Events, submissions and advocacy

Dear ,

The year is unfolding quickly, and there are a few things I want to let you know about.

Events

Sir Thomas McIlwraith Lecture and Dinner

Our lecturer this year will be Sir Leo Hielscher AC. Sir Leo's impact on Queensland as one of her highest ranked public servants between 1964 and 1988 is unparalleled. Put Wednesday evening July 18 in your diary. This is the major fundraiser for the institute for the year. We've held the price constant with last year at $165 for members ($185 non-members), and $120 for students, all inclusive. We will adopt Chatham House rules, so expect some real insights.

Manus Days - reminder

In this book, to be launched by legendary South Pacific correspondent Sean Dorney MBE, Michael Coates tells the real story of the refugees on Manus Island, and it's not what you've seen on TV and read in the papers. The launch will be held at the Alliance Hotel, on Thursday March 22, 6:00 for 6:30. To book, click here.

Submissions

Religious freedom

Ralph Bowles and I made a submission to the Ruddock Panel on religious freedom, which you can read by clicking here. This is an important part of our campaign to preserve free speech. Freedom of religion is actually a precursor to our modern freedom of speech, and in Australia today it is both over-protected, and under-protected. The government established the panel in response to concerns about same sex marriage and religious freedom, but it is our contention that there are much broader issues. Australia shouldn't have blasphemy laws (but it does), and it should protect those who express a religious point of view (and it doesn't).

Advocacy

Developer donations

The Queensland government has reintroduced legislation to prevent property developers from donating to political parties or candidates, on the grounds there is a "public perception" that some of these payments may be corrupt. Not only does this reverse the onus of proof, but it makes members of a category liable for "crimes" committed by other members of the same category, even though the authorities with power to prosecute can't identify a single criminal. At the same time convicted criminals, and people who are members of organisations like the CFMEU, who systematically break the law, are still able to donate. The only conclusion one can draw is it is about nobbling the LNP's source of funds and nothing else. As Steve Wardill said in the Courier Mail, this is a financial gerrymander.

You can read our response to the move here, and it will be a focus of our campaigning this year. This is yet another free speech issue.

Policy Science

Another campaign will be the cause of Professor Peter Ridd, who has published research questioning the quality of 9 studies which form the basis of much government expenditure on the Great Barrier Reef. This is an issue of governance, as well as the running of our universities. Ridd is currently fighting moves to sack him because he has done what any good scientist should do, and criticised work by his colleagues.

Other advocacy

And we will keep doing our work on power generation, housing affordability and our Ten Big Ideas. (On housing, check out the RBA's paper which says the biggest problem in affordability is lack of supply, not the tax treatment of investment properties, which is what we've been saying all along).

A thought

I've just come across a movement called "Ecomodernism". It's an alternative way of thinking to environmentalism and it concentrates on adaptation rather than mitigation. With an emphasis on progress and human ingenuity, allied to rigorous analytical analysis, it is right in line with the aims of the AIP. To get an idea of what it is about, read these two articles: The Conquest of Climate and Enlightenment Environmentalism.

Regards,

GRAHAM YOUNG
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR