The Stutchbury Sessions

Australia's Broken Budget | Chris Richardson, Michael Stutchbury, Robert Carling & Richard Holden

Watch here: https://youtu.be/NpXfg20UPWgAs Treasurer Jim Chalmers prepares to hand down his fifth federal budget on 12 May 2026, four of Australia's leading economists gather at the Centre for Independent Studies to ask: is this budget up to the challenge?
Hosted by CIS Executive Director Michael Stutchbury, this roundtable brings together Robert Carling (CIS Senior Fellow, former Treasury and IMF official), Professor Richard Holden (UNSW Business School), and Chris Richardson (Principal, Rich Insight and Australia's most cited budget economist) for a frank, wide-ranging conversation on the fiscal pressures facing Australia.
They discuss rising inflation, a productivity slowdown, a housing crisis, a federal debt approaching $1 trillion, and whether Chalmers' promises on savings, tax reform, and intergenerational equity stack up.
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CIS promotes free choice and individual liberty and the open exchange of ideas. CIS encourages debate among leading academics, politicians, media and the public. We aim to make sure good policy ideas are heard and seriously considered so that Australia can prosper.

Australia is a high tax country

As much as anything, the Centre for Independent Studies’ first 50 years has been dedicated to restraining the growth in the size, reach and financing of government to provide room for private enterprise and individual choice. 
Now, as in the mid-1970s, the size of government has been ratcheted up. And politicians are increasing taxes to pay for it.  
This week, CIS senior fellow Robert Carling has delivered an important corrective to the mantra that taxes aren’t really much of a burden in Australia. Read more here: https://www.cis.org.au/publication/high-taxing-australia-how-we-measure-up/ 

Grim reality of the NDIS leviathan

Grim reality of the NDIS leviathan
“It will start big and get bigger and grow to become the new leviathan of the Australian welfare state,” CIS scholar Andrew Baker further predicted of Labor’s National Disability Insurance Scheme in his 2012 policy monograph.Even the Productivity Commission failed to pick the looming NDIS fiscal disaster from the worthy goal of providing support to permanently and significantly disabled Australians...
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Defending 'Neoliberalism' from the Left and Right

The hard lesson of Australia’s protectionist past is that propping up uncompetitive and high cost industries invariably poses a burden on other sectors, including on the mining, gas and farm exporters that actually support our prosperity.  
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Infinite possibilities from the dark side of the moon

Donald Trump’s threats to destroy the ‘whole civilisation’ of Iran this week jarringly contrasted with the out-of-this world American achievement of sending a four-member crew as far from Earth as any humans had gone. 
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Middle East oil shock fuels panic vote-buying

Australia’s new economic decline is colliding with the breakdown of the liberal rules-based orders for global trade and security. The post-pandemic and oil shock push for more sovereign capability and supply-chain self-reliance will eat into national income just as living standards are under pressure.
Resolving this tension will require more, not less, of the pro-market —or neo-liberal — policy agenda of the Hawke-Keating and Howard-Costello era to reboot productivity and economic growth.
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Four lessons from the energy crisis of 1970s

I was in Canberra this week, in part to hear International Energy Agency head Fatih Birol warn that today’s oil price shock will rival the twin Middle East energy shocks of the 1970s. The 1973 and 1979 shocks promoted using smaller and more fuel-efficient vehicles. And it prompted a wave of nuclear energy development in Japan, Europe and North America. Today’s oil price shock will have comparable repercussions, Birol predicts.  Here’s the four take outs I picked up at a National Security College conference, where I was on a panel, and the annual Minerals Council of Australia Minerals Week Conference, where I moderated a session:  👉 Join CIS:
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Inflation Expectations | Michael Stutchbury

RBA governor Michele Bullock has jacked up her cash rate by 25 basis points for the second month in a row because of two words that can strike fear into the heart of central bankers: “inflation expectations”. What does this mean for you? 
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"The 50% discount is unfair" and other CGT myths | Robert Carling

The criticisms and characterization of the 50% capital gains tax discount over many years have been full of misunderstandings, myths and distortions in the conventional narrative on how capital gains tax works, how it compares with the capital gains tax that it replaced in 1999, and the economic consequences of making the capital gains tax burden heavier. The myths and distortions are biasing the public discussion towards increased taxation.
👉 Support CIS Research:🔹 Become a member:  https://www.cis.org.au/membership-2-step-1/ 🔹 Make a donation: https://www.cis.org.au/support/donate/today/ 🔹 Learn more: https://www.cis.org.au/ 
👉 Further reading: 
Why We Should Not Increase Capital Gains Tax: https://www.cis.org.au/publication/why-we-should-not-increase-capital-gains-tax/
10 CGT Myths Busted: https://www.cis.org.au/publication/10-cgt-myths-busted/

Leadership Failure and the Bondi Terror Attack | Peter Kurti

Shortly before 7pm on Sunday, a Hanukah celebration on Sydney’s Bondi Beach was attacked by two alleged gunmen, believed to be a father and son. At the time of recording, 16 people aged between 10 and 87 are confirmed dead, including one of the alleged attackers, and at least 42 others are being treated in hospital for their injuries.
In this episode of The Stutchbury Sessions, Michael Stutchbury talks with Peter Kurti about the tragedy at Bondi, the politicial leadership failures and rising antisemitism in Australia. 👉Relevant writings: 🔹 Australia’s complacency and the Bondi beach shooting: https://www.cis.org.au/commentary/opinion/australias-complacency-and-the-bondi-beach-shooting/ 🔹 Reframing an Ancient Hatred: the intersection of left-wing antisemitism and anti-Zionism: https://www.cis.org.au/publication/reframing-an-ancient-hatred-the-intersection-of-left-wing-antisemitism-and-anti-zionism/ 🔹 The Darkest Path: The Puzzling Resilience of Antisemitism. Acton Lecture 2025: https://www.cis.org.au/publication/the-darkest-path-the-puzzling-resilience-of-antisemitism-acton-lecture-2025/ 🔹 Fractured Loyalties. Australian citizenship and the crisis of civic virtue: https://www.cis.org.au/publication/fractured-loyalties-australian-citizenship-and-the-crisis-of-civic-virtue/ 👉 Support our work to combat Antisemitism in Australia:🔹 Become a member:  https://www.cis.org.au/membership-2-step-1/  🔹 Make a donation: https://www.cis.org.au/support/donate/today/  🔹 Learn more: https://www.cis.org.au/  #auspol #bondi