The Centre for Policy Development is a new, independent public interest think tank.

The Centre is a hothouse of creative, forward-looking ideas for fair and sustainable policy change. We work to reveal the important choices we face about the policies that affect our lives, by exploring new approaches to the relationship between governments, markets, society, and the environment.

The short-term thinking of the election cycle is damaging Australia’s long-term interests. From the global economic crisis to the climate emergency, the costs of poor public policy are increasingly clear. We have allowed temporary material prosperity to distract us from the real and urgent challenge of putting our economy and environment on a secure, sustainable footing. It is time for a profound change in the way public policy is developed 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.

Sign up to our email list and we’ll keep you posted on CPD’s work to put long-term policy ahead of short-term politics. 

The Centre for Policy Development fosters a diverse, cross-disciplinary community of thinkers, and connects their ideas with a wider audience of concerned citizens, policy makers, and the media. We are pluralist – Australia faces increasingly complex challenges; there is often no one ‘right’ answer to problems such as climate change, dwindling water supplies, unsustainable debt or entrenched disadvantage. This makes a vigorous exchange of ideas more important than ever.

Welcome to the CPD: your ideas can change Australia.