The Scary Politics of Climate Change
The Scary Politics of Climate Change A talk to the Brisbane Writer’s Festival 15 September 2007 Clive Hamilton Fear of stating the truth Political actors typically engage in exaggeration to advance their case. The Labor Party exaggerated the likely damage due to the introduction of the GST, despite the fact that Paul Keating wanted to […]
Democracy and Dissent in Australia
A talk to the Melbourne Writer’s Festival Storey Hall, 31 August 2007 Clive Hamilton Franz Kafka once wrote that “it is an extremely painful thing to be ruled by laws one does not know”.1 The story in which Kafka made this observation told of an imaginary kingdom ruled by secretive nobles who kept knowledge of […]
That Capitalism is Bad for the Soul
A debate at Macquarie University, 15 August 2007 Our opponents have tried to persuade you that, because we believe capitalism is bad for the soul, we are just tofu-eating, poetry-reading, bicycle-riding, leftist basket weavers. We plead guilty to all charges, except basket-weaving. Capitalism’s fine in its place; the problem is that it has a restless […]
Trade and Environmental Governance
Trade and Environmental Governance Speech to an Open Forum on International Environmental Governance Organised by the European Union Delegation in Australia Opera House, Sydney, 24 November 2006 Clive Hamilton1 There is widespread concern that today’s international institutions are inadequate to deal with the serious environmental dangers faced by the world. The foremost worry is the […]
The Political Economy of Climate Change
The Milthorpe Lecture, Macquarie University Sydney, 8th June 2006 Clive Hamilton1 Late one day last month, the Federal Government posted on its website a report on the science of climate change which it had commissioned from Professor Will Steffen of the ANU.2 The purpose of the report was to provide a review of developments in […]
Against the Pursuit of Happiness
Against the Pursuit of Happiness A talk to the Sydney Writers’ Festival, 27th May 2006 Clive Hamilton1 Escalating desire Prader-Willi syndrome is a genetic disorder of children characterised by, among other things, an insatiable appetite, leading its sufferers to seek out food by almost any means. Because the mechanism in the brain that signals satiation […]
The Pressures of City Living
THE AUSTRALIA INSTITUTE The Pressures of City Living After-dinner speech to the Fenner Conference Old Parliament House, 25th May 2006 Clive Hamilton1 Tonight I would like to talk about some of the psychological costs of urban living. For it seems to me that the epidemic of mental disorders and widespread anomie that characterise modern affluent […]
The Intensification of Consumerism and Reactions Against It
THE AUSTRALIA INSTITUTE The Intensification of Consumerism and Reactions Against It A Public Lecture Demography and Sociology Program, ANU National Museum of Australia, 2 May 2006 Clive Hamilton In a previous era, there was a clear distinction between ordinary goods consumed by the masses and luxury goods consumed by the wealthy minority, the richest 5 […]
The Worldview Informing the Work of the ProductivityCommission: A Critique
A talk to a Productivity Commission Retreat Lindenderry, Victoria, 11 May 2006 Clive Hamilton Executive Director The Australia Institute Looking through the list of Commission publications over the last two to three years indicates that the Commission’s remit has broadened a great deal from the days of deregulation, privatization and trade liberalization. This broadening has […]
Money, Careers and Contentment
Address to the Commencement Dinner of Bruce Hall, ANU, 21 March 2003 Dr Clive Hamilton Executive Director, The Australia Institute I would like to start on a sombre note. You may have read in the last two days about a young American woman, Rachel Corrie, who left her university studies to go to the Middle […]