Centre for Independent Studies

On Liberty EP89 | Mihai Sora | China’s Expanse Into The Pacific Islands

Pacific countries often say they do not want to be drawn into geopolitics. All have adopted a “friends to all and enemies to none” foreign policy. However, the proposed security agreement between China and the Solomon Islands shows that geopolitics is well and truly thriving.
Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare has said the Solomon Islands, a nation of about 700,000 people, was not taking sides. But the agreement has an immediate effect on every country in the region and it is very much connected, at least on the Chinese side, to geostrategic ambitions.
In Australia, security analysts watched the story unfold with a mixture of dread because of the potential blow to Canberra’s strategic interests, and vindication that years of assessments about China’s military intent in the Pacific had seemingly been confirmed overnight. In the political arena, accusations came thick and fast that the federal government had “dropped the ball” in the Pacific and that diplomacy in the region had failed.
This week's guest Mihai Sora joins us to discuss China's expending presence in the pacific and what effect it has on Australia. From trade, to new security measures and aid given to the Solomon Islands.
Mihai Sora is a Research Fellow in the Pacific Islands Program and Project Director of the Aus-PNG Network. Mihai has more than a decade’s experience as an Australian diplomat with postings to Solomon Islands and Indonesia, and was a Pacific Analyst at the Office of National Assessments.

On Liberty EP88 | Bob Catley | Present At The Creation Of Wokism

Cancel culture, virtue signaling, pronouns in bios—"wokeness" is often compared to a virus, and one that is spreading with no signs of an emerging herd immunity.
This week's guest Bob Catley was there at the creation, teaching political science at universities in Australia, New Zealand, and the United States in the 1960s, 70s, and 80s before entering Parliament for Labor in 1990. Catley argues that today's woke thinking is nothing new, but is the heir to 1960s radical activism. And he owns up to having unleashed it on Australia.
Join us as we revisit the major battlefields of the culture wars with a culture warrior who has fought on both sides.
Prof Bob Catley earned his PhD from the Australian National University and has held academic positions at the Universities of Adelaide, Delaware, Otago, the Northern Territory, and the Sunshine Coast. He was the federal Member for Adelaide from 1990-93. An expert on US foreign policy, he is also the author of The (Strange, Recent But Understandable) Triumph of Liberalism in Australia (2005, Macleay Press).

On Liberty EP87 | Xavier Boffa | Constitution Counts For Australia’s Politics And Society

On the show this week, we welcome Executive Director of the Samuel Griffith Society, Xavier Boffa, as he recaps developments in Australia’s constitutional arrangements.
State border closures and mandates have tested the limits of the federation in responding to the pandemic. International sports stars have been at odds with federal-state divides. Political figures have been pronounced guilty by courts of public opinion rather than the rule of law. What are we to make of Australia’s many constitutional developments of recent years? Is Australia’s constitution and federation safeguarded? What are the risks and benefits of a national integrity commission?
Writing at The Spectator, Xavier argues that we mustn’t let the law be used as a political weapon. He warns this would only further debase public discourse and erode our democratic and constitutional foundations.
Xavier convenes the annual conference of the Samuel Griffith Society and coordinates its activities to promote discussion of constitutional matters. He is former national president of the Australian Liberal Students’ Federation and former advisor to the Victorian Shadow Attorney-General.
Check out Xavier's work and more about Samuel Griffith Society here: https://www.samuelgriffith.org/

On Liberty EP86 | Elizabeth Larus | What Is Xi Jinping’s Real Agenda For China?

Chinese Communist Party leader Xi Jinping will soon be appointed to a third term as President of China. A third term only made possible by his change to China's constitution, back in 2018, to eliminate term limits. Is this determination to retain the formal reins of power a sign of strength, or a sign of weakness? We talk to Chinese politics expert Professor Elizabeth Larus of Mary Washington University about the state of play in China's Politburo.
We'll be asking Professor Larus about Xi's agenda and the legacy he is creating for China's future. And whether China's draconian coronavirus lockdowns are really only about public health, or perhaps have a political purpose as well? Professor Larus has close connections in Taiwan, and will offer insights into its defence against a potential Chinese invasion.

On Liberty EP85 | James Allan | Hate Speech And The Definition Of ’gender’

This week On Liberty talks to Prof James Allan of the University of Queensland. In his latest column for Australian Spectator, James explains why the acolytes of irrationality so often turn to accusations of 'hate speech'. As opposing hate is "one of the few remaining first principles that virtually all of us sort of accept". That's why so many activists "throw around the charge of hate with gay abandon".
We'll be asking James about hate, humour, the definition of 'gender', and the lack of viewpoint diversity on university campuses and its implications for teaching and research. We will be taking your questions about cancel culture, the weaponisation of hate, and the future of education, so we hope you can tune in.
Prof James Allan is the Garrick Professor in Law at the University of Queensland and a weekly columnist for Australian Spectator magazine. His academic research centres on legal philosophy and constitutional law, with a particular focus on bills of rights. He is author of the soon to be released book The Age of Foolishness: A Doubter’s Guide to Constitutionalism in a Modern Democracy (2022, Academica Press).

On Liberty EP84 | Mikayla Novak | 2022 Federal Budget Recap

2022 Federal Budget Recap with Simon Cowan

On Liberty EP83 | Gerd Schröder - Turk | Who Runs Our Universities?

We welcome Murdoch University mathematician Prof Gerd Schröder-Turk, a specialist in nano-geometry and member of the university's board of directors, the Murdoch University Senate. In 2019, Gerd appeared as a key interviewee on the ABC Four Corners investigation "Cash Cows", speaking out about his university's over-reliance on international students. The university's ensuing attempt to remove him from Senate landed them in the Federal Court.
We'll be asking Gerd who really runs Australia's universities: their Senates or their Vice Chancellors? How are university Senates even appointed in the first place, and how should they be? Is there any effective government oversight? How much say should ordinary academics have in deciding how universities should be governed? And we can't resist asking him a question or two about the nano-geometry of advanced materials.

On Liberty EP82 | David Adler | The Wider Impact Of War

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has caused huge amounts of human suffering and has disturbed any complacency about the stability of the ‘international rules-based order’. This has implications not only for Russia’s immediate neighbours and Western European countries. It also has implications for countries such as Israel with whom Russia has had a significant relationship.
What impact is the war in Ukraine likely to have on Israel security strategy, a country which also faces instability in its region – most notably from Iran? What are the impacts on Jewish Ukrainians who have been confronted with devastation and displacement in their homeland?

On Liberty EP81 | Kathryn Stoner | The Russian Invasion And A New Global Order

To the eternal shame of Vladimir Putin and his Kremlin cronies, Russia’s brutal invasion of Ukraine has opened a new era in global politics. As a consequence, it has seriously undermined the post-Cold War international system. What can the West do about it beyond fulminating on the sidelines?
Russia has developed an outsized ability to exercise considerable influence abroad. And despite having an economy smaller than Italy’s, Russia has managed to spread its tentacles around the world. The strategy is reminiscent of that pursued by the Soviet Union, which was locked for decades after the Second World War in a global battle for influence with America, but with one crucial difference: it’s not about ideology, just money and mutual convenience.
This week's episode of On Liberty on Wednesday, 12:30pm CIS executive director Tom Switzer questions Russia expert Kathryn Stoner, professor of political science at Stanford University and author of Russia Resurrected: Its Power and Purpose in a New Global Order.

On Liberty EP80 | John Sweller | We Must Follow The Educational Science

On the show this week, we welcome CIS contributor and University of NSW academic, Emeritus Professor John Sweller. Author of the recent CIS papers: Why Inquiry-based Approaches Harm Students’ Learning and Some Critical Thoughts about Critical and Creative Thinking. In his recent paper, he writes that the science on learning is settled and that schools must reflect this.
Professor Sweller argues, those who write curriculum, train teachers, and make policy often don’t know or follow the educational science. Resulting in evidence-free teaching practices being widely used, curriculums teaching things that are non-teachable, and students assessed on skills that can’t be properly measured. For decades, Sweller’s research has focused on understanding the process of how we learn, with wide implications for education policy and practice.
Join us, when host, Glenn Fahey asks how schools and teachers can better follow the educational science.
What does human evolution have to do with classroom learning? Why are there some things we learn easily and others that are much harder to learn? Do we learn better when we teach ourselves or when we have someone teach us? How can we promote creativity and critical thinking? What are the common misconceptions that dominate the educational establishment?