This report argues that the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse has a limited scope that is symptomatic of wider gaps and silences in the national conversation about child sexual abuse. Executive summary: The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse has been heralded a new epoch in Australian life...

This report argues that a narrow focus on promoting diversity threatens individual liberty by promoting the interests of particular groups over those of the individual. Summary When it first emerged as an official policy in the 1970s, multiculturalism was a response to the legacy of the White Australia policy. Multiculturalism continues to enjoy broad popular...

This paper proposes steps to move the Federal budget back to surplus in the short term. Summary The new Abbott government should address its self-identified budget emergency by cutting wasteful spending now. Reducing government will also help prepare Australia for its future fiscal challenges. There are some simple steps that can move the budget back...

This paper argues that the Chinese Communist Party’s evolving model of ‘accountable authoritarianism’ is set to prove that prosperity need not produce democracy. Executive summary The last two centuries seem to stand testament to the widely assumed connection between prosperity and democracy. In 1800, there was not a single bona fide democracy in the world...

Australia will face problems funding its public hospital and other publicly funded health services if cost increases continue at the current rate in the context of ever-increasing use and an ageing population. The challenges of sustainably financing the cost of health will be exacerbated by inefficiencies in the public hospital sector—unless productivity improvements reduce the...