Opinion
Open source research is fine. Just don’t do it for foreign spies
Clive Hamilton The worlds of research and foreign intrigue collided recently in the case of Alexander Csergo, a business consultant arrested in April under Australia’s foreign interference laws. According to the police, Csergo was recruited by two Chinese intelligence agents to write reports about Australia’s defence, economic and national security
Are we in a Cold War with China?
Clive Hamilton It is remarkable how entrenched Cold War thinking is, even among those, like the editorial board of the New York Times, who warn against ‘glib invocations of the Cold War’ in United States policy towards China. Like a number of others pushing back against bi-partisan efforts to limit
Plucky country: world now sees Australia in a new light
Clive Hamilton When speaking with analysts and journalists in Europe, I’m surprised to find that Australia is no longer seen as a bit player in the Indo-Pacific region but as a substantial power. They speak of the high regard in Europe for our resolve and express a degree of confidence
What would it take for antivaxxers and climate science deniers to ‘wake up’?
Published by The Guardian, 13 September 2021 Facts are puny against the carapace of denial when people’s sense of self is at stake. However, in the case of Covid deniers, imminent death seems to do the trick In 1927, an article in the venerable medical journal the Lancet commented on
The Nationals’ climate position has become symbolic posturing and no longer represents Australian farmers
Published in The Guardian, 20 October 2021 The narrative of the beleaguered farmer runs deep in the national psyche. It’s one often weaponised to berate pampered city-slickers who don’t understand what life in the bush—what real life—is about. The National Party has come up with a new twist on the
Barilaro’s ‘brumby bill’ has been a catastrophe for the high country
Sometimes sheer bloody-minded politics overrules hard science. A good example is Deputy Premier John Barilaro’s “brumby bill”, passed by the NSW Parliament three years ago. Scientists had been raising the alarm about the destruction of Kosciuszko National Park caused by the explosion in the feral horse population, but Barilaro’s bill
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Having just left there after spending almost two hours in line and being unable to get in, I’d wager that the number of people inside the security perimeter, plus the number of people outside the perimeter who tried to get in, vastly exceeded that.