Should ‘big government’ command and control society from above, or does good government mean limited government, leaving individuals free from the domination of the State and its agencies so long as they do no harm to others? In answer to this question, the CIS promotes what is variously referred to as either the Libertarian, the classical liberal or plain liberal philosophy.

Since the eighteenth century, the liberal thinkers of the Enlightenment and their heirs – from Locke, Smith and Hume to Hayek and Friedman – have inspired people to fight for liberty around the world. Liberalism has led the struggle against all forms of political, economic, religious, and social tyranny, and has encouraged the development of representative institutions, the creation of open markets, and expansion of personal freedom and the growth of tolerance. This heritage - the role liberalism has played as a reasoned, dynamic, and liberalising intellectual force - informs the CIS’s approach to the evaluation of contemporary Australian institutions.

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.

The CIS has explored the role liberal principles should play in Australian society in diverse ways across a range of fields. It has led debate by exposing how the High Court’s interpretation of the Australian Constitution has corrupted the charter of limited government the federal fathers drafted. How the growth the welfare state and welfare dependency has undermined the liberal virtues of thrift and self-reliance in the general community and in particular in indigenous communities. The CIS has also examined how free market reforms and the promotion of choice in education would restore liberty to an important aspect of civil society. The CIS is also looking at Australia's health & Ageing and taxation policy and the extent and value of government involvement.