Ideas about Liberty

This work focuses on traditional liberal concerns - the extent of government and the restraint of liberty. However, the crucial issue constantly raised and addressed is what makes for a good society. Is a society truly civil if government bureaucracies have constantly to intervene to regulate and restrict the activities of citizens? Or, is the only truly civil society an ‘open society’. The ideal the CIS endorses is that a good society is one in which autonomous citizens are at liberty to order their affairs as they wish, in which individuals have the capacity to take personal responsibility for their choices, and in which people are left free to combine with others as they see fit to advance their mutual interests.
Publications
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April 2010 e-PreCIS
| 01 Apr 2010 | e-PreCISIn the introduction to the 1982 publication The New Conservatism in Australia edited by Robert Manne, the editor admits ‘to... Read More...
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FEATURE: We're All Cultural Libertarians
| 22 Mar 2010 | POLICY MagazineFreedom is about more than just the absence of government.
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FEATURE: No One True Culture of Liberty
| 22 Mar 2010 | POLICY MagazineTolerance is important but difficult to define and easily subverted.
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BOOK REVIEW: Ayn Rand and the World She Made & Goddess of the Market
| 22 Mar 2010 | POLICY MagazineFor an author whose novels have consistently sold in the hundreds of thousands for more than half a century, Ayn Rand is... Read More...
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BOOK REVIEW: Prosecuting Heads of State
| 22 Mar 2010 | POLICY MagazineForced disappearances, political corruption, ethnic cleansing: Prosecuting Heads of State surveys the egregious governance... Read More...
Opinion & Commentary
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Questioning leaders after crisis
| 05 Jul 2010 | The Geelong AdvertiserPrecisely what government is meant to do should be up for discussion right now.... Read More
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Beer and a fag? Forget it: matron is watching you
| 07 May 2010 | Spectator AustraliaThere is a new type of paternalism behind the latest taxes on alcohol and cigarettes, says Luke Malpass in Spectator Australia, ... Read More
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Let’s ignore snobs of Old Europe
| 13 Apr 2010 | The Sydney Morning HeraldProudly plebeian, Australia has no need to apologise for its egalitarianism and should celebrate its achievements more self-consciously.... Read More
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Unhappy lefties tend to be too clever by half
| 18 Mar 2010 | The AustralianLefties are smarter than righties, but could righties be happier.... Read More
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Learning about Hayek the hard way
| 09 Mar 2010 | The AustralianThe Prime Minister should have listened to his least favourite economist, Friedrich Hayek.... Read More
Ideas@TheCentre
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Continuing the battle of ideas
| 25 Jun 2010At the end of an extraordinary week in Australian politics, Prime Minister Julia Gillard has announced a change in the way ...
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Lefties too clever by half
| 05 Mar 2010This week’s news held an unpleasant surprise for the world’s conservatives and religious. Luckily for them, they were ...
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The pretence of knowledge
| 26 Feb 2010The ill-conceived and rushed Commonwealth insulation program adds to a very long list of recent government policy failures, ...
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Moore Hypocrisy and Hype
| 23 Oct 2009In his latest celluloid uppercut to the upper crust, documentary filmmaker Michael Moore examines the Home of the Brave to ...
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‘Progressive’ patriots barking up wrong tree
| 14 Aug 2009By all accounts, the message of Tim Soutphommasane’s forthcoming book (Seizing the Sauce Bottle, ‘Australian Literary ...

