Established 1943 | ||
Focus The free market of ideas, the free flow of capital, a limited and efficient government, evidence-based public policy, the rule of law, and representative democracy. Budget FYE June 2012Income: A$4,002,427Expenses: A$3,689,095 Location Level 2, 410 Collins StreetMelbourne Victoria 3000Australia | ||
The Institute of Public Affairs (IPA) is a public policy 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, the abolition of the minimum wage, the repeal of parts of the Racial Discrimination Act 1975, 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."
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History
The IPA was founded in 1943, 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 became an important fund raising body for the Liberal Party 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.
In 2013 the IPA celebrated its 70th anniversary. Notable in attendance at the celebrations were:
Donors
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).
In 2003, the Australian Government paid $50,000 to the Institute of Public Affairs to review the accountability of NGOs.
Political links
The Institute has close ideological and political affinities with the Liberal Party in Australia. For example, IPA Executive Director John Roskam's byline on a 2005 opinion column in the Australian Financial Review declares that, "during the 2001 federal election he worked on the Liberals' federal 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.
Research focus
Since the early 1980s, the Institute has argued the case for a range of free-market and libertarian public policies, such as:
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.
The IPA has made the following criticisms of proposals by the Australian government to introduce plain packaging of tobacco products:
The IPA adopts a position of doubt about climate change and finances several Australian climate change science doubters.
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.
In 2014 the IPA called for the abolition of the minimum wage in Australia.
Notable people
The following individuals are associated with the activities of the Institute of Public Affairs:
Publications
The IPA Review is published quarterly.