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Dear ,
You may have received a version of this newsletter that was missing most of the content. So with time running out in 2014 I've decided to send the correct version to everyone. If you did receive the corrupt version, my apologies.
Wishing you all the best for Christmas and the New Year from everyone at the AIP.
It's four months since we held our first workshop at the Ship Inn and we are quietly building a base for a strong year next year.
Launch
We've tentatively put February down as the month when we will launch. This is obviously subject to the possible announcement of a state election. We won't be trying to compete directly with that. Mind you, our guest speaker will be John Wagner, of the Wellcamp Airport. He is an obvious speaker as the achievement in building the first greenfields international airport in Australia from scratch in little over a year using private initiative and capital and in the process transforming a whole area is just the sort of thing we'd call "progress".
Latest events
Early next year we're going to be teaming up with the Economics Society in a seminar where we'll be laying out our vision for what Queensland needs, so keep an eye out for that.
Last Thursday we launched David Martin Jones' book Sacred Violence at the Alliance Hotel. The thesis is that Islamism has co-opted concepts from Marxism via postmodernism and literary theory and used them to justify their activities and recruit supporters. The west, or at least the western academy, has essentially shot itself in the foot. We don't have a transcript, but if you want to get a flavour of it take a look on our Facebook page. (And if you haven't liked it, please do while you're there).
In late November a number of us had the opportunity to meet with Bjorn Lomborg at a small drinks function. He will be back in Brisbane, and we're looking forward to working with him, and hopefully holding a larger function, as well as generating some publicity for his work. He is looking to apply his methodology to issues other than the environment.
On November 15, four of us - Gary Johns, Jim Allan, Suri Ratnapala and me addressed a pro-free trade demonstration at the G20 in Brisbane. About 100 attended the demonstration, which was largely successful. In fact in 40 degree heat it was surprising that anyone turned up at all. Some friends and supporters took photos.
Articles
Gary Johns has had pieces published in the Australian. Harriet Smith contributed directly to our website. And as an ongoing part of our polling I published an article on the Victorian election result. You can see these articles in the News section of our site.
Research
We are continuing with research in the areas of:
- Immigration
- Comparative economic performance
- Privatisation
- Negative gearing
Membership
Membership is growing quickly. Last newsletter we had 157 on our email lists, and now it is up to 232 - in just over a month. Of course, not all of you are members, but 53 of you are, including 9 foundation members. If you're on this list, support what we are doing, then consider becoming a member. If you're a student it is only $20. Click here to sign up.
Appointments
Andrew Cooper has been appointed Director of Projects. Andrew will be pursuing opportunities for consultancy, or other projects. As a successful Internet innovator and businessman, and someone with a long term interest in economics, he's ideal for this position. You can contact him on andrew.cooper@aip.asn.au.
Thanks
Thanks to all those who have contributed to the institute this year. Chairman Bob Tucker, directors Gary Johns, Dan Ryan, Amanda Stoker and Glenn Ferguson, particularly Gary, who is doing a lot of the day to day work of the institute. Rod Schneider, without whom the events wouldn't happen, and Michael Hall, who organises the Liberty on the Rocks functions. Special mention should be made of John Humphreys who kicked-off a number of the regular functions, like LOTR, that we are now associated with. John is pursuing his PhD and other things in Cambodia at the moment. Malcolm Cole, our director of communications, is also responsible for the publicity we've been getting, as well as design of our website.
I should also mention our 9 foundation members: Graeme Haycroft, Peter Sherwood, Clive Powell, Everald Compton, Glenn Ferguson, Jeff Wall, Samuel Barber, Byron Cannon and Russell Shields.
Regards,
Graham Young
Executive Director
Australian Institute for Progress
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