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Critical projects need your supportDear , Apologies. The last email had some errors in it. Please delete and read this one instead. My apologies. The AIP is the only independent centre-right policy think tank based in Queensland. (In fact we’re one of only a few think tanks in Queensland, period.) Our state and country are at a difficult point. Political debate is becoming toxic. Identity politics has infected both major parties and postmodernism has infiltrated our educational institutions. That means that free speech, and the culture and values that built our society, one of the most successful at every level the world has ever seen, are under attack from inside. At the same time the populist left is advocating economic policies like reregulation of the wages system, increasing personal and capital gains taxes, raiding the savings of retirees, and increasing national debt. As Margaret Thatcher said “The problem with socialism is that eventually you run out of other people’s money.” According to our records you are currently an unfinancial member, and we’d like your support so we can keep fighting hard for good ideas in policy. Over the last 12 months we’ve campaigned on free speech and religious freedom, electricity generation, the science crisis, and taxation. We’ve developed our booklet “Ten Big Ideas to make Queensland a Winner” and hosted speakers including Bettina Arndt, Tony Morris, Calum Thwaites, and Mark Latham. We’ve also conducted regular polls and commented in the media. And now we have a new office at 50 Logan Road, Woolloongabba, where you can come and have a chat. Over the next twelve months we have some more major projects planned. ElectricityA lack of affordable, reliable power is the biggest crisis facing this country, and all of the major parties, at a federal and state level, have policies that will make that crisis worse. It’s our job to make them think again. To do that we will be trying to break the debate out of the current paradigm. We can do that by highlighting the practicalities involved in moving to a low carbon economy. The first problem is storage and backup. Another is that nuclear power is the only form of reliable power that can supply emissions-free electricity. A third is that all of these forms of power are more expensive than coal-fired generation once network and redundancy costs are taken into account. DemocracyThe Queensland state government lacks democratic legitimacy. It has used donations laws to disenfranchise innocent members of the real estate industry. Our own chair Bob Tucker, a former Liberal Party State President, can no longer donate to the state of local LNP, or even ask anyone else to do so, because he makes his living building the communities where we live and work. At the same time the union movement pumps money into the ALP. We will continue our campaign against this rort by demonstrating just how much influence unions have over the state government and that this influence is improper. ScienceProfessor Peter Ridd of James Cook University has uncovered poor quality assurance in the studies used to support interventions on the Great Barrier Reef. This is a subset of a much greater crisis in science, with 50% or more of studies being wrong – what is referred to as the reproducibility crisis. This is an issue which has to be solved, and we intend to be part of it, along with professor Ridd. TaxationWe’ve recently linked-up with Defenders of Self-Funded Retirees, who are running an Australia-wide campaign against Labor’s promise to deny franking refunds to low earning retirees, and have provided some analysis work to help their campaign. We’ll also be campaigning against the opposition’s negative gearing policies which are a tax grab dressed-up as a housing affordability policy. At the same time we’re not happy with the government’s most recent tax package which over time leaves higher income earners with a bigger share of the tax bill than now, even as strong growth should be reducing government outlays such as welfare. Ten Big IdeasThis document has 10 ideas for making Queensland competitive again. More work needs to be done to flesh them out, and they cover most of the important areas: power generation, economy, health, education, housing, industrial relations, agriculture and governance. In each of ten areas we pick one thing that could be changed to make a major difference to the state. 20 Policy Suggestions to Break the Senate DeadlockWhen Scott Morrison unexpectedly became Prime Minister we quickly put together a list of 20 innovative ideas which he might use to get some good policy through the senate. Some of the positions he has taken recently, like that on nuclear energy, for example, suggest he’s read the policies. We need you to stay on boardIf you like the sound of this, please click on this link and renew your membership. If you’d like to give us some advice, please just reply to this email address, or call me on 0411 104 801. Regards,
Graham Young 
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