Natasha Kassam

Director, Public Opinion and Foreign Policy Program

Areas of expertise

China’s domestic politics; public opinion polling; human rights; Australian foreign policy; Taiwan; Indo-Pacific strategy

Contact

@natashaskassam

Biography

Publications

News and media

Natasha Kassam was Director of the Lowy Institute's Public Opinion and Foreign Policