Institute of Public Affairs

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

The Institute of Public Affairs (IPA) is a libertarian think tank based in Melbourne, Australia. It advocates free market economic policies such as privatisation and deregulation of state-owned enterprises, trade liberalisation and deregulated workplaces, climate change skepticism (through its environmental subsidiary the Australian Environment Foundation), and the accountability of non-government organisations (NGOs). 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."

History

The IPA was founded in the early 1940s, partly in response to the collapse of Australia's main conservative party, the United Australia Party. The IPA was one of a number of groups which came together to form the Liberal Party of Australia, and was, for many years, primarily a fund raising conduit for the Liberal Party, particularly in Victoria. The IPA returned to prominence as a thinktank in the 1990s, following a merger with the Australian Institute of Public Policy, headed by John Hyde who became Executive Director.

Funding

In 2003, the Australian Government paid $50,000 to the Institute of Public Affairs to review the accountability of NGOs.

The IPA funded by its membership which include both private individuals and businesses. Among these businesses are ExxonMobil, Telstra, WMC Resources, BHP Billiton, Phillip Morris, Murray Irrigation Limited, and Visy Industries.

IPA donors have also included Clough Engineering, Caltex, Shell and Esso. Other donors were electricity and mining companies, as well as British American Tobacco (BAT).

Political links

The Institute has close ideological and political affinities with the Liberal Party in Australia. John Roskam, the IPA's Executive Director, worked on the Liberal Party's 2001 election campaign. He has also run for Liberal Party preselection. Prime Minister John Howard (Liberal Party) delivered the 60th C D Kemp lecture to the Institute in 2004, titled Iraq: The Importance of Seeing it Through.

With the demise of the Howard Government, the Institute has played a significant role in generating intellectual analysis and criticism of the Rudd Government's policies.

Research focus

Since the early 1980s, the Institute has argued the case for a range of right-wing and libertarian 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;
• opposition to perceived left wing ideological bias in Australia's public broadcaster the Australian Broadcasting Corporation;
• a free market approach to environmental problems, and criticism of aspects of climate change science;
• the elimination of existing programs of welfare targeted at Indigenous Australians, with the aim of encouraging 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 close relationship with the American Enterprise Institute, a right-wing US think-tank.

IPA publications are highly critical of the operations of many NGOs, particularly their interaction with governments and with international agencies. The IPA criticises some NGOs as lacking 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. The Institute also received a $40,000 donation from Murray Irrigation Limited after research for this paper had begun. 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.

Position on passive smoking

The IPA has been critical of scientific research on the dangers of passive smoking. A paper published by the IPA in 1996 described a major report of the National Health and Medical Research Council as "incoherent", "corrupt" and "incompetent".

Position on Active Smoking

The IPA's position on active smoking is that a proposal by the Australian government to introduce plain packaging of tobacco products. In newspaper articles and IPA documents officers of the IPA have argued:

(a) Plain packaging may not affect the consumption of those products and

(b) Plain packaging may infringe intellectual property rights in tobacco trademarks and logos. "Bad anti-intellectual property laws by State and Federal Parliaments could require taxpayers to gift up to $3.4 billion per year in compensation to film companies and big tobacco for the loss of their trademarks"

The IPA excuses its pro-smoking policies by claiming that newspaper articles, electronic media interviews and its own website espousing the above policies are the opinions only of individuals within the IPA and not the IPA itself.

Position on climate change and environmental issues

The IPA adopts a position of climate change scepticism. The IPA supports elements of climate change science, including some link between the use of fossil fuels and rising carbon dioxide levels, however it also disagrees with certain aspects of climate theories . Former staff member 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.

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.

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. He is currently undertaking a PhD and teaching politics at the University of Melbourne.

Other staff include:

• Dr Alan Moran, Director, Deregulation Unit
• Mr Chris Berg, Research Fellow
• Mr Tony Barry, Director, Finance and Operations
• Mr Tim Wilson, Director, Intellectual Property and Free Trade Unit
• Mr John Pesutto, Director, Productivity and Employment Unit
• Mr Ken Phillips, Director Workplace Reform Unit
• Ms Louise Staley, Director, Food and Environment Unit
• Professor Sinclair Davidson, Senior Fellow
• Mr John Hyde, Emeritus Fellow
• Ms Julie Novak, Research Fellow
• Mr Richard Allsop, Research Fellow
• Ms Carolyn Popp, Research Fellow
• Mr Graham Farebrother, Research Fellow
• Mr Andrew Poon, Marketing Manager
• Professor Bob Carter, Emeritus Fellow, Science Policy Advisor
• Mr Brad Laver

Former staff include

• Dr Jennifer Marohasy, Director, Environment Unit
• Dr Mike Nahan, Executive Director
• Mr Don D'Cruz, Senior Fellow
• Hon Dr Gary Johns, Director, Governance Unit (an ex-Hawke Labor minister)
• Mr Jim Hoggett, Senior Fellow

Publications

The IPA Review is published bi-monthly. ISSN 1329-8100 - January 2008 is Volume 59/4.

See also

• List of think tanks

External links

• Institute of Public Affairs
• Sourcewatch, Institute of Public Affairs
• IPA in the News: Flaws Remain in Bringing Them Home
• Media Watch criticises IPA writer Michael Warby - Media Watch transcript