Centre for Independent Studies

11. On Liberty Lindsay Shepherd: Let individuals assess their own covid risk

This week, On Liberty, host Salvatore Babones speaks with Lindsay Shepherd. Lindsay has been covering the anti-lockdown protests and is an Investigative Journalism Fellow with True North News in Canada.
As the pandemic started to grip the western world in March, governments of all persuasions around the world didn’t take long to embrace their newfound powers. Suppressing our liberties and freedoms with vast and sweeping lockdowns.
While there is certainly a role for government to manage the unfolding health and economic crises, we ask Lindsay Shepherd, to what end? Join us for a discussion about the lockdowns, the protests and what parallels can be drawn between Canada in Australia.
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The Centre for Independent Studies (CIS) promotes free choice and individual liberty, and defends cultural freedom 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 continue to prosper into the future.
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Trump And America In Crisis | George Will | Conversations at CIS

A leading intellectual figure in the conservative movement for the best part of half a century, George F. Will is an optimist about America’s capacity to change and renew itself. But he remains a fierce critic of Donald Trump. Presidents seeking re-election bask in chants of “Four more years!” However, as George points out, in November most Americans might flinch: “Four more years of this? The taste of ashes, metaphorical and now literal, dampens enthusiasm.”
George F. Will is the Pulitzer Prize award-winning columnist for the Washington Post and a regular contributor to MSNBC. He is also author of several influential books, most recently The Conservative Sensibility. It was a great pleasure and high honour to spend quality time with one of the great political thinkers of the modern era.
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The Centre for Independent Studies (CIS) promotes free choice and individual liberty, and defends cultural freedom 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 continue to prosper into the future.
Check out the CIS at - https://www.cis.org.au/
Subscribe to CIS mailing list- https://www.cis.org.au/subscribe/
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10. On Liberty Lessons To Prevent The Next Pandemic

This week, Salvatore Babones is joined by Professor Matt Trau, Professor of Chemistry at The University of Queensland and Deputy Director and co-founder of the Australian Institute for Bioengineering and Nanotechnology. Trau and his team at the Australian Institute for Bio-engineering and Nanotechnology are at the forefront of The University of Queensland's research into Covid.
Having flattened the curve of infections, we need to get on with the task of restoring faith in our society. We can argue back and forth why we weren't better prepared, why we didn't act sooner and why testing was initially slow. However, the question remains: what will it take to get us back to work and back to normal?
Just as the September 11 terror attacks led to dramatic upheavals, so will covid change our way of life. It may take a long time to find vaccines and therapeutic solutions. That means diagnostics tools are our best resource. Why then are we swabbing and testing in the same way we were three decades ago?
Trau will tell how portable nanotechnologies offer solutions that will allow Australians to function again. These next-generation technologies allow medical professionals to screen and test at the point of care, they give more accurate and quicker results and importantly, will propel us into prosperity in this new world.

The Skeptical Environmentalist | Bjorn Lomborg | Conversations at CIS

The world's governments have picked 169 well-meaning targets, promising everything to everyone. But too many targets mean no priorities. The Copenhagen Consensus Centre has looked into the data and found the targets that would do the most good.
While participants at the World Economic Forum just voted the top global risk to be extreme weather, most of the rest of the world wants us to concentrate on the many other problems that cause much more damage than global warming. They point to the immense challenges within health, education, nutrition and corruption - issues, that are much less costly and easier to fix. Dr Lomborg worked with fifty teams of the world’s top economists and several Nobel Laureates to look at where the world can do the most good for every dollar spent.
Bjorn Lomborg presents some of the best investment options for humanity — and discuss how we can avoid some of the worst.
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9. On Liberty Forgotten Freedom No More

This week, Salvatore Babones is joined by Robert Forsyth, Senior Fellow at CIS and previous Anglican Bishop of South Sydney. Rob is co-editor of the new book for CIS on religious liberty: Forgotten Freedom No More.
Rob will talk to Salvatore about the vulnerability of freedom of religion in Australia and why it is now the freedom that is forgotten no more. We'll take a look at the importance of religious practice and community in Australia and why now, more than ever, there is some cause for concern.
What is at stake if religious liberty is not protected? Why has it been so difficult to reach a consensus on a way forward?
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The Centre for Independent Studies (CIS) promotes free choice and individual liberty, and defends cultural freedom 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 continue to prosper into the future.
Check out the CIS at - https://www.cis.org.au/
Subscribe to CIS mailing list- https://www.cis.org.au/subscribe/
Support us with a tax-deductible donation at - https://www.cis.org.au/support/
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7. On Liberty Learning From Home isn’t Fair Or Sustainable

On the show this week, Salvatore Babones will be joined by Blaise Joseph, Research Fellow in education and a former secondary school teacher. Blaise has written research papers on school funding, evidence-based education policy, and national testing in Australia.
The current haphazard school arrangements are harming children’s education, especially those from disadvantaged backgrounds. Given the massive previous taxpayer investments in technology, why weren't the States and Territories better prepared for remote learning? There is light at the end of the tunnel. Parents and policymakers have generally had enough, and schools are now on the path to completely re-open in most states and territories with the notable exception of Victoria.
Blaise will give us an overview of the current status of school closures in Australia highlighting inconsistencies and mixed messaging between states. We'll ask what the impact of school closures mean for students learning, especially for kids from disadvantaged backgrounds? What does the medical evidence say? Isn't it possible that there are some benefits of students learning from home?
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The Centre for Independent Studies (CIS) promotes free choice and individual liberty, and defends cultural freedom 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 continue to prosper into the future.
Check out the CIS at - https://www.cis.org.au/
Subscribe to CIS mailing list- https://www.cis.org.au/subscribe/
Support us with a tax-deductible donation at - https://www.cis.org.au/support/
Join the CIS as a member at - https://www.cis.org.au/join-cis/
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Mitigating The New Cold War | Alan Dupont | Conversations at CIS

The downhill slide in relations between China and the US is a dangerous development. The friction does not just reflect a bullying Communist regime’s opacity concerning the outbreak of Covid-19. Nor is it the result of a chaotic Trump administration trying to distract attention from its own failures in curbing the virus.
Something much deeper and much worse is at stake: a potential clash between what two great powers perceive to be their vital interests. According to one of Australia’s leading strategic thinkers Alan Dupont, the US-China standoff over trade, technology and strategy “has precipitated a new cold war.”
Alans says, “In an epoch-defining clash for global leadership, the world’s two major powers are wrestling for strategic advantage in an increasingly bitter contest to determine which of them will be the pre-eminent state of the 21st century. No matter how cleverly spun, a trade deal is not going to get the relationship back on track because both countries have moved from a framework of cooperation to one of open rivalry and strategic competition.”
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The Centre for Independent Studies (CIS) promotes free choice and individual liberty, and defends cultural freedom 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 continue to prosper into the future.
Check out the CIS at - https://www.cis.org.au/
Subscribe to CIS mailing list- https://www.cis.org.au/subscribe/
Support us with a tax-deductible donation at - https://www.cis.org.au/support/
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Has China Won? | Kishore Mahbubani & John Mearsheimer | Conversations at CIS

At a time when tensions are running high, CIS Executive Director Tom Switzer asked Has China Won? Our debate between John Mearsheimer and Kishore Mahbubani, two of the world’s leading foreign policy intellectuals. Covid-19 has greatly raised tensions between China and the West. Washington and its allies express outrage at the Communist regime’s opacity concerning the outbreak of the coronavirus. Meanwhile, fears are growing that a pandemic that began in the Chinese city of Wuhan may end by increasing Beijing’s international influence and power.
Kishore Mahbubani is author of Has China Won? The Chinese Challenge to American Primacy (just out, PublicAffairs) A former Singaporean ambassador to the United Nations (twice), he was the founding dean of the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy. He was a guest of CIS in September 2018.
John Mearsheimer is author of The Great Delusion: Liberal Dreams and International Realities (Yale University Press, 2019) and The Tragedy of Great Power Politics (Norton, 2014.) He is professor of Political Science at the University of Chicago. He was a guest of CIS in August 2019.
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The Centre for Independent Studies (CIS) promotes free choice and individual liberty, and defends cultural freedom 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 continue to prosper into the future.
Check out the CIS at - https://www.cis.org.au/
Subscribe to CIS mailing list- https://www.cis.org.au/subscribe/
Support us with a tax-deductible donation at - https://www.cis.org.au/support/
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8. On Liberty Importance Of The USA And Australia Relationship

On the show this week, Salvatore Babones was joined by April Palmerlee, CEO of the AmCham, the American Chamber of Commerce in Australia. AmCham includes around 500 company members representing hundreds of thousands of employees operating throughout Australia.
The United States is the biggest investor in Australia, full stop. No one else comes close, not even China. More than 100,000 people in Australia today were born in the United States, with many more claiming American citizenship by descent. American companies employ 420,000 people in Australia on a median salary of $115,000 per year. They spend a billion dollars a year locally on research and development.
April talked to us about the many roles played by American companies in Australia and the importance of the US-Australian relationship for both countries.

5. On Liberty Jacinta Price: Lockdown And Indigenous Communities

Salvatore Babones speaks with Jacinta Price, Director of the Indigenous Program at the Centre for Independent Studies. Jacinta joins us live from Alice Springs, where she serves as a Town Councillor, to discuss how lockdown compares in remote communities.
They discussed what 'social distancing' means in the wide-open spaces of remote Australia, where local quarantines and 'biosecurity zones' are a way of life. Jacinta will explain the government's efforts to keep the coronavirus out of remote settlements with rudimentary medical facilities, and how the pandemic has affected the daily lives of people living in some of Australia's most challenging environments.
Are aboriginal communities complying with restrictions? How do we get the indigenous economy moving again after such a set back?