In July 2016, following the expose on Four Corners, Prime Minister Turnbull announced a Royal Commission into juvenile detention in the...

Bernie Sanders candidacy for Presidency of the United States has put Socialism back on the political agenda. How could such a failed...

It was six o’clock on a winter’s night in Melbourne. I entered the Trades Hall and climbed the stairs. The bluestone steps were worn...

The dominant political doctrines of the 20th century failed us economically, socially and morally. The beneficiaries of the welfare state have not been the poor and the disadvantaged; they have been those with influence who can capture and manipulate the system. It is hard to imagine an ethic better suited to undermining the moral basis of a free society. [Yuval Levin] The ethics of liberty on the other hand are based on the principle of private property and founded on n

The reform of the welfare state is going to require courage, intellectual honesty and a willingness to admit that cherished beliefs were wrong. Politically, many of my friends are a little left of centre. I observe them having great difficulty coming to grips with the moral failures of the welfare state and its financial unsustainability. This is quite understandable. Their beliefs about social fairness are deeply held but seldom subjected to rational debate. The following q

Eighty per cent of Australian households now receive more in government benefits than they pay in income tax. Now that the majority of...

Noel Pearson Noel Pearson is admired as one of Australia’s great political leaders and thinkers. Last week, he released a 165-page document Empowered Communities: Empowered Peoples recommending radical changes to government policies for Indigenous Australians. Instead of policies being determined by bureaucrats in our capital cities and delivered by a largely non-indigenous support industry, the report calls for the decision making and its execution to be devolved to empow

I wonder why the focus of our solutions for social problems seems to be to ask strangers to deal with them and government to fund it. The...

Many works by the great Australian sculptor Geoffrey Bartlett juxtapose contrasting elements in surprising ways, delighting the senses and challenging the intellect. Likewise, I wish to surprise you with the proposition that the apparent evils of capitalism are the consequences of the principles of the social democratic welfare state. Many modern business corporations do not, in fact, operate in the free market. They use government intervention to provide subsidies, inhib

Throughout the Western World, the Welfare State has been exposed as economically unsustainable. The regulatory and coercive powers of the State have been captured by sectional interests for their own economic benefit. The state has become pervasive in our lives. We have lost the belief that we can do things ourselves. We live with the peculiar notion that if we cannot afford some desired service, it should be provided by the government. Government spending expands as