Archived publication for 2009
Recent publications
Costly, ineffectual and protectionist carbon tariffs
Many developed country governments are in the process of negotiating for the introduction of carbon price signals to incentivise business and consumers to reduce their carbon footprint. Individual European countries and the European Union already...
Government Decision Ensures Book Readers Will Pay up to 32 Per Cent More
"Today's decision by the Rudd Government to keep parallel import restrictions on books will ensure consumers pay up to 32 per cent more than if they were scrapped," said Tim Wilson, Director of the Intellectual Property and Free Trade Unit at the...
Palming off livelihoods? The misguided campaign against palm oil
Internationally environmental non-government organisations and activists are campaigning against industry and consumer use of palm oil. Their opposition to is driven by claims that it is unsustainable promotes deforestation and reduces orang-utan...
Misguided Palm Oil Campaigns Won't Help Orang-Utans, But Will Harm Asia's Poor
"Misguided campaigns by the Melbourne Zoo, celebrities and activists lack understanding of why forest and orang-utans are being lost. It isn't palm oil it's poverty", said Tim Wilson, Director of the Intellectual Property and Free Trade Unit at...
No Longer Us versus Them
No Longer Us versus Them is a timely research paper that exposes the myths perpetuated by vested interests and populist politicians who argue for protection for domestic jobs, to the detriment of us all.
Unbinding Book Barriers: Why Australia should scrap parallel import restrictions on books
The Productivity Commission is considering whether to liberalise Australia's parallel import restrictions for books. Unbinding Book Barriers finds that prices of books could fall by more than 30 per cent, without harming authors, Australian...
A delinked and non-compliant Emissions Trading Scheme
Why Australia's ETS won't be linked to an international ETS and why it will be inconsistent with our WTO and FTA obligations
Swan should reduce, not increase, investment restrictions
‘During the middle of a global financial crisis, Wayne Swan should be loosening, not increasing, restrictions to investment capital into Australia', Director of the IP and Free Trade Unit at the Institute of Public Affairs, Tim Wilson, said...