on legal philosophy and constitutional law, with a particular focus on bills of rights. He is author of the soon to be release

2022 Federal Budget Recap with Simon Cowan

We welcome Murdoch University mathematician Prof Gerd Schröder-Turk, a specialist in nano-geometry and member of the university's board of directors, the Murdoch University Senate. In 2019, Gerd appeared as a key interviewee on the ABC Four Corners investigation "Cash Cows", speaking out about his university's over-reliance on international students. The university's ensuing attempt to remove him from Senate landed them in the Federal Court. We'll be asking Gerd who really runs Australia's universities: their Senates or their Vice Chancellors? How are university Senates even appointed in the first place, and how should they be? Is there any effective government oversight? How much say should ordinary academics have in deciding how universities should be governed? And we can't resist asking him a question or two about the nano-geometry of advanced materials.

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has caused huge amounts of human suffering and has disturbed any complacency about the stability of the ‘international rules-based order’. This has implications not only for Russia’s immediate neighbours and Western European countries. It also has implications for countries such as Israel with whom Russia has had a significant relationship. What impact is the war in Ukraine likely to have on Israel security strategy, a country which also faces instability in its region – most notably from Iran? What are the impacts on Jewish Ukrainians who have been confronted with devastation and displacement in their homeland?

To the eternal shame of Vladimir Putin and his Kremlin cronies, Russia’s brutal invasion of Ukraine has opened a new era in global politics. As a consequence, it has seriously undermined the post-Cold War international system. What can the West do about it beyond fulminating on the sidelines? Russia has developed an outsized ability to exercise considerable influence abroad. And despite having an economy smaller than Italy’s, Russia has managed to spread its tentacles around the world. The strategy is reminiscent of that pursued by the Soviet Union, which was locked for decades after the Second World War in a global battle for influence with America, but with one crucial difference: it’s not about ideology, just money and mutual convenience. This week's episode of On Liberty on Wednesday, 12:30pm CIS executive director Tom Switzer questions Russia expert Kathryn Stoner, professor of political science at Stanford University and author of Russia Resurrected: Its Power and Purpose in a New Global Order.

On the show this week, we welcome CIS contributor and University of NSW academic, Emeritus Professor John Sweller. Author of the recent CIS papers: Why Inquiry-based Approaches Harm Students’ Learning and Some Critical Thoughts about Critical and Creative Thinking. In his recent paper, he writes that the science on learning is settled and that schools must reflect this. Professor Sweller argues, those who write curriculum, train teachers, and make policy often don’t know or follow the educational science. Resulting in evidence-free teaching practices being widely used, curriculums teaching things that are non-teachable, and students assessed on skills that can’t be properly measured. For decades, Sweller’s research has focused on understanding the process of how we learn, with wide implications for education policy and practice. Join us, when host, Glenn Fahey asks how schools and teachers can better follow the educational science. What does human evolution have to do with classroom learning? Why are there

Join us for the return of On Liberty for 2022 as we talk to senior fellow at the University of Sydney’s United States Studies Centre Stephen Loosley to find out what film can teach us about the possible cold wars to come. As Russia masses troops on the Ukrainian border and China ramps up its military presence in the South China Sea and South East Asia, the development of new Pacific and global alliances such as the quad and AUKUS creates tensions amongst the world superpowers, it seems like a new cold war is on the horizon. But do rising tensions really mean that the West faces "New Cold Wars"? Maybe the movies can tell us. We discuss what films like Wolf Warrior, Viking, and of course Dr. Strangelove mean for the state of international affairs. Does Xi Jinping's weaponisation of Wolf Warrior II presage a more global Chinese military adventurism? Does Vladimir Putin's endorsement of Viking telegraph his intention to invade Ukraine? And what do our own Cold War movies tell us about ourselves? Join us on YouT

Rob and Nick discuss the liberalism of Robert Menzies for whom the independence of the individual was paramount and whether liberalism is somehow in tune with the human soul and, if so, why is it not widespread in today’s connected world? Nick explains to us that liberalism has a strong moral vision that works in practice. Good policy leads to great outcomes. CIS promotes free choice and individual liberty and the open exchange of ideas. CIS encourages debate among leading academics, politicians, media and the public. Follow CIS on our Socials Twitter - https://twitter.com/CISOZ Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/CentreIndependentStudies/ LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-centre-for-independent-studies/