Increasingly, over decades, the global media has become polarised and viewpoint diversity has become rare in both opinion and factual broadcasting such as the news. In Australia, the most serious example is the reporting and broadcasting of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. On Wednesday 12 August, prominent opinion writer and intellectual Henry Ergas addressed The Sydney [...]
The Albanese Labor Government faced strong criticism after handing down the 2026 Budget. Proposed new taxes on capital gains, trusts and investments caused property values to slide and anxiety among investors many of whom are Australia’s ordinary mums and dads. To reflect on what might be the outcome of these changes and the general fall [...]
David Harris is executive vice chair of the Institute for the Study of Global Antisemitism and Policy (ISGAP), and author of Antisemitism: What Everyone Needs to Know (Oxford University Press). On a visit to Australia, hosted by the Australia Israel & Jewish Affairs Council, David Harris addressed The Sydney Institute on Thursday 14 May 2026. [...]
As a student, Claire Lehmann spent many years working in restaurants to help pay for her education. After graduation she joined the Commonwealth public service. The contrast in working ethos and conditions shocked her. In the public service, she witnessed low productivity and wasteful spending while reflecting on how hard working and risk taking her [...]
In a major address delivered to The Sydney Institute on Thursday 9 July 2026, Opposition leader Angus Taylor laid down a comprehensive response to Labor’s economic management and its difficulty with low productivity and government spending. Focusing on the economic approach of the Albanese Government, Angus Taylor said, “This is a government that believes in [...]
The Hon Andrew Leigh is Assistant Minister for Productivity, Competition, Charities and Treasury in the Albanese Government. In his free time, he is also an economist who writes books – his latest being The Shortest History of Innovation - Black Inc 2026. In an address to The Sydney Institute on Tuesday 4 August, Andrew Leigh [...]
The AI revolution is not just overtaking technology it is deciding the future of investment and national development. The Hon Dr Andrew Charlton is Assistant Minister for Science, Technology and the Digital Economy. On Wednesday 10 June 2026, Andrew Charlton addressed The Sydney Institute regarding the issue of data centres and their impact on Australia. [...]
The rise of the Australian Right’s One Nation party and its leader Pauline Hanson in 2026 reshaped political thinking and reduced the Liberal/National Coalition to a third place in polls, behind Labor and One Nation. On Wednesday 3 June 2026, Tom Switzer, columnist with The Australian and presenter of Switzerland podcast, and the Hon Pru [...]
Australia and the United States are enduring and successful democracies. Since World War II, Australia has been a staunch American ally, but the relationship has often struggled. Kieran Kelly is both writer, financial adviser and explorer. His many visits, over almost half a century, to the USA has produced a new look at how Australians [...]
In Sydney, the icon of Luna Park has survived the decades as a pleasure park and symbol of Sydney. Helen Pitt, a former journalist with The Sydney Morning Herald and author of Luna Park, has researched the phenomenon of pleasure parks from their origin in the latter years of the nineteenth century. An era when [...]
