Historical Events


  • Illustration

    Mises Seminar 2013 | Jeffrey Tucker

    October 1-2, 2013
    Emporium Hotel, Brisbane

    The 2013 Australian Mises Seminar saw over 120+ people gather in Brisbane, Australia for two full days of stimulating lectures on free-market economics & libertarianism. Our international keynote speaker was the eclectic Austro-libertarian stalwart, Jeffrey Tucker.

    Learn more
  • Illustration

    Mises Seminar 2012 | Dr. Walter Block

    December 1-2, 2012
    Establishment Ballroom, Sydney

    The 2012 Mises Seminar was a great success, with 120+ attending to hear some very informative and entertaining speeches. Held over two full days, keynote speaker Dr. Walter Block delivered five fantastic speeches, participated in a debate on business cycle theory with Dr. Stephen Kirchner, and answered endless questions, including a Q&A on any topic at the very end of the seminar. But that wasn't all. Dr. Block had dinner with a large group of seminar attendees, two nights in a row, and even went on a cruise of Sydney Harbour with everyone.

    Learn more
  • Illustration

    Mises Seminar 2011 | Hans-Hermann Hoppe

    November 25-26, 2011
    UUSC, Sydney

    As the Western world reeled from the effects of the Global Financial Crisis, a group of Australians gathered in Sydney to make sense of it all. Attending the inaugural event were 120 vibrant members of the remnant. The Seminar featured a line-up of renowned speakers, including Professor Hans-Hermann Hoppe, whose ideas about the role of government changed forever the way many think about politics.

    Learn more

Mises Seminar 2013

The 2013 Australian Mises Seminar saw over 120+ people gather for two full days of stimulating lectures on free-market economics & libertarianism. Our international keynote speaker was the eclectic Austro-libertarian stalwart, Jeffrey Tucker.

2013 MSA Schedule

30 November-1st December | Emporium Hotel, Brisbane

  • The Mises Seminar and its goals

  • Jeffrey Tucker is the executive editor of Laissez Faire Books, an organisation that has been publishing and distributing books on liberty, with a focus on economics and finance, since 1972.
    He is a Distinguished Fellow of the Foundation for Economic Education, an adjunct scholar with the Mackinac Center for Public Policy and an Acton University faculty member. He is also past editorial vice president of the Ludwig von Mises Institute and past editor for the institute's website, Mises.org). His books include It's a Jetsons World: Private Miracles and Public Crimes and Bourbon for Breakfast: Living Outside the Statist Quo. 

  • Chris Leithner received First Class Honours at McGill University, holds Masters degrees from Queens University and the Australian National University, and completed his PhD at the University of Strathclyde (Glasgow, Scotland). Dr Leithner is the Director of a private investment company. His most recent book is The Evil Princes of Martin Place: The Reserve Bank of Australia, the Global Financial Crisis and the Threat to Australians' Liberty and Prosperity. 

  • Roy Cohen is an anarcho-capitalist, freemarket , libertarian. He grew up in South Africa and graduated from the University of the Witwatersrand with honours in business economics. He has been involved in the gold and diamond markets since graduating. He is a director of the GoldCompany, a precious metals and diamond trading company, and FirstGold, a gold and silver savings company. 


  • "Bitcoin: Practical & Business Aspects". Konrad S. Graf is the formulator of the action-based jurisprudence framework, which argues for new and more explicit applications of the action-theory principles of Mises and Hoppe within an integral approach to the foundations of legal philosophy. He has written numerous works on Bitcoin and monetary theory. He has worked as a professional translator since 1998, translating Japanese to English primarily in the field of investment research. German is his third language. He has lived in the US, India, Japan, and Germany. 

  • Ben O'Neill is a Lecturer in Statistics at the University of New South Wales (Canberra) where he teaches courses in mathematics and statistics. He holds a PhD in statistics and also has various graduate and undergraduate degrees in law, economics and actuarial studies, all undertaken at the Australian National University. Dr O’Neill writes regular articles for the Ludwig Von Mises Institute and has also had his work published in academic journals such as The Mathematical Scientist, International Statistical Review, Journal of Approximate Reasoning, Quarterly Journal of Austrian Economics and The Independent Review. In 2008 he won first prize in the Ross Parish essay contest and in 2009 he won first prize in the Templeton Fellowship essay contest. He has formerly practiced as a lawyer and political advisor. 

  • Roderick Schneider is a financial adviser from Brisbane. In his spare time he likes to take up the fight against socialism and alert people to loopy things Sarah Hanson-Young has said.
    Despite being pro small government, he is happy to make media appearances in programmes funded by the state, making regular appearances on Triple J’s Hack programme and once resorting to reality television on SBS participating in “Go back to where you came from.” Much to his surprise this programme did not provide Roderick with a free trip to Hamilton, Victoria to visit his relatives.
    He is currently the Chair of the LNP’s Federalism and Decentralisation Policy Committee.
    These things are temporarily put on hold whenever the Carlton Football Club take the field. 

  • Austen Erickson is the Program Director of the Australian Taxpayers' Alliance and a Charter Team member for Students for Liberty. He is also on the executive of the Australian Libertarian Society, the organizer for Liberty on the Rocks Australia, and the President and co-founder of the Students for Liberty club at the University of New South Wales. He is pursuing his PhD in Applied Mathematics at the University of New South Wales, and holds a Masters in Applied Mathematics from Northwestern University and undergraduate degrees in Mathematics, Physics, and Environmental Science from the University of Rochester. Motivated by a belief in the supremacy of voluntary interaction over state control, he hopes to help expand and strengthen the rapidly growing liberty movement in Australia and New Zealand in whatever ways he can! 

  • Jeffrey Tucker is the executive editor of Laissez Faire Books, an organisation that has been publishing and distributing books on liberty, with a focus on economics and finance, since 1972. He is a Distinguished Fellow of the Foundation for Economic Education, an adjunct scholar with the Mackinac Center for Public Policy and an Acton University faculty member. He is also past editorial vice president of the Ludwig von Mises Institute and past editor for the institute's website, Mises.org). His books include It's a Jetsons World: Private Miracles and Public Crimes and Bourbon for Breakfast: Living Outside the Statist Quo. 




  • Economics of non-scarce resources: the Austrian contribution. Jeffrey Tucker is the executive editor of Laissez Faire Books, an organisation that has been publishing and distributing books on liberty, with a focus on economics and finance, since 1972. He is a Distinguished Fellow of the Foundation for Economic Education, an adjunct scholar with the Mackinac Center for Public Policy and an Acton University faculty member. He is also past editorial vice president of the Ludwig von Mises Institute and past editor for the institute's website, Mises.org). His books include It's a Jetsons World: Private Miracles and Public Crimes and Bourbon for Breakfast: Living Outside the Statist Quo. 

  • Konrad S. Graf is the formulator of the action-based jurisprudence framework, which argues for new and more explicit applications of the action-theory principles of Mises and Hoppe within an integral approach to the foundations of legal philosophy. He has written numerous works on Bitcoin and monetary theory. He has worked as a professional translator since 1998, translating Japanese to English primarily in the field of investment research. German is his third language. He has lived in the US, India, Japan, and Germany. 

  • The dark side of corporate & securities law: socialism by stealth. Vinay Kolhatkar is a Sydney-based writer and finance professional. Formerly, he was the Chief Investment Officer of a suite of funds invested internationally, and was the founding Chairman of the Great Energy Alliance Corporation. He is a non-resident fellow at Contraditório, a think-tank based in Portugal that advocates personal and economic liberty. He is the author of The Frankenstein Candidate: A Woman Awakens to a Web of Deceit, a political thriller. 

  • Gerardo Hernandez is a registered migration agent in Australia, and helps people to clear the legal hurdles imposed by governments when they decide to vote with their feet. In a previous life, in a country far away, he first chose to be an industrial engineer, then a banker, and then he ended up being a bank run survivor. In a lifetime quest for his logically consistent inner self, he explored, he resisted, but he inevitably accepted being an anarchist of the capitalist kind. 

  • Maureen Nathan is the author of a new series of Children's books, narrated by Wise T. Owl. She was a founding member of the Workers Party in the 1970's and has continued to practice those principles with her business "The Original Gold Rush Colony" and more recently her perceived need for books for children to open the door to the Libertarian Ethos. Big topics are made simple, encouraging independent thought. Complementary illustrations by Dylan Chambers bring humour to the stories and captivate a wide audience of readers. With topics suggested either by a need seen or by parents, grand-parents and teachers, the books are designed as spring-boards for discussion and further research. 

  • Nick Hubble is the co-editor of Australia's libertarian financial newsletter The Daily Reckoning, and editor of the retirement focused Money For Life Letter. He is doing a PhD at RMIT on what he calls Australia's Secret Sub-Prime Crisis. 

  • Ben O'Neill is a Lecturer in Statistics at the University of New South Wales (Canberra) where he teaches courses in mathematics and statistics. He holds a PhD in statistics and also has various graduate and undergraduate degrees in law, economics and actuarial studies, all undertaken at the Australian National University. Dr O’Neill writes regular articles for the Ludwig Von Mises Institute and has also had his work published in academic journals such as The Mathematical Scientist, International Statistical Review, Journal of Approximate Reasoning, Quarterly Journal of Austrian Economics and The Independent Review. In 2008 he won first prize in the Ross Parish essay contest and in 2009 he won first prize in the Templeton Fellowship essay contest. He has formerly practiced as a lawyer and political advisor. 

  • Austen Erickson is the Program Director of the Australian Taxpayers' Alliance and a Charter Team member for Students for Liberty. He is also on the executive of the Australian Libertarian Society, the organizer for Liberty on the Rocks Australia, and the President and co-founder of the Students for Liberty club at the University of New South Wales. He is pursuing his PhD in Applied Mathematics at the University of New South Wales, and holds a Masters in Applied Mathematics from Northwestern University and undergraduate degrees in Mathematics, Physics, and Environmental Science from the University of Rochester. Motivated by a belief in the supremacy of voluntary interaction over state control, he hopes to help expand and strengthen the rapidly growing liberty movement in Australia and New Zealand in whatever ways he can! 

  • Mark Hornshaw lectures in business and economics at the University of Notre Dame Australia, with a particular focus on innovation and entrepreneurship. He and his wife are home educators with six children involved in numerous home businesses. 

  • Jeffrey Tucker is the executive editor of Laissez Faire Books, an organisation that has been publishing and distributing books on liberty, with a focus on economics and finance, since 1972.
    He is a Distinguished Fellow of the Foundation for Economic Education, an adjunct scholar with the Mackinac Center for Public Policy and an Acton University faculty member. He is also past editorial vice president of the Ludwig von Mises Institute and past editor for the institute's website, Mises.org). His books include It's a Jetsons World: Private Miracles and Public Crimes and Bourbon for Breakfast: Living Outside the Statist Quo. 



Mises Seminar 2012

The first Australian Mises Seminar, in 2011, provided solutions for almost every conceivable problem that faced Australia, and the world. In spite of this, politicians and mainstream media turned their backs, closed their eyes, covered their ears and pretended that rational alternatives to their absolute rule, still don't exist.
Unphased, unsurprised and unrelenting... the organisers decided to do it all again. The 2012 Mises Seminar was a great success, with 120+ attending to hear some very informative and entertaining speeches on material that the political and media establishment didn't want them to hear.
Keynote speaker, Dr. Walter Block, delivered five fantastic speeches, participated in a debate on business cycle theory with Dr. Stephen Kirchner, and answered endless questions, including a Q&A on any topic at the very end of the seminar. But that wasn't all. Dr. Block had dinner with a large group of seminar attendees, two nights in a row, and even went on a cruise of Sydney Harbour with everyone.
All other speakers were fantastic, delivering crucial information on a variety of topics related to economics and libertarianism in Australia.

2012 MSA Schedule

1st-2nd December | Establishment Ballroom, Sydney


  • Chris Leithner received First Class Honours at McGill University. He holds Masters degrees from Queens University and The Australian National University, and completed his PhD at the University of Strathclyde (Glasgow, Scotland). Chris is a Director of a private investment company. His most recent book is The Evil Princes of Martin Place: The Reserve Bank of Australia, the Global Financial Crisis and the Threat to Australians’ Liberty and Prosperity.

  • Chris Brown was a Lecturer in Entrepreneurship at the Australian Graduate School of Entrepreneurship at Swinburne University for three years, where he received his PhD. Prior to that he taught entrepreneurship and economics at the University of Northampton (Northampton, England). He received an MBA in International Management from Thunderbird University (Arizona, USA) and a Master’s in Research Methods from Cranfield University in England. Chris has published articles with the Ludwig von Mises Institute and is the Editor of murrayrothbard.com.

  • Ron Manners is an Australian businessman with over 50 years experience in the mining industry and is founder and Executive Director of the Mannkal Economic Education Foundation, an Australian free-market think tank.

  • Brian Bedkober being a medical doctor who understands the importance of economic and personal liberty, he is a rare intellect. He has served as the National President of the Private Doctors of Australia, which started in 1968 as a disgruntled break-away group from within the statist Australian Medical Association. The organisation took umbrage at the AMA’s readiness to negotiate with government on matters that were considered beyond the proper scope of government control.

  • Walter Block earned his PhD in Economics at Columbia University. He is an author, editor, and co-editor of many books including the classic Defending the Undefendable. Dr. Block has written more than 500 articles for various non-refereed journals, magazines and newspapers, and is a contributor to such publications as The Review of Austrian Economics, Journal of Libertarian Studies, The Journal of Labor Economics, Cultural Dynamics, and the Quarterly Journal of Austrian Economics. He is currently a professor and chair of economics, college of business administration, at Loyola University.

  • Walter Block vs. Stephen Kirchner. Stephen Kirchner is a Senior Lecturer in Economics at the School of Finance and Economics, Faculty of Business, University of Technology Sydney. His economics training was neo-classical, but he has heterodox leanings in the direction of Austrian, evolutionary and institutional economics.

  • Walter Block earned his PhD in Economics at Columbia University. He is an author, editor, and co-editor of many books including the classic Defending the Undefendable. Dr. Block has written more than 500 articles for various non-refereed journals, magazines and newspapers, and is a contributor to such publications as The Review of Austrian Economics, Journal of Libertarian Studies, The Journal of Labor Economics, Cultural Dynamics, and the Quarterly Journal of Austrian Economics. He is currently a professor and chair of economics, college of business administration, at Loyola University.



  • Walter Block earned his PhD in Economics at Columbia University. He is an author, editor, and co-editor of many books including the classic Defending the Undefendable. Dr. Block has written more than 500 articles for various non-refereed journals, magazines and newspapers, and is a contributor to such publications as The Review of Austrian Economics, Journal of Libertarian Studies, The Journal of Labor Economics, Cultural Dynamics, and the Quarterly Journal of Austrian Economics. He is currently a professor and chair of economics, college of business administration, at Loyola University.
    Timestamps:
    ● 

    Reference: Action-Based Jurisprudence (https://youtu.be/M8NcrMVV27M)

  • Konrad Graf is a writer, translator, and social theorist. His long-term projects are grounded in Mises’ epistemological-dualist approach, with added inspiration fromaspects of integral methodological pluralism. His interests include imagining possibleemergent institutional features of free societies that might help provide better answers to the “but how could that ever work?” question. He is working to extend Mises’ praxeology/understanding distinction beyond economics to legal theory and legal practice and to defining more precise differentiations between the fields of law and ethics.
    Timestamps:● The problem of rights violating rights protectors [1:22]● Differentiating law and ethics [10:47]● Three core legal theory modules [18:35]● The full range of responses to aggression [33:56]● Consistently rights-protecting legal institutions [39:12]● Who wins and loses from misplaced complexity? [46:36]● There are several questions at the end of the presentation.
    Reference: Action-Based Jurisprudence (https://youtu.be/M8NcrMVV27M)

  • Vinay Kolhatkar is a Sydney-based writer and finance professional. He is the author of The Frankenstein Candidate, a political thriller. He has also written screenplays and feature articles. Formerly, he was the founding Chairman of the Great Energy Alliance Corporation, and the Chief Investment Officer of a suite of funds invested in the US, Europe and Japan. He has a Masters degree in finance from UNSW.

  • Walter Block earned his PhD in Economics at Columbia University. He is an author, editor, and co-editor of many books including the classic Defending the Undefendable. Dr. Block has written more than 500 articles for various non-refereed journals, magazines and newspapers, and is a contributor to such publications as The Review of Austrian Economics, Journal of Libertarian Studies, The Journal of Labor Economics, Cultural Dynamics, and the Quarterly Journal of Austrian Economics. He is currently a professor and chair of economics, college of business administration, at Loyola University.

  • Ben O’Neill is a Lecturer in Statistics at the University of New South Wales (ADFA campus) and an Adjunct Scholar at the Ludwig von Mises Institute (USA). He was the winner of the Templeton Fellowship Essay Contest for 2009 at The Independent Institute (USA). He has published work in statistics, economics and political philosophy. He has formerly practiced as a solicitor and as a political advisor.

  • Mark Hornshaw lectures in business and economics at the University of Notre Dame Australia, with a particular focus on innovation and entrepreneurship. He and his wife are home educators with six children involved in numerous home businesses.

  • Sukrit Sabhlok received a Bachelor of Arts (First Class Honours) and Bachelor of Laws from the University of Melbourne. In 2008, he was awarded the J.A. Aird Award for his expertise in public policy by the Institute of Public Administration. He is currently editor of the Journal of Peace, Prosperity and Freedom and has been published and interviewed in numerous newspapers and magazines.

  • Walter Block earned his PhD in Economics at Columbia University. He is an author, editor, and co-editor of many books including the classic Defending the Undefendable. Dr. Block has written more than 500 articles for various non-refereed journals, magazines and newspapers, and is a contributor to such publications as The Review of Austrian Economics, Journal of Libertarian Studies, The Journal of Labor Economics, Cultural Dynamics, and the Quarterly Journal of Austrian Economics. He is currently a professor and chair of economics, college of business administration, at Loyola University.

  • Walter Block earned his PhD in Economics at Columbia University. He is an author, editor, and co-editor of many books including the classic Defending the Undefendable. Dr. Block has written more than 500 articles for various non-refereed journals, magazines and newspapers, and is a contributor to such publications as The Review of Austrian Economics, Journal of Libertarian Studies, The Journal of Labor Economics, Cultural Dynamics, and the Quarterly Journal of Austrian Economics. He is currently a professor and chair of economics, college of business administration, at Loyola University.


Mises Seminar 2011

As the Western world reeled from the effects of the Global Financial Crisis, a group of Australians gathered in Sydney to make sense of it all. 
The Australian Mises Seminar is a celebration of all that made Australia great - free markets, peace, and individual liberty. Attending the inaugural event were 120 vibrant members of the remnant.
The Seminar featured a line-up of renowned speakers, including Professor Hans-Hermann Hoppe, whose ideas about the role of government changed forever the way many think about politics. 
This historic seminar put forward a sorely needed perspective not available from mainstream political parties or establishment think-tanks and universities.
Ten other thought-provoking Austro-Libertarian speakers presented on various entertaining and contemporaneous topics which can be seen below in the beautiful seminar programme.

2011 MSA Schedule

25-26th November, 2011 | UUSC, Sydney

  • The Mises Seminar and its goals

  • The Errors of Classical Liberalism

  • The positive case for liberty - private law society


  • Moderator: Benjamin MarksDavid Hart, Mark Tier, Neville Kennard, Viv Forbes & Ron Manners"On the Worker's Party"

  • Smoker's Rights are Human Rights are Property Rights: How to persecute an unpopular minority to subvert the rule of law, increase the power of the state, and replace the impartial arbiter of human rights with the whims of politicians and bureaucrats

  • "The English Classical Tradition and Austrian Economics: Where they are the same and where they differ" Dr Steven Kates.● Hoppe's response at 33:53. ● Kates responds to Hoppe's response at 37:40. ● Hoppe responds to that at 39:10. ● Leithner responds to Kates at 41:10.

  • Why the State demand control of money.



  • "The Evil Princes of Martin Place: The panic of 2008 and why we should end the RBA"

  • Ben O'Neill presents Natural law and the Liberal (libertarian) society. 1:24 — Introduction4:38 — Jurisprudence5:55 — The Positivist Theory of Law● 6:33 - Standard Legal Positivism (“Laws are commands of the powerful”) (Austin)● 8:42 - (Agents Must Follow “rules of recognition”) (Hart)● 12:18 - Legal Realism (“Laws are the actions of the enforcers. “Law” is what judges do.”) (Holmes)● 14:34 - Interpretative Theory (“Laws are the best ex-post facto rationalisations for the past actions of the powerful”) (Dworkin).17:30 — Summary: Positivist Theories of Law19:50 — Positivism and Unjust Laws20:30 — Slavery and Positivism24:07 — The Natural Theory of Law30:00 — Semantics: which is natural law?34:58 — Conclusion

  • Originally titled: "My libertarian journey".

  • Originally titled: Heroic Misadventures.