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/…

Generation Trapped. Housing, handouts, and the collapse of young Australians’ life satisfaction: cis.org.au/publication/ge…

New research by @parnellpalme suggests that young Australians do not have very different aspirations to the generations before them. They prioritise financial security, home ownership, families, and children. But for many, these goals feel unachievable. The cost of rent and housing are a significant barrier to achieving their goals, and young people worry that they won’t earn enough money, have access to the right job opportunities, or have enough available time to achieve the things they aspire to. They also experience greater emotional and mental health challenges than previous generations have reported. Moreover, they are less likely than Australians over the age of 35 to believe they are able to do something about the barriers they face. This lack of perceived agency correlates with lower life satisfaction. The research finds that believing they will be able to influence the barriers to their aspirations is a determining factor in how young people respond to the challenges they face. Those with a greater sense of personal agency remain determined to overcome the barriers; those with less become quietly resigned, angry, or shift their focus to short-term pleasures at the expense of planning a future. Breaking young Australians into groups, or tribes, makes the relationship between financial security and agency visible. For people with low perceived autonomy, financial security has a very large effect on life satisfaction. While for people with high perceived autonomy, financial security still matters, but much less. That is: money matters most when people lack real freedom. For people with low autonomy, money is existential. For people with high autonomy, it is instrumental. This means policymaking should not just focus on meeting the material needs of young people, but also factor in whether it limits choice and personal control or increases them. The six tribes that emerged from our research allow us to analyse in detail the effect of a changing world on young Australians. Mapping their values creates a starting point for a conversation with groups of young people who are often drowned out by more assertive voices. To read the research, visit our website.

A whole generation is losing hope. And our leaders are too busy fighting each other to notice “Housing affordability is important to [young people], but the desire for home ownership should also be understood as a symbol of personal control, which is what these tribes are craving'' Read more: afr.com/policy/economy…

Find out more here: cis.org.au/generation-tra…

Young Australians don't need handouts. They need real opportunity. Big difference. 'Fewer than four in 10 young people believe they can influence the barriers blocking their aspirations – financial security, home ownership, meaningful work, relationships and children' Read more here: afr.com/policy/economy…

Australia is trapping its young people — not empowering them. Fewer than 4 in 10 Australians aged 18–34 believe the barriers facing them are within their control. That's not just a mental health statistic. It's a policy failure. The new CIS paper Generation Trapped finds that young Australians haven't abandoned traditional goals — secure jobs, home ownership, financial stability. But those goals feel increasingly out of reach, and government policy is making it worse. Well-intentioned welfare programmes and subsidies are eroding the one thing that most predicts life satisfaction: a sense of personal agency. More transfers. Fewer choices. Less control. That's the trap. The fix isn't more government management of young people's lives — it's giving them genuine autonomy to shape their own futures. Read the summary here:

Alarm bells ringing on more interest rate pain 'Australians were losing faith that the combination of Labor’s economic policies and the RBA monetary policy would tame inflation even before Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu started bombing Iran’s theocratic dictators' Read Michael Stutchbury's latest op-ed: cis.org.au/commentary/opi…

Will Australia's Royal Commission on Antisemitism deliver real accountability — or fall short? Join @CIS_Australia for a panel with @JoshFrydenberg, Ronald Sackville AO KC & Dr Lorraine Finlay. 📍 NSW Parliament, Sydney 🔗 Register: bit.ly/31032026xog

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/…

Iran war = perfect scapegoat. Albanese already setting up his excuses for the rate hikes coming your way Michael Stutchbury said price pressures prior to the Iran war drove inflation. Read more: skynews.com.au/australia-news…

The rich keep winning. The budget keeps bleeding. Coincidence? @peter_tulip warned 'reforming the CGT discount would be unlikely to recoup anywhere near that amount of revenue for the federal budget' canberratimes.com.au/story/9197751/…

The NDIS is buckling. And it's only getting harder to fix 'Programs designed to expand access to care – including Better Access and the NDIS – have unintentionally created a system that treats ordinary distress as pathology, encourages diagnostic expansion and rewards long-term dependency over recovery' said Steven Schwartz theaustralian.com.au/commentary/ndi…

An MP has a plan to fix our taxes. Is Treasury actually listening? 'Critics noted the potential effect on investment and housing costs, with Robert Carling warning the CGT discount could raise transaction tax rates' ground.news/article/mp-tou…

Labor failed. Now YOU pay for it Robert Carling in his latest paper said 'The government’s base motive is to satisfy its voracious appetite for more revenue' Read more: dailytelegraph.com.au/news/kylie-lan…

'Then there’s the Centre for Independent Studies (CIS), which insists the whole debate is pointless anyway because tinkering with tax concessions will barely move house prices at all. ' Read Robert Carling full paper here: cis.org.au/publication/wh…

Spender’s tax plan: cut income tax, raise taxes on assets. 'Capital gains tax is frequently portrayed as a simple lever that can fix housing affordability, inequality and the budget all at once. But the economic reality is far more complex' said Rob Carling smh.com.au/politics/feder…