The 2001 Acton Lecture on Religion and Freedom delivered by Robert Forsyth.
Sometimes efforts to achieve good can backfire, especially where government legislation is concerned.
Dangerous Protections: How Some Ways of Protecting the Freedom of Religion May Actually Diminish Religious Freedom.
Robert Forsyth
24 September 2001 | OP78
Latest Publications
The New President: What Biden’s Foreign Policy Agenda Means for Australia
Salvatore Babones
19 January 2021 | OP178
Joe Biden comes to the presidency amid great expectations for a return to normalcy in American foreign policy, but that doesn’t necessarily mean a more benign international environment for Australia. The United States has global priorities and responsibilities, but there are three areas in particular where the Biden administration’s policy choices are most likely to affect Australia: China policy, climate…
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The Elite Embrace
Rowan Callick
03 November 2020 | OP177
After suffering pushback at home and abroad in the wake of the covid-19 pandemic, the People’s Republic of China (PRC) has resumed its course to achieve key Chinese Communist Party goals by retaining the backing of the elites that count, both within China and overseas. In this paper, leading China expert Rowan Callick traces the elitist evolution of the Party…
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Innovation in Australia
Matt Ridley
22 October 2020 | OP176
In the mid twentieth-century, half the world still lived in extreme poverty. Today, even corrected for inflation, just 9% of people live like that. Average lifespan is increasing globally by about five hours a day. Child mortality, the greatest measure of misery I can think of, is plummeting on all continents. Global inequality is falling as people in poor countries…
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Australia, the United States and China in a post-Covid world
Richard Alston
14 September 2020 | OP175
After three decades of prosperity and relative peace, Australia suddenly confronts a trifecta of crises: a pandemic, a recession, and a radically changed strategic outlook. In these circumstances, Australia must adapt quickly, always putting its interests first and being prepared to lead when necessary. Notwithstanding China’s growing assertiveness and doubts about US pre-eminence, Canberra can still ride two horses simultaneously.…
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Moral Terrorism
Simon Heffer
21 July 2020 | OP174
We find ourselves living in an age when a small but highly vocal, and zealous, minority are availing themselves of the power of social media, and of sections of the printed press, to seek to force their opinions and attitudes on everyone else. In normal circumstances, this would simply be tedious: if, say, the public were being pressured to watch…
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