In a timely address to The Sydney Institute on Wednesday 15 October 2025, Senator Dave Sharma, Senator for New South Wales and former diplomat, examined Australia’s shrinking competitive advantage since 2000. Calling it Australia’s “Montreal moment” – comparing the economic statistics to Australia’s worst ever result at the Montreal Olympic Games in 1975 – Senator [...]
The first Christians confronted a cultural environment vastly more hostile than today's. They had no powerful backers, very little money and numbered no more than a few hundred. Yet they revolutionised the ancient world and spread their movement far and wide. There is a deep, pervasive crisis of meaning and purpose across all Western societies [...]
The Hon Dr Andrew Leigh is the Assistant Minister for Productivity, Competition, Charities & Treasury. On Monday 16 September 2025, Dr Leigh addressed The Sydney Institute to discuss the increased use by employers of non-compete agreements in employment across Australia. He explained the growing use of non-competes as hindering job flexibility and thus better productivity [...]
As a writer and journalist working in Ukraine, Pete Shmigel has witnessed and chronicled the military, political, social and psychological changes resulting from Russia’s three and a half year old war on Ukrainians. Since the war began in 2022, he has divided his time between here and there, and made approximately 10 trips. He has written [...]
Journalist Cheng Lei spent more than three gruelling years in a Beijing prison after being wrongly accused of espionage. In August 2020, Cheng Lei was the precise and polished anchor of China's government-run, English-language Global Business TV show, familiar to millions of viewers. Arriving for work one morning, Lei was met by officers from the [...]
According to The Australian, “slashing just one per cent of the red tape that is constraining Australian businesses could generate more than $1bn in economic growth, according to a Business Council of Australia report that calls for dozens of reforms to help cut the nation’s $110bn regulatory bill. Senator Andrew Bragg agrees and in a [...]
Between the catastrophists and the sceptics, modern day life is now dominated by national attempts to move from emissions generating fossil fuels to renewables or nuclear power. But as power bills rise, with the need to build new infrastructure with renewables, the question arises - with net zero by 2050 - can we afford it? [...]
Between the catastrophists and the sceptics, modern day life is now dominated by national attempts to move from emissions generating fossil fuels to renewables or nuclear power. But as power bills rise, with the need to build new infrastructure with renewables, the question arises - with net zero by 2050 - can we afford it? [...]
What is it about Western Australia? Do they do things differently there? Once the forgotten west of our vast continent, and almost not part of the Australian Federation, today the west is booming. And it is not just because of the richness from its mining industry. It is a cultural progress to manage prosperity and [...]
Tom Gilling is a war historian and most recently author of Start Digging You Bastards! Australian and New Zealand forces’ desperate battle with Rommel and the Axis at El Alamein. On Monday 28 July, Tom Gilling addressed The Sydney Institute and gave a thrilling and blow by blow account of the outstanding action of the British [...]
