Writer
Lucy Hamilton
Lucy Hamilton is a Melbourne writer with degrees from the University of Melbourne and Monash University.
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The Ultra High Net Worth Individual’s strongest weapon: News Corp
We are at a crossroads. The Ultra High Net Worth Individual (UHNWI) class is creating a new international feudal order, assisted by the professional enabler class including politicians in pursuit of their money. One of those enabling mechanisms is the media. In Australia, News Corp serves as the strongest weapon in the creation of their Continue reading »
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Blaming Morrison for Liberal’s disastrous collapse is a facile critique
We see a tendency to blame individuals for the crisis in our politics across the AUKUS nations. This is facile. Donald Trump did not create the farce of a Republican party seen in the vote for the Speaker in early January. Boris Johnson did not create the catastrophe that is the British Conservative party displayed Continue reading »
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Defending ourselves from infiltration
The Age last year revealed that special forces veteran Ben Roberts-Smith wore the provocative symbol of a crusader cross on his breast over his uniform while on duty in Afghanistan. Apparently “quite a few” others wore it. Continue reading »
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Fighting paranoid nostalgia, EU puts financial screws on Orbán
Around the west, authoritarian right wing parties are fighting the changes to the world that scare them. Protecting western liberalism is a challenge proponents of the democratic project are only just beginning to address. Continue reading »
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The right is now lies and bigotry: what next for conservatives?
Those of us who hope for a future for our children cannot vote for the current right, infected by international strains of bigotry and deceptive authoritarianism as it stands. The centre right must evaluate what it has to offer, rather than cowering under the threatening might of its extreme partners. Continue reading »
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Victorian Elections: Liberals under siege from extremist religious groups
The Victorian election is a mess. This is the product of the destruction of our conservative forces by international right wing radicalism; for people in that sphere discrediting democracy is the desirable first step in dismantling the status quo. For the rest of us, it is a threat. Continue reading »
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Greed and a spoiled society: workers are not the problem
Of course The Australian republished Andy Kessler’s ridiculous Wall Street Journal column, “The decline of work in a spoiled society.” Those News Corp bedfellows continue to miss that they are at the core of the problem. Continue reading »
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Our media is failing us
At a moment, when one side of politics has abandoned the bases of democracy as an impediment to their grasp on power, we need journalists holding them to account rather than gaslighting the public, normalising the rot. Continue reading »
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Covid Hindsight: Victoria acted on nightmare potential for system collapse
The press has been spattered in recent weeks with hindsight wisdom about Australia’s – and particularly Victoria’s – handling of the pre-vaccine pandemic. The relatively easy time we are having with COVID now and the low numbers of people being hospitalised with COVID are being used to argue that earlier restrictions were unnecessary but it Continue reading »
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The Storm is Here: can Australia prevent the conspiracy sphere metastasising into fatal disease?
Sometimes it takes a war correspondent to cast light on what is happening at home. Continue reading »
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The IPA launches campaign to harass teachers. Why???
The IPA has become a culture war factory with barely any research to justify the label “think tank” and the tax perks it claims. Their campaign to harass teachers, however, is utterly self-defeating. Continue reading »
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News Corp is normalising fascistic politics
The radical right, and in particular, Murdoch’s News Corp, are laundering the dirty ideas of the people deploying fascistic politics to make them seem normal “conservative” thought. Continue reading »
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Alex Jones’ $1.5 billion loss reignites free speech debate
The AU$1.5 billion dollar payout that conspiracy-monger Alex Jones is being forced to pay to the families devastated by the Sandy Hook massacre is the check on “free speech” that we all need to discuss. Continue reading »
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News Corp tied into extreme right wing CPAC
Last week a group of Neo Nazis performed their salute while protesting a youth Queer event in Melbourne’s Moonee Ponds. The police stood by, allowing the intimidation as an exercise in free speech, despite the fact that Victoria has made displaying the swastika illegal. Continue reading »
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Liberal candidate supports US-style abortion ban ahead of state poll
The parties of the right in Australia are changing faster than their voters might recognise. It is increasingly the case that a vote for the “conservatives” is a vote for the radical or religious right. Continue reading »
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Integrity commission: Will Australia avoid US, UK drift to illiberalism?
The UK and the US stand on the brink of something unthinkable a decade ago. Australians must fight to ensure that the proposed National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC) resists the radicalised right and protects democracy against Competitive Authoritarianism. Continue reading »
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Morrison joins hard right IDU’s embrace of Viktor Orban
Former Prime Minister Scott Morrison has joined the advisory board of the International Democrat Union. It is an organisation that is much more radical than its self-declared defence of the “centre right” spin suggests. Continue reading »
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Murdoch, the Prince/King and conspiracy theories
There is set to be some anxiety in monarchist groups in the community as they reconcile the ascent of King Charles III to the throne with their fear. Even in educated hard right circles like The Spectator Australia’s readership, conspiracy theories about him are evident. Continue reading »
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Asylum seekers languish through the job summit
In the week of the Albanese government’s job summit, the immigration department again sent out a raft of letters to bridging visa holders in Queensland advising them it was time to reapply to rollover their permission to stay in Australia. While politicians and sector representatives debated whether we needed skilled and unskilled migrants to tackle Continue reading »
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CPAC Australia and Murdoch
One of the most unsavoury events on the Trumpist right is CPAC. This is an organisation that stages Conservative Political Action Conferences in America, as well as internationally. CPAC Australia has been operating since 2019 and the 2022 event is due to take place in Sydney this October. Continue reading »
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Orban’s Australian sycophants
Australians welcoming the defeat of our nascent religious right in the May election need to pay attention to the echoes of the American right wing strategies looming ahead of their 2024 election, and the faction in Australia that shares those goals. Continue reading »
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What is the “mad left”?
Even before the Albanese government was certain that it would have a clear majority, the Sky News chorus had begun baying about the “mad left” taking power. What the madness constitutes is never quite made clear. It is “vibe” rather than diagnosis. Continue reading »
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Dutton and Trump politics
The mainstream media in Australia is currently whitewashing fascist politics. It is not just sycophantic, or lazy, journalism. It is dangerous. Continue reading »
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Clive and the global right
It is easy to laugh at Clive Palmer’s stunts. Whether he’s talking about creating a Jurassic Park or sending texts before an election claiming that Australia is giving control of all healthcare to the WHO, the temptation is to roll our eyes. Continue reading »
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The Teal tsunami and the entitled princelings
The teal tsunami has marked a fascinating moment in Australian politics. Not only has it put integrity and real climate action at the forefront of our civic conversation, it has sent a collection of strong and accomplished women into federal parliament. Continue reading »
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The destructive Rupert Murdoch
The grim news is that Rupert’s heir, Lachlan, is a less intelligent and harder right force in News Corp. The death of the old man can’t save us. Continue reading »
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Gender anxiety on The Right
The furore within the Liberal Party about Katherine Deves. Fox star Tucker Carlson’s accidentally homoerotic trailer for his new “documentary,” The End of Men. Even, partially, Putin’s invasion of Ukraine. All share the hard right’s obsession with strong men and imposing order. Continue reading »
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Scott Morrison’s constant disingenuous role play as tradesman and labourer
The recent budget has underscored that the Coalition government has abandoned the needy, and the nation’s future. Whether an Australian is hunting for a job or displaced from disaster-wrecked town, they should expect almost nothing from our leaders. Continue reading »
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Don’t expect much – with climate disasters you will largely be on your own
When Scott Morrison chides inundated Australians about expecting too much from the government or the ADF during a crisis, he is not just speaking about the nightmare scale of these catastrophic floods. He is setting expectations for the climate emergency’s cascading disasters. You’re on your own. Continue reading »
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Oligarchs in Russia and elsewhere. Rule by the powerful and the wealthy few
Australia has its own oligarchs in mining, property, finance, gambling and of course in the media. Continue reading »
