Institute of Public Affairs

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This article is about an Australian think tank. For the Polish think tank, see Institute of Public Affairs, Poland.

The Institute of Public Affairs (IPA) is a think tank based in Melbourne, Australia that has been variously described by commentators as conservative^{[citation needed]} and libertarian^{[citation needed]}. John Roskam, its current Executive Director, denies that it is right-wing.^[1] The IPA was founded in 1943 by Charles Kemp, and has had close links to the Liberal Party since its inception.^{[citation needed]}

1 Funding
2 Ideology
3 Political links
4 Research focus
5 Position on climate change and environmental issues
6 Staff
7 Kemp Family
8 Publications
9 See also
10 References
11 External links

[edit] Funding

It is funded by its membership and also by corporate interest groups including Murray Irrigation Limited ^[2], Visyboard, Telstra, Western Mining, BHP Billiton and the tobacco industry^[3] (and also Gunns Limited and Monsanto^{[citation needed]} ).

In 2003, the Australian Government paid $50,000 of taxpayers' money to the Institute of Public Affairs to review the accountability of NGOs.^[4]

[edit] Ideology

The IPA advocates for neoliberal economic policies such as privatisation and deregulation of state-owned enterprises, trade liberalisation and deregulated workplaces, scepticism on climate change (through its environmental front group the Australian Environment Foundation), and a weakening of the influence of non-government organisations (NGOs).^{[citation needed]} In its own words, the Institute believes in "the free market of ideas, the free flow of capital, a limited and efficient government, the rule of law, and representative democracy."^[5]

[edit] Political links

The Institute is officially independent of any political party, but has been linked to the Liberal Party since the IPA's inception in 1943 (The Liberal Party is Australia's main conservative party).^{[citation needed]} John Roskam, the IPA's Executive Director, worked on the Liberal Party's 2001 election campaign. He has also run for Liberal Party preselection - and missed out - "several times".^[6]

Prime Minister John Howard (Liberal Party) Delivered the 60th CD Kemp lecture to the Institute in 2004, titled Iraq:The Importance of Seeing it Through.^[7]

[edit] Research focus

Since the early 1980s, the Institute has argued the case for a range of neoliberal public policies, such as:

lower taxation;
deregulation of the Australian economy particularly as affecting industrial relations and trade unionism;
privatisation of government businesses and reduced government spending;
greater transparency in government;
alleged left wing ideological bias in Australia's national broadcaster - the publicly funded Australian Broadcasting Corporation;
a free market approach to environmental problems, and criticism of the science behind climate change;
the elimination of existing programs of welfare targeted at Indigenous Australians, with the stated aim of encouraging the transition to work, self-reliance and high incomes.

The IPA has affiliations with think tanks in the U.S., Canada, UK and Asia. It has a particularly close relationship with the American Enterprise Institute, where John Howard first first appeared in public after his 2007 election loss.

IPA publications are highly critical of the operations of many NGO's, particularly in their interaction with governments and with international agencies. The IPA criticises some NGO's as lacking in transparency. A recent government-commissioned IPA report recommended a 'protocol' for greater transparency about the nature and extent of these interactions.

In 2003 the Institute published a backgrounder titled Myth and the Murray - measuring the real state of the river environment compiled by Jennifer Marohasy, head of the Institute's Environment Unit.^[8] The Institute received a $40,000 donation from Murray Irrigation Limited at that time.^[9] This paper is quoted in the Interim Report of the Inquiry into future water supplies for Australia’s rural industries and communities of the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, March 2004. At a science round table of the committee, when asked for her views on how much water should be returned to the River Murray, Dr Marohasy argued that there was no need for additional flows at that time and that we should test the results of current environmental measures before committing to more.^[10]

[edit] Position on climate change and environmental issues

The IPA adopts a position of climate change scepticism.^[11] It promotes the views of two of the prominent Australian climate change sceptics, Bob Carter and Ian Plimer. While the IPA supports elements of climate change science, including some link between the use of fossil fuels and rising carbon dioxide levels, it adopts a contrarian viewpoint in relation to many aspects of climate change. Jennifer Marohasy supports the view that many environmental issues, including climate change, are exaggerated, and that green groups promote solutions that ultimately do not benefit society.^[12]

In 2008, the institute facilitated a donation of $350,000 by Dr G. Bryant Macfie, a climate change sceptic, to the University of Queensland for environmental research. The money is to fund three environmental doctoral projects, with the IPA suggesting two of the three agreed topics.^[13] George Bryant Macfie is a top 20 shareholder in Strike Resources Limited.[1][2]

[edit] Staff

John Roskam is the institute's executive director. Prior to his employment at the IPA, Roskam was the Executive Director of the Menzies Research Centre in Canberra. He has also held positions as Chief of Staff to Dr David Kemp, the Federal Minister for Employment, Education, Training and Youth Affairs, as Senior Advisor to Don Hayward, Victorian Minister for Education in the first Kennett Government, and as Manager of Government and Corporate Affairs for Rio Tinto Group.^[14] He is currently undertaking a PhD and teaching politics at the University of Melbourne.

Other staff include: