Centre for Independent Studies

New research says migrants aren’t to blame for the housing crisis. 'Australia's shortage of homes is not an inevitable consequence of immigration, but instead the result of not enough dwellings being built, a report released by the pro-free-market Centre for Independent Studies has found' canberratimes.com.au/story/9190902/…

The planning system that can't house Australians can apparently protect an eyesore indefinitely Peter Tulip said 'the current heritage system has been hijacked by an “unrepresentative clique” whose values are worsening Victoria’s housing affordability crisis' Read more: dailytelegraph.com.au/news/victoria/…

Don't be fooled. Labor's CGT shake-up isn't a housing fix. It's something else entirely 'Reducing the CGT discount would have only a small effect on housing prices while potentially increasing rents.' said Robert Carling ainvest.com/news/australia…

Jim Chalmers is selling CGT reform with numbers that don't add up. Economists noticed @peter_tulip said 'he “strongly disagreed” with Dr Chalmers and the impact of the CGT on housing prices was “tiny,” working out to as little as 1-2 per cent according to reputable ­estimates' theaustralian.com.au/nation/jim-cha…

Australia took a wrong turn. The economy is paying for it. 'Australia is an economy living on borrowed money, sustained by favourable external conditions that could just as easily be lost tomorrow' Read more afr.com/politics/feder…

Labor's budget tax changes will wipe 35,000 homes from Australia's housing supply. "Winding back negative gearing will make investment in rental housing less attractive, the supply of such housing will decline, and rents will increase," says Robert Carling architectureanddesign.com.au/editorial/indu…

Chalmers’ slow motion banana republic budget 'Chalmers promotes higher taxes that will drain national prosperity, including from the next generation of Australians his budget claims to help' Read Michael Stutchbury latest op-ed: cis.org.au/commentary/opi…

NDIS costs are blowing out because eligibility, supports, and spending lack clear limits. Weak assessments increase NDIS entry for autism, psychosocial disability, and treatable conditions. NDIS reform fails without independent eligibility tests, evidence-based supports, and tighter financial oversight, as Pru Goward explains. Watch now:

Today marks 40 years since Paul Keating warned Australia it was on the road to becoming a banana republic. The reforms that followed — floating the dollar, cutting tariffs, compressing government — produced decades of rising living standards and an economy resilient enough to absorb the GFC with comparatively minor damage. A new CIS paper asks a direct question: what happened to that project? In Banana Republic Redux, economist Alex Sanchez — a former senior adviser to the Albanese government — argues Australia has replaced the Hawke-Keating framework of productivity, participation, and competition with a new governing philosophy built on redistribution, regulation, and resilience. The language has changed. The economic consequences have not. Commonwealth spending is near pandemic-era highs. Gross debt is approaching $1 trillion. Productivity is flat. Real GDP per capita is in reverse. And the political incentive to act — let alone to make the case publicly — has rarely been weaker. Sanchez is not calling for austerity. He is calling for something more demanding: a governing project, of the kind Keating prosecuted, that holds as its central conviction that a smaller, more efficient government is the precondition for a productive economy that actually helps those most in need. The banana republic remark worked because it forced a reckoning before the consequences became irreversible. That, Sanchez argues, is the model for today. Read the introduction here

‘Pinching Coalition’s policy’: Labor’s budget pivots on housing strategy Watch @peter_tulip

$1.5 trillion in national debt. And the budget hasn't even landed yet @parnellpalme said ''the findings indicated Dr Chalmers had misunderstood what most young Australians wanted from government'' dailytelegraph.com.au/news/national/…

Labor spent years attacking Coalition housing policy. Now they're copying it. @peter_tulip said ''Labor’s 2026 budget tax changes will reshape housing infrastructure, accusing the government of “pinching the Coalition policy'' skynews.com.au/opinion/paul-m…

Albanese broke his tax promises. Voters are paying for it 'The assertion that higher property taxes will create more houses and apartments is contested. House prices might fall 1 or 2 per cent and rents rise a little' according to @peter_tulip thenightly.com.au/politics/aaron…

CGT and negative gearing changes will hit house prices. Great news for buyers. Terrible news for renters. 'Treasury has previously cited research by the @GrattanInst and @CISOZ that estimates curtailing negative gearing and the CGT discount could reduce house prices by between 1 per cent and 4 per cent' afr.com/policy/economy…

Australian classrooms are among the most disorderly in the world. Last night @CISOZ launched a new research project to fix that with @tombennett71 and principal @manisha_gazula, whose school is already proving it can be done. The evidence is there. The question is whether the system will listen.

Australia's Broken Budget The @CISOZ convened its 2026 pre-budget roundtable at a moment of unusual economic tension and policy uncertainty. Joining Michael Stutchbury for the discussion were: Robert Carling, CIS Senior Fellow and former Treasury, World Bank and International Monetary Fund official; Richard Holden, Professor of Economics at the University of New South Wales Business School; and Chris Richardson, Principal of Rich Insight, former Treasury official and one of Australia’s most respected budget economists. Watch the full video now: youtu.be/NpXfg20UPWg?si…

Landlords are already pulling out. And the CGT change hasn't even kicked in yet. @peter_tulip said 'And offsetting that you're getting a small increase in rents as landlords pull out of the market' au.finance.yahoo.com/news/federal-b…

The evidence is in. Australia's generation gap is bigger than anyone wants to admit. 'The big capital gains that have occurred are in history, so it's a question as to whether you can recoup those or not. That's a more controversial policy than Labor took to the 2016 and 2019 elections' said @peter_tulip abc.net.au/news/2026-05-0…

Every auction. Every record price. Every first-home buyer priced out. We're consuming our own future. 'The city that has kept a lid on prices the best over the past few years – Melbourne – is the one that has built the most homes' noted @peter_tulip smh.com.au/politics/feder…

Australia's budget deficit is not what it appears. According to a new CIS roundtable paper, the headline number Jim Chalmers will unveil on 12 May could be less than half the actual fiscal shortfall — once off-budget spending on vehicles like the Clean Energy Finance Corporation and the National Reconstruction Fund is counted. In Stop Spending, Start Fixing, Michael Stutchbury, Robert Carling, Richard Holden and Chris Richardson argue that the official focus on the 'underlying cash balance' is allowing governments to hide spending from public scrutiny. Their prescription is blunt: report a broader range of measures, restore credible fiscal rules, avoid stimulus that worsens inflation, and stop pretending that changes to capital gains tax and negative gearing constitute meaningful reform. On energy subsidies masking inflation: "There needs to be downward pressure put on inflation; not through some sort of conjuring trick with energy subsidies... that have an effect on measured CPI but not on actual inflation in the economy." On fiscal rules: "The most valuable thing in the world right now is trust... politicians hate having rules because they want the discretion. But they don't understand that they are the biggest beneficiaries of good rules." This is a budget critique without diplomatic hedging. Worth reading before 12 May. Read the introduction paper: