PM Glynn Institute

Public policy for the common good

As ACU’s public policy think tank, the institute’s brief is to contribute to deeper thinking and new conversations about important issues confronting the Catholic community and Australian society, to help renew and strengthen our life in common.

PM Glynn Institute

Latest

The 2024 PM Glynn Lecture on Religion Law and Public Life was delivered by Professor James Franklin last June. His lecture, “Politics, law and policy: A view from the abstract world” discussed the principles for action in ethics and public life. The text of the lecture is now available.

Projects and programs

The institute also undertakes a range of stand-alone projects to highlight evidence and perspectives which can be overlooked in the discussion of contentious issues, such as religious freedom, palliative care and euthanasia, Indigenous recognition, and social cohesion, trust and belonging in Australia.

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Publications

The institute’s publications include brochures, pamphlets, lectures, discussion papers, occasional papers, and reports on policy issues, as well as books and monographs published under its own imprint, the Kapunda Press, in association with Connor Court Publishing.

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A summary of some selected key findings from the 2022 PM Glynn Survey on Hope, Trust and Belonging was published in June. Further papers providing details of the survey findings on a range of topics will be published in the coming months.

Projects and programs

The institute also undertakes a range of stand-alone projects to highlight evidence and perspectives which can be overlooked in the discussion of contentious issues, such as religious freedom, palliative care and euthanasia, Indigenous recognition, and social cohesion, trust and belonging in Australia.

News and events

Professor James Franklin to deliver 2024 PM Glynn Lecture

Professor James Franklin will explore how we can use abstract principles to navigate policy, law and ethics in this year's PM Glynn Lecture.

ACU and DePaul Conference on Community Engagement and Service-L...

1 July - 4 July / Australian Catholic University, North Sydney campus

Our biennial conference celebrates the significant achievements that stem from partnerships between university and community and explores some of the contemporary chall...

Politics, identity and religion in a post-revolutionary world...

Mary Eberstadt, one of America's foremost Catholic public intellectuals and a Distinguished Fellow of the PM Glynn Institute, visited Australia in October 2022 to deliv...

Teaching religion in school

It is commonly assumed that teaching about religion in government schools in Australia is not permitted. In fact, religion has an important part to play in the school c...

What do workers want?

The Covid pandemic has changed work, and people’s expectations of work have changed with it. It is more flexible for some and more insecure for others, and developments...

2022 ACU School Leavers Program

The ACU School Leavers Program resumes this year for the first time since the pandemic. The program will run from 18 November to 10 December, based at ACU's Rome Campus...

Social media and social accountability

ACU’s 2022 Ethos series kicked off on 15 March with a panel discussion exploring the impact and ethics of social media and what needs to change.

Public ethics and the future of Australia: Chris Uhlmann on Aus...

Chris Uhlmann gave the keynote address at the launch of ETHOS, a new event series by ACU discussing public ethics and the future of Australia, on November 9, 2021.

Launch of Cardinal Pell, the Media Pile-On and Collective Guilt...

On 7 December 2021 the Institute hosted the Sydney Institute on campus to launch Gerard Henderson's new book about Cardinal Pell and the case brought against him.

Shadow of the Cross

Kevin Rudd and Tony Abbott discussed how Catholic social teaching serves as a resource for thinking about politics at an event to launch Shadow of the Cross.

Finishing Up Business

Based on 65,000 years of traditional knowledge, Indigenous Australians’ approach to dying has much to teach us as we consider the legalisation of euthanasia.

Truth, Treaty and Transformation

Fr Frank Brennan SJ, Distinguished Fellow at the Institute, delivered the 2021 Walter Silvester Memorial Lecture in Melbourne on 28 October 2021. The lecture was co-pr...

The PM Glynn Survey on hope, trust and belonging

Three new papers were published in October 2021 to discuss some select findings from the first wave of the PM Glynn Survey on Hope, Trust and Belonging.

Three ways Queensland's Voluntary Assisted Dying law goes too f...

Three major new developments in Queensland’s VAD law are very worrying for health care practitioners and hospitals and health care facilities opposed to assisted suicid...

Barbarism, Religion and the Rule of Law

Professor Geoffrey Blainey, US Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer, and Cardinal George Pell discussed war, religion and the law at a Conversazioni Topic seminar co-sp...

Institute launches So Help Me God: a history of oaths of office...

The Hon. Jonathan O’Dea MP hosts an event at Parliament House, Sydney to launch the Institute’s pamphlet on the history of oaths of office.

New book outlines the liberal case for national reconciliation...

Senator Andrew Bragg, visiting fellow of the PM Glynn Institute, provides a powerful account of the Liberal Party’s approach to Indigenous affairs, and outlines effecti...

Palliative care report makes an impact

The PM Glynn Institute’s report on palliative care makes a significant contribution to public discussion.

Report shows how keeping the seal of confession intact is in th...

A recent publication of the PM Glynn Institute argues the individual and public interest is in keeping the seal of confession.

Severe shortage of doctors for Australia’s terminally ill patie...

