Centre for Independent Studies

Let’s share good ideas. 💡 The Centre for Independent Studies promotes free choice and individual liberty and the open exchange of ideas. CIS encourages debate among leading academics, politicians, media and the public. We aim to make sure good policy ideas are heard and seriously considered so that Australia can prosper.

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Episodes

Friday Dec 17, 2021

South Korea’s president Moon Jae-in has called for a final settlement of the 1950-52 Korean War, but North Korea's Kim Jong-un is having none of it. Or is it his little sister, the increasingly outspoken Kim Yo-jong, who is the real power in Pyongyang? She seemingly left the possibility open -- if the United States is willing to meet her price.

Tuesday Dec 14, 2021

Rob and Simon discuss why, despite the unparalleled success of international liberalism in lifting people out of extreme poverty, we are now in danger of abandoning the very policies that made this possible. Simon describes the move away from liberalism as a worldwide phenomenon affecting both the left and right of politics. As Simon puts it, is “Liberalism is losing its ground support and also it political and financial might.”
Good policy lead to great outcomes. CIS promotes free choice and individual liberty and the open exchange of ideas. CIS encourages debate among leading academics, politicians, media and the public.
Follow CIS on our Socials
Twitter - https://twitter.com/CISOZ
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📖 Read more from CIS here: https://www.cis.org.au/
💬 Join in the conversation in the comments.

Tuesday Dec 07, 2021

In a wide-ranging discussion, Rob and Henry explore the heart of the liberal project. Liberalism emerged as a philosophy and ideology that afforded people freedoms and an alternative to civil war. Yet, it is the balance between order and freedom, which requires both tolerance and responsibility. Liberalism does not bring a single overarching purpose to society but rather ways of proceeding together.
Good policy leads to great outcomes. CIS promotes free choice and individual liberty and the open exchange of ideas. CIS encourages debate among leading academics, politicians, media and the public.
Follow CIS on our Socials
Twitter - https://twitter.com/CISOZ
Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/CentreIndependentStudies/
LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-centre-for-independent-studies/
📖 Read more from CIS here: https://www.cis.org.au/
💬 Join in the conversation in the comments.

Monday Dec 06, 2021

Australian student achievement has declined more steeply and more consistently than almost any other country, most notably in mathematics. At the same time, it’s clear that maths is now more critical than ever, to the success of students – both at school and beyond.
Recent CIS research identifies that Australian teachers often have an unbalanced approach to how maths is taught in classrooms. This appears to be because teachers are victims of poor preparation from university-based Initial Teacher Education. In a concerning echo to the “reading wars” that CIS has been engaged in for many years, it’s clear there is also a great divide in maths education too.

Tuesday Nov 30, 2021

we welcome Dr Michael Johnston from the Victoria University of Wellington. He will discuss how education systems can better promotive active and informed democratic citizens.
Michael argues that doing so requires more than drumming a curated narrative about nationhood and nationalistic ideals into school curricula. Rather than recourse to “history wars” and the like, he recommends that education systems help young people to revere the cultural values that underpin liberal democracy – political equality, free speech and free expression. This requires promoting the contestability of ideas and ensuring that civic ideas are “culturally esteemed”, not just legally protected, so that future generations share enthusiasm for a flourishing liberal democracy.

Friday Nov 26, 2021

The Chinese Communist Party is at the peak of its power as it enters its second century and Xi Jinping’s ‘New Era’ policy is a high-stakes revolution that is triggering alarms. These are gloriously red days for Chinese communism. But are they marking dawn or dusk, as this dangerous narrative unfurls?

Tuesday Nov 23, 2021

In the Great Panic of early 2020, nearly every government in the world restricted the movement of its population, disrupted the education of its children, suspended normal individual liberties, and hijacked its healthcare system, to assert control of people’s lives in the name of fighting Covid.

Tuesday Nov 09, 2021

We talk to Paul Fletcher MP, Minister for Communications, Urban Infrastructure, Cities and the Arts. We'll discuss Paul's recent book Governing in the Internet Age (Monash University Publishing).
Over the past thirty years, the internet has transformed virtually every area of human activity, presenting enormous boosts to economic activity. For ordinary Australians, the internet provides an unprecedented opportunity to shop, work, and communicate online. It has become fundamental for daily life. Yet, digital platforms can also be forums for the wide circulation of abusive, defamatory material, for scammers to access sensitive data, and they disrupt many traditional forms of economic activity and business models.
All this presents a rich set of policy challenges for governments. So, should we be concerned about the many unproductive hours spent scrolling through social media? What has been the impact of the internet on our sovereignty? Moreover, how to do we ultimately protect our citizens?

Wednesday Nov 03, 2021

This week as we talk to classicist Dr James Kierstead about the pasts and futures of ancient Athenian democracy. The Western world likes to trade its democratic institutions to ancient Greece, but the Greek model of citizenship was very different from our own, and Athens was far from the only democracy in the Greek world. We'll be asking Dr Kierstead about the Athenian constitution, how it operated in practice in the era of high democracy, the meaning of ancient Greek citizenship, and what it meant to be ostracised in a world without refugee conventions.

Monday Oct 11, 2021

We talk to Natasha Kassam, director (Public Opinion and Foreign Policy Program) at the Lowy Institute, about China's military pressure, economic coercion, diplomatic isolation on Taiwan in recent years. In most international fora, China’s participation is a given, and Beijing has the upper hand. Australia and other countries advocate Taiwan’s inclusion on the margins. Yet this time Taiwan may actually be a better candidate for the Comprehensive and Progressive Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) than China.

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Centre for Independent Studies

Let’s share good ideas. 💡



The Centre for Independent Studies promotes free choice and individual liberty and the open exchange of ideas. CIS encourages debate among leading academics, politicians, media and the public. We aim to make sure good policy ideas are heard and seriously considered so that Australia can prosper.

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