The Centre for Policy Development (CPD) is a new public interest think tank.

CPD is a hothouse of creative, forward-looking ideas for fair and sustainable policy change. We work to combat the myth that citizens have no choice about the policies that affect our lives, by exploring new approaches to the relationship between governments, markets, society, and the environment.

Our activities

The CPD is a ‘think and do tank', creating space for those who care about Australia's long-term future to develop their ideas, and connecting those ideas with a wider audience of concerned citizens, policy makers, and the media.

This website is our main public face, supported by printed publications, events, and a strong media voice.

Recent publications:

Australia's Fiscal Straightjacket: Eight myths about tax and public debt which are holding us back | Fred Argy
Deeper in debt: Australia's addiction to borrowed money | Steve Keen
The Risk Society | John Quiggin
A New Approach to Primary Care for Australia | Jennifer Doggett
A Health Policy for Australia: reclaiming universal care
Reclaiming our Common Wealth: policies for a fair and sustainable future

How can I get involved?

You can support our work by donating to the CPD. Small regular donations from CPD Supporters contribute to the strength of our independent voice in Australia's public policy debate.

We're always looking for volunteers to help research, edit, and promote CPD publications, and to help organise CPD events. If you're interested in volunteering please go to http://cpd.org.au/volunteer.

For information on how to contribute articles and policy papers please see write for us.

For web 2.0 addicts we've also got a CPD group on Facebook.

Our philosophy

Superficially, Australia seems to be in good shape. Most people are enjoying an unprecedented level of material prosperity. But this prosperity is fragile, for we are living off our assets and mortgaging our future. We are squandering a narrow window of opportunity to put our economy and environment on a secure, sustainable footing. It is time for a profound change in the way public policy is generated in Australia. We need to move from top-down, short-term ad-hoc ‘reforms' to long-term, systemic renewal based on consistent principles, widespread citizen participation and a realistic understanding of how we live now.

The Centre for Policy Development believes that many public policies need to be reinvented to fulfil their original purpose - enabling citizens to cooperate to build our common wealth in ways that disconnected individuals, corporatised bureaucracies and unfettered markets cannot. Rather than presenting a ‘shopping list' of policy demands, we join the dots between different issues and uncover the values and principles that underpin long-term solutions.

Our people

Miriam Lyons is CPD Director, and John Menadue AO is Chair of the CPD board of directors. Julian Burnside QC is our patron. Our 20 fellows carry out the research work of the CPD.

Upcoming research & discussion papers