Social Policy
The Centre for Independent Studies remains at the forefront of social policy debate in Australia, with a focus on key issues such as welfare, health care, education and child protection. Ending the growth of the welfare state is a priority for the CIS social research team, as government spending on welfare continues to increase, seemingly unabated.
Since the 1980s, the CIS has been researching social policy issues, with the aim of promoting policies that emphasise personal responsibility and individual choice.
The CIS seeks a future for Australia that has individual freedom under a limited government. We believe that such a future would strengthen community life, leading to a more cohesive and flourishing civil society.
Follow the links for further information on our major social policy areas:
Featured Publication
Australian Attitudes to Immigration: Coming Apart or Common Ground?
Jeremy Sammut, Monica Wilkie
18 November 2018 | PP11
Immigration has been a contentious political issue in Australia and overseas for a number of years. Many political parties and figures have emerged promising to severely restrict or halt immigration. Australia has largely avoided significant political disruptions over this issue. However, as immigration levels continue to remain high, politicians and…
READ MOREPublications
Conflict vs Mistake: Academic cultures and explanatory conflict
Claire Lehmann
11 September 2018 | OP167
The 2018 Helen Hughes Lecture explains why and how universities are fuelling the corrosive identity politics phenomena that is sweeping western countries. With a mix of erudition and common sense, Claire Lehmann — the founder and editor-in-chief of renowned online magazine Quillette — unpacks complicated…
Voting for a living: A shift in Australian politics from selling policies to buying votes?
Robert Carling, Terrence O'Brien
05 September 2018 | PP9
This paper explores the hypothesis that growth of government has become self-sustaining through the emergence of a segment of the population that both enjoys sufficient direct support from government and is large enough that political parties shape policies to curry its favour. The researchers use…
Why childcare is not affordable
Eugenie Joseph
29 August 2018 | RR37
Childcare fees and out-of-pocket costs in Australia have been growing above inflation in recent years, at the same time that more parents are using formalised childcare to support their participation in the workforce. Childcare has been subject to growing and evolving regulation for many years,…
Curbing Corporate Social Responsibility: Preventing Politicisation – and Preserving Pluralism – in Australian Business
Jeremy Sammut
21 August 2018 | AP2
The unprecedented part that leading that Australian companies played in the same-sex marriage campaign in the name of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) has led critics to argue that companies should “stick to their knitting” and not meddle in politically-contentious social debates. CSR threatens to become…
Media & Commentary
New CIS research: Rich and poor Australians united on pausing immigration
Jeremy Sammut, Monica Wilkie
18 November 2018 | MEDIA RELEASE
The majority of both rich and poor Australians support cutting the immigration intake to relieve population pressures on infrastructure, requiring migrants to learn English and Australian values to promote integration,…
Crying wolf too many times on poverty
Eugenie Joseph
16 November 2018 | IDEAS@THECENTRE
Yet another sensationalist headline on poverty in Australia appeared this week, indicating poverty rates in Victoria are as high as 13%, and more than one in 10 Victorians are ‘poor’.…
Killing sufferers kills the culture
Peter Kurti
09 November 2018 | Ideas@TheCentre
Until recently, assisting another person to commit suicide was an offence everywhere in Australia. Then in 2017, Victoria changed the law to make euthanasia and assisted suicide legal. Western Australia…
Sex vs gender: down the slippery linguistic slope
Monica Wilkie
02 November 2018 | Ideas@TheCentre
Public discourse is filled with euphemistic language that can make difficult topics more palatable. However, euphemisms can also create more confusion than clarity when the meanings of words become blurred.…
New book: Legalising euthanasia will tear the fabric of community
Peter Kurti
30 October 2018 | MEDIA RELEASE
A new book says that making euthanasia and assisted suicide legal will harm family relationships, damage the trust we place in the medical profession, and corrode the bonds of civil…