University sacrifices pro-democracy student for China romance

(Published in The Australian, May 6, 2020) A 20-year-old philosophy student campaigning against uni’s links with Chinese Communist Party subject to assault, online hate, death threats. The University of Queensland is going to extraordinary lengths to silence its most effective critic, a 20-year-old philosophy student who has campaigned against the university’s tight links with the […]

How to lose friends and influence the future security of your nation

It’s uncomfortable when a belief you have long held is contradicted by new facts. Even more so if an entire worldview comes under pressure from the evidence. Psychologists call it ‘‘cognitive dissonance’’ and it explains why it is so hard to change our minds even though we flatter ourselves that we base our opinions on […]

Extinction Rebellion and the politics of creative tension

Clive Hamilton Are Extinction Rebellion protesters shooting themselves in the foot? Commentators have been quick to accuse them of doing no more than annoying motorists and alienating the public from their cause. That argument assumes that all protests are aimed at winning over the public to one’s point of view. Put another way, protests are […]

The Soul of the Chinese People

Comments at the launch of the Chinese-language edition of Silent Invasion 无声的入侵 Ashfield, Sydney, Sunday 2 June 2019 I thank Professor Feng Chongyi for his generous introduction and the Australian Values Alliance for organizing today’s launch. Welcome everyone. Liu Xiaobo once wrote: “Freedom of expression is the foundation of human rights, the source of humanity, […]

Keating: Intelligence chiefs are “nutters”, clean them out

Published in The Daily Telegraph, May 7 2018 When U.S. intelligence chiefs presented Donald Trump with information that made him uncomfortable, he flew into a rage, accusing them of leaking “fake news” and acting like “Nazi Germany”. Now Paul Keating has done the same. Australia’s intelligence chiefs are “nutters”, he said on Sunday. They’ve “gone […]

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 […]