CIS Impact Report

Publications reached a record this year, with the release of 37 research papers plus 20 submissions to government and official bodies. This represents a huge increase in the output of the research team, reflecting recent investments made in growing the capacity of the organisation.

Across the country, more politicians and policymakers are reading our reports and — importantly — actioning our recommendations.
In this report we’ve highlighted the work of our Education, Housing, Energy and Intergenerational teams. In addition to their work, the Indigenous forum, following the resounding defeat of the Voice referendum, has provided a roadmap for real, practical solutions to Indigenous disadvantage. Finally, the Culture team has been setting the agenda in line with the foundational principles that guide all CIS research. Peter Kurti has explored the health of free societies by examining how they treat individuals whose freedoms have been taken away—specifically, through the lens of imprisonment. A full account of this year’s activities and achievements across the organisation will be published in our forthcoming annual review, PréCIS, due for release in late January. In the meantime, let’s take a closer look at some of the highlights.

EDUCATION — Leading change in policy and practice

2024 has been a strong year for the education program, with a record number of research papers, record reach, and record policy impact — a reflection of recent growth in the research team headed by Program Director Glenn Fahey.

We released 13 research reports and made two submissions to government in the ACT and Tasmania. Some 90,000 people now access our work online and we expect this following to keep growing in 2025.

We have shared our findings at public presentations to educators and policymakers, testified before government inquiries, and engaged closely with key stakeholders. As a result, our reputation has continued to grow, with the team now widely recognised by mainstream media as “go to” experts in education policy.

Research in 2024 has focused on three priority areas: teacher workforce, science of learning, and early maths intervention. Two highlights from across our publication series have been CIS Research Fellow

Trisha Jha’s February paper, What is the Science of Learning?, and Senior Research Associate Kelly Norris’ June report Screening That Counts. These papers will form the basis for new projects in these areas.

All this effort has been rewarded with multiple policy wins. For example, this year the federal government introduced a requirement that Australian territories and states must introduce early maths screening by 2028. Education ministers are now negotiating new funding agreements in line with this requirement — a direct result of CIS
research and advocacy.

We also achieved some major breakthroughs in the following jurisdictions:

• After working closely with the Victorian parliament’s review into its education system, the review’s final report cited CIS research over 50 times and made 13 findings and recommendations in line with our priorities
• At The Age School Summit in September, Victorian education minister Ben Carroll directly quoted Trisha’s research on the science of learning, describing it as “essential reading for Australia’s teachers”
• We were pleased that the final report from the ACT’s independent Literacy and Numeracy review panel cited seven CIS research papers, echoing our recommendations on the need for explicit instruction, evidence-based teaching, and phonics and numeracy screening checks.

ECONOMICS — Driving supply-side reform in housing

No topic is arguably as important to Australia’s long-term economic future as housing reform. CIS has long argued for a relaxation of planning restrictions to increase supply and make homes more affordable. This year State governments, especially NSW and Victoria, introduced ambitious zoning reforms to allow more building — in line with key recommendations from CIS research and submissions.

Chief Economist Peter Tulip continued to press on these issues. In February, he published a useful summary of his arguments in the CIS paper Housing Affordability and Supply Restrictions, which made it clear that housing is simply too expensive. The fundamental cause is that planning restrictions limit supply, driving up prices and rents. Peter followed up with a submission and testimony to the Commonwealth on Super for Housing, a submission on Financial Regulation and Home Ownership, and testimony on Help-to-Buy. At the state level, he provided a submission and testimony to the NSW parliament on Transport-Oriented Development and appeared as a witness on the sale of Rosehill racecourse. He also contributed to the inquiry process of key federal Independents including Sophie Scamps’ and Kylie Tink’s respective “Citizen’s Juries” on Housing Policy.

Peter continued to engage with key stakeholders, delivering presentations on housing to Commonwealth Treasury, political party forums, industry groups and consultancies as well as to conferences, symposiums, and Ku-ring-gai Council. Many politicians and their staff requested private meetings and briefings on planning reform. At an August 2024 lunch at CIS, the NSW Treasurer Daniel Mookhey publicly re-affirmed his commitment to reform in line with our priorities.

CIS has brought together politicians, academics, journalists and senior department heads in support of planning reform. However, the broader public remains sceptical. Advocacy this year has been increasingly through mass media, with coverage of Peter’s research appearing in stories on housing across print, radio and television on almost a weekly basis in 2024.

INTERGENERATIONAL — Developing solutions to the growing divide

The Intergenerational program has focused strongly on reaching and engaging with a younger audience. Young Australians are understandably frustrated by the status quo which could mean Gen Z is the first modern generation that will be worse off than their parents. However, the solutions they have so often been presented with will only make the problem worse.

In 2024 the program released five papers addressing misconceptions about what younger generations care about, how the tax system impacts young Australians, and of course housing affordability. The team also weighed in on the misinformation debate as social media for young people is where they get information and engage in the political discourse.

Misconception about generational priorities
In July, Emilie Dye released her first major research report with Research Director Simon Cowan entitled Business Means Business: Why Corporates Should Avoid Social Activism. Young Australians are often blamed for virtue signalling and ESG initiatives among major corporations, but our polling suggests Gen Z is particularly cynical about corporate activism.

Emilie followed up with two videos and an Issues Analysis going into more detail about generational perspectives on businesses getting involved in political and social issues.

Tax policy
The program published two papers (including a major research report) and an explainer video on bracket creep. Program Director Matt Taylor’s collaboration with Senior Fellow (Economics) Robert Carling argued that the failure of the federal government to index personal income tax thresholds to nominal income growth has a disproportionate impact on younger taxpayers.

Housing policy
The program produced two videos and a paper arguing that owning a home has become a pipe dream for younger Australians.

In mid-November, we reluctantly farewelled Program Director Matt Taylor. However, the research agenda he developed will continue in 2025 with the release of a major new research report, in collaboration with Chief Economist Peter Tulip. This will examine the potential for various forms of early access to superannuation to alleviate intergenerational inequality in home ownership.

ENERGY — Changing the terms of the debate

Launched in late January, CIS’s Energy program focuses on practical solutions to address climate change, with an emphasis on nuclear power and the clean energy transition.

Over the past 10 months, we have produced four major research papers, made 18 public and private submissions to government inquiries and official consultation processes, and testified before two federal inquiry committees.

Throughout the year, the team has presented to political leaders, parties at branch and state level, community groups, and the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet. The team has built a strong following on YouTube with six well received videos that attracted over 150,000 views in 2024.

This effort has succeeded in shifting the debate about Australia’s future energy mix by challenging and changing public and official perceptions of the relative costs of alternative systems. We have focused on credible costs for building nuclear and comparing them with the realistic full-system costs of a grid dominated by solar and wind.

Achievements by the Energy team this year include:

• Thanks to work by the team, large-scale nuclear is now included in CSIRO’s GenCost report
• CIS submissions on aspects of the energy regulatory regime have also been frequently cited by the Australian Energy Regulator (AER), the Australian Energy Market Commission (AEMC), and Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO)
• Our critiques of the HumeLink transmission project led directly to AER calling for additional comments
• We also played a pivotal role in shaping both the House inquiry on nuclear energy and the Senate Inquiry into Energy Planning and Regulation, making four detailed submissions and testifying before both committees in late October.