Centre for Independent Studies
The Centre for Independent Studies (CIS) is an economically neoliberal and socially conservative think tank based in Sydney. It is headed by Greg Lindsay.
Contents
History
The CIS was Australia's first libertarian think tank. It was founded in 1976 by a Sydney maths teacher, Greg Lindsay. After struggling for financial support, Lindsay began meeting with Australian businessmen who wanted to establish an Australian version of the UK think tank the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA). These businessmen included Hugh Morgan, then an executive director of Western Mining Corporation (WMC), John Bonython, Chairman of the Adelaide Advertiser Group, John McLeod, chief economist at mining company CRA, Douglas Hocking, Chief economist at Shell Australia, and John Brunner, an economist at mining company BHP.
In 1979, six companies - WMC, CRA, BHP, Shell, Santos and the Adelaide Advertiser - provided financial backing to the CIS, each pledging to donate $5,000 each year for five years.
The Centre now has a budget of $2.5 million, and employs more than 20 staff.
Funding
At the John Bonython lecture in 2005, Greg Lindsay said that the Centre had an annual income of around $2 million, of which 1/3 came from corporations, 1/3 from foundations, and 1/3 from individuals. The CIS does not disclose the origin of its funding preferring to describe it as being a private matter. It does not accept government funding or undertake commissioned work. Companies which have been publicly disclosed as funders of the CIS [1] include:
Funders include, or have included, major companies such as:
- McDonald's Australia
- ICI
- John Fairfax (Publisher of The Age, Sydney Morning Herald and Australian Financial Review newspapers)
- Philip Morris
- BHP Billiton
- Shell
- WMC - Western Mining Corporation
Individuals who fund the CIS include [2]:
- Richard Pratt - CEO of Visy Corp, largest individual donor to the Liberal party in 2003.
- Dame Elisabeth Murdoch - Mother of media mogul Rupert Murdoch
- Neville Kennard
- Robert Champion de Crespigny
An examination of its Board will provide clues to other supporters.
Personnel
Board Members
- Greg Lindsay, Executive Director
- Michael Darling, Chairman
- Marco Belgiorno-Zegna
- Robert Champion de Crespigny
- Michael Chaney
- Bob Day
- Chum Darvall
- Peter Dodd
- Peter Farrell
- Ross Grant
- John M. Green
- Robert McLean
- Ruth Richardson
- Geoff Ricketts
- Chris Roberts
- Steven Skala
- Don Turkington
- Steven Wilson
Former board members
- John Calvert-Jones, honorary treasurer of the Liberal party [3], director of Liberal party fundraiser the Cormack Foundation [4], and Rupert Murdoch's brother in-law.
- John Phillips, former Deputy Chairman of the Reserve Bank, Director of WMC
- Murray Horn
Research Staff
- Jennifer Buckingham - Research Fellow - Education
- Caspar Conde - Adjunct Scholar
- Miranda Darling - Adjunct Scholar
- Owen Harries - Senior Fellow
- Helen Hughes - Senior Fellow
- Wolfgang Kasper - Senior Fellow
- Barry Maley - Senior Fellow
- Andrew Norton - Research Fellow
- April Palmerlee - Visiting Fellow
- Peter Saunders - Social Research Director
- Susan Windybank - Director of Foreign Policy Programmes
Contact details
The Centre for Independent Studies
PO Box 92, St Leonards,
NSW 1590
tel: +61 2 9438 4377
fax: +61 2 9439 7310
Web: http://www.cis.org.au/
Other Sourcewatch Resources
External links
- CIS 25th Anniversary Brochure (pdf)
- Cherelle Murphy, "Think tank pushes 10pc tax rate", Australian Financial Review, April 7, 2005.
- Senator George Campbell's speech on the CIS in parliament, Hansard, March 05, 2003
- Michael Duffy, "Modern Liberal Thinking", Counterpoint, ABC Radio National, July 11, 2005.
- Diana Bagnall, "How this man controls your future", The Bulletin, September 22, 2004.