Australia has only half the number of palliative care doctors needed to provide good quality care for chronically and terminally ill patients despite increasing demand,...

"A deeper and a calmer feeling": Poetry and the emotional memor...

Damien Freeman, the institute’s Principal Policy Advisor, discusses the poetry of Betyna Bock on the ABC’s Religion and Ethics portal.

The Power of Truth, the Power of Conscience, the Power of Solid...

Distinguished Senior Fellow, Ethics and Public Policy Center, Washington DC and member of the International Board of Advisers, PM Glynn Institute

Do We Need New Laws to Protect Religious Freedom in Australia...

I am delighted to honour the late Barry O’Keefe here at the Australian Catholic University Law School.

International Board of Advisers established

The PM Glynn Institute is pleased to announce the establishment of its International Board of Advisers. This board is made up of eleven distinguished members from North...

Restoring ethics and faith in politics: radio interview with An...

The Institute's Principal Policy Advisor, Damien Freeman and the Sir Peter Lawler Visiting Fellow, Dr Adrian Pabst recently sat down with Andrew West from the ABC's Rel...

The 2018 PM Glynn Lecture by Dr Jesse Noman MP

On 9 April, the second PM Glynn Lecture on Religion, Law and Public Life was held in the Crypt at St Mary's Cathedral. The lecture was delivered by Dr Jesse Norman MP o...

Upholding the big ideas launch

Former High Court judge Michael Kirby has joined with Noel Pearson, Rachel Perkins and ACU's Vice-Chancellor and President Greg Craven to launch 'Upholding the Big Idea...

Dr Adrian Pabst appointed visiting fellow for 2018

The distinguished political philosopher Dr Adrian Pabst has been appointed the Sir Peter Lawler Visiting Fellow at the PM Glynn Institute for 2018.

New policy program established to consider the Big Ideas for In...

The PM Glynn Institute has established a new policy program with Uphold & Recognise to develop policy options on how the recommendations of the Uluru Statement from the...

Chalice of Liberty: protecting religious freedom in Australia L...

Human Rights Commissioner, Edward Santow, launched Chalice of Liberty by Frank Brennan, Michael Casey and Greg Craven at the offices of Gilbert + Tobin in Sydney on 26 ...

Michael Casey’s remarks at the launch of "Chalice of Liberty: p...

On 26 March, Michael Casey spoke at the launch of "Chalice of Liberty" where he discussed the importance of religious freedom and the challenges it faces in Australia t...

A conversation on euthanasia

On 20 November 2017 at ACU North Sydney, the PM Glynn Institute held the first conversation in “the Rules of Engagement Series: from culture war to reasonable disagreem...

"Living in truth" in democracy: "The Power of the Powerless" fo...

In the late 1970s and 1980s people in eastern and central Europe were inspired to overthrow brutal Communist dictatorships by the idea of "living in truth". What does i...

The Legacy of Justice Higgins: seeking a True New Start for all...

On 8 November, Fr Frank Brennan SJ AO, CEO of Catholic Social Services Australia, delivered the 2017 Rerum Novarum Oration for the Archdiocese of Melbourne’s Office for...

The inaugural PM Glynn Lecture by the Honourable Dyson Heydon A...

On 17 October the Vice-Chancellor and President of Australian Catholic University hosted the inaugural PM Glynn Lecture on Religion, Law and Public Life in Adelaide. Th...

Launch of The Forgotten People at Parliament House

Australia's foremost Aboriginal filmmaker, Rachel Perkins, has launched The Forgotten People: Liberal and Conservative Approaches to recognising Indigenous Peoples, whi...

Opportunities, not just challenges: an interview with PM Glynn ...

A key new Australian Catholic University institute named after an Irish barrister, writer, parliamentarian and co-founder of the Commonwealth of Australia hopes to give...

Director's remarks at the Launch of the PM Glynn Institute

The Director of the PM Glynn Institute, Dr Michael Casey, discusses how deeper thinking about over-the-horizon issues will play out in the work of the Institute.

PM Glynn Institute launch

The launch took place on Thursday 13 October, at ACU's North Sydney campus. The centrepiece of the event was a panel discussion on the theme 'Fear and anger, hope and c...

Vice-Chancellor and President’s remarks at the launch of the PM...

In launching the PM Glynn Institute, Australian Catholic University Vice-Chancellor and President Professor Greg Craven describes how the Institute will provide a stand...

Protecting Rights, Protecting People

The murder of a French priest by jihadists, the persecution of Christians and other religious minorities in the Middle East, efforts to wind back conscience rights in h...

Same-sex marriage in Canada and religious liberty

Fr Raymond de Souza, Chaplain at Newman House, Queen's University, Ontario discusses same-sex marriage in Canada and the implications for religious liberty.

The Persecution of Minorities in the Middle East

Bishop Anba Suriel outlines the hardships that religious minorities suffer in the Middle East, the challenges they face in attempting to gain refugee status, and the gr...

The right to act in accordance with conscience

Professor Margaret Somerville explores the pressures on freedom of conscience for healthcare professionals and the challenges facing the modern healthcare system.

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