Superannuation has failed in its original goal: helping Australians to achieve financial independence in retirement. Many Australians still rely heavily on the means-tested age-pension because they don’t have enough money to comfortably retire.

Superannuation may increase overall savings, but it also reduces the diversity of savings vehicles. The best example is housing: many Australians take longer to save for a deposit on a home and as result are still paying off their mortgage or renting when they want to retire. Because people don’t have options many end up worse off in retirement than they would otherwise.

This week for On Liberty, Thursday, 12 November 2020 at 10 am AEST, we welcome Emilie Dye, policy director with the Australian Taxpayers' Alliance (ATA). Emilie will discuss her recent paper which focuses on how taxes on super undermine Australia’s ability to retire on a living wage independent of the pension.

This week, On Liberty, we host James Morrow, opinion editor at The Daily Telegraph and co-host Sky's Outsiders program.

Salvatore Babones hosts Morrow for an On Liberty episode not to be missed: Four more years or a Democratic landslide?

As the dust settles on the US Presidential Election, will it be President Trump for four more years? President Biden with a radical agenda or will a result be held up by the postal system?

Join us for On Liberty this Thursday, November 5th from 10 am (AEST). Salvatore Babones will host James Morrow for an election debrief live from New York. Morrow is opinion editor at The Daily Telegraph and co-host Sky's Outsiders program.

This week we welcome Tom Switzer, CIS Executive Director. Salvatore Babones hosts seasoned US political commentator Tom Switzer for an On Liberty episode not to be missed: Down to the line | US Elections 2020.

The pandemic has killed more than 225k Americans and abruptly ended Trump's economic boom that saw low unemployment and rising wages among broad swathes of workers. Since the death of George Floyd in May, tensions have led to more political polarisation and disorder across the US.

Global markets and seasoned observers have all but ushered in a Joe Biden victory on November 3. With less than a week until the election, we’ll be asking, who’s on the clearer path to victory? Will we see a clean result on the day? What would a Biden win mean for the US and could Democrats gain the Senate?

This week we welcome Sophie York, barrister, law lecturer, and board director. Sophie believes, "religious freedom is a basic, natural human right", and will discuss the importance of religious freedom as the foundation for all our freedoms.

We'll ask Sophie is religious freedom cherished in Australia the same way it is longed for in many of our neighbouring countries? Does the Chinese Communist Party fear religious freedom more than economic freedom, or freedom of speech? Do Muslim-majority countries repress non-Muslim religions?

Australia seeks to attract “key businesses and global super talent to Australia”, in the words of population minister Alan Tudge. With a new Global Business and Talent Attraction Taskforce, will Hong Kong businesses even consider relocating to Australia?

Is China’s new security law the straw that will break Hong Kong’s back? Will Hong Kong survive as a global business centre when vague crimes like “collusion with foreign forces” are now punishable with life imprisonment? Can Hong Kong’s business community navigate between the Scylla of extradition to China and the Charybdis that is the long arm of US sanctions? And if businesses do flee Hong Kong, where will they go?

Joining us to answer these questions are two business people who have their fingers on the pulse of Asia: Simon Littlewood of management consultancy ACG Global and Daniel Del Re of strategic communications consultancy Kekst CNC.

This week we welcome Chinese politics expert Professor Elizabeth Larus of the University of Mary Washington to discuss the implications of the American presidential election for cross-strait relations and the future of Taiwan. Prof. Larus, author of Politics and Society in Contemporary China and Economic Reform in China 1979-2003, will join host Salvatore Babones live from Washington, DC.

In the four years since then-president-elect Donald Trump took an unprecedented congratulatory phone call from Taiwan's president Tsai Ing-wen, the Trump administration has shown unprecedented levels of support for the small but important island nation. A country of just 24 million people, the strength of Taiwan's economy and democracy are constantly tested by extreme levels of interference from China.

We'll be asking Prof. Larus how Taiwan is able to survive and even thrive in the shadow of Beijing's military threats and Chinese Communist Party infiltration. How long can Taiwan hold out against Chinese aggression? What lessons can Australia learn from Taiwan's battle against Chinese influence? And crucially: what do America's November 3 presidential elections mean for Taiwan?

Everyone seems to be cursing 2020. We have seen a coronavirus pandemic, mass unemployment, an impending recession or depression, Black Lives Matter riots, and the scourge of cancel culture continues at pace.

All these events have led to another epidemic — fear. We are told to fear the virus, fear economic collapse, and fear…each other. But have you ever wondered how fear works? To answer that question, we talked to Frank Furedi a sociologist, social commentator, and author of 26 books including How Fear Works.

Frank and CIS policy analyst Monica Wilkie discuss the shift from assuming people are resilient, to assuming they are vulnerable. What impact has how fear ridden culture had on individuals and society?

The Most Consequential Budget of our Generation. Covid-19 has blown an unprecedented hole in the budget and rapidly changed policy debates in Australia. Our 30 year run of growth is gone. The recession has returned and predictions of surplus have been replaced by dire forecasts of debt and deficits.

The Australia that emerges post coronavirus will be very different and Australia’s think tanks are presenting contrasting visions for the future. We invited Emma Dawson, executive director of Per Capita, Stephen Kirchner, program director of trade and investment at the United States Studies Centre and Danielle Wood, chief executive of Grattan Institute to debate the outcome of the long-awaited 2020 Federal Budget.

This week, we host a special Episode of On Liberty host by CIS Research Director Simon Cowan. Simon Will speak with Senior Fellow of the CIS Economics Program Robert Carling.

On April 16, Prime Minister Morrison signalled after the immediate pandemic-induced crisis, a market-oriented economic agenda is needed to help the economy rebound and drive investment for tomorrow’s prosperity. A growth agenda that is provided not by politicians throwing money at favoured sectors, but by the private sector being freed to invest by being taxed and regulated less.

Join us for a special On Liberty with host CIS Research Director Simon Cowan as he speaks Senior Research Fellow in the economics program, Robert Carling. Rob and Simon will analyse, comment, and digest the #Budget2020. You too can join the live conversation and ask questions by tuning in from 10 am (AEST) via YouTube or here on Facebook.

"The argument that you need government funding to encourage innovation is not true", Matt Ridley.

Matt Ridley’s new book is called "How innovation works and why it flourishes in freedom". The main lesson of the book is: prosperity comes from innovation. Matt focuses on how certain deregulation would improve the rate in which we can innovate and therefore be prosperous. He tells us, "the worst thing government can do for innovation is to make decisions slowly."

CIS is focused on how best to revive the Australian economy and boost productivity. We are committed to promoting policies that allow people to be free to innovate, that shake up the culture of over-regulation that has shackled the entrepreneurial spirit of the economy for too long.

Join CIS Executive Director Tom Switzer as he asks what should governments do to encourage innovation? What deregulation will clear barriers for entrepreneurs? Why has innovation worked so well with technology but not vaccines or drug discovery? And given all the current doom and gloom, are you still a rational opportunist?