Sharp Power – Autocratic nations threatening democratic nations like Australia in the 21st century
With a Labor government likely within a few months, Gareth Evans’ references to “the rise of anti-Chinese sentiment” and “hyper-anxiety” about “Chinese influence” becomes more worrying because if his view influences senior Labor ministers then it would be a godsend for the CCP.
Lecture to Ascot Vale ALP
Tech stand-off may trigger digital divide
Published in the Australian, 17 December 2018 The stage is being set for the emergence of two rival technological empires, China’s and America’s, each aimed at supremacy over the other, with the world as the prize. Clive Hamilton says Australia will have to choose. The arrest in Canada of Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou could be […]
How Tony Abbott destroyed the Liberal Party
Published in Meanjin, August 21, 2018 Climate change policy has morphed into ‘energy policy’ to make it more palatable to conservatives. But for Tony Abbott it’s not a contest over policy differences; it’s a battle for the nation’s soul. In the United States, conservatives fight a fierce culture war over abortion, guns, sexual identity, God […]
China has a very unhealthy interest in our medical data
Published in the Australian Financial Review, January 13, 2019 Chinese companies are required by law to obey directives from Beijing’s intelligence agencies. So why would our regulators permit a giant Australian healthcare provider that is privy to highly sensitive records on hundreds of thousands of Australians to be acquired by a Chinese company? The Jangho […]
Chinese Communist Party influence: Why the critics are wrong
Published in Policy Forum, 9 April 2018 How committed is Australia to its foundational liberal values? Some of the responses to the emerging debate on CCP influence in the country provide plenty of reason for concern, Clive Hamilton writes. My book, Silent Invasion: The Influence of China in Australia, has been met with an impassioned reception […]
Why do we keep turning a blind eye to China’s political interference?
Academics in Australia might reflect on the fact that scholarly books critical of the Chinese Communist Party are now shunned by publishers. Scholars who work on China know that continued access to the country requires them to play by Beijing’s rules, which for most means self-censorship – the dirty secret of China studies in Australia. […]
Open Letter to David Shoebridge MLC
18 March 2018 Dear David As you know, I was disappointed when you cancelled the launch event for my book that you had enthusiastically agreed to host. I’m more disappointed to read the justification you have given for your actions in your recent Facebook post. I would expect you, as a barrister, to take account […]
I expected to be attacked as racist – just not by Tim Soutphommasane
Published by The Sydney Morning Herald, 18 March 2018 When writing my book Silent Invasion: China’s Influence in Australia, I expected Communist Party spokespersons in Beijing to attack me as racist and “anti-China”. I didn’t expect people like Tim Soutphommasane, our Race Discrimination Commissioner, to parrot those criticisms in The Age and The Sydney Morning […]
Labor has a cancer growing in it that must be cut out
Published in The Sydney Morning Herald, 19 February, 2018 Canberra is finally beginning to push back against Beijing’s long-running campaign to seduce our elites so completely that the nation kow-tows before China’s wishes. The first phase of the pushback culminated in December with the Turnbull government introducing legislation to outlaw foreign interference operations and novel […]
Scholarly intimidation is being imported into Australia under official Communist Party licence in the guise of patriotism
Published in Times Higher Education, 4 January 2018 It’s a truism that we take our freedoms for granted until they are taken away, but recent events have really driven that home to me. In November, my imminent book exposing the subversive activities of the CPC in Australia was dropped by its publisher because it feared […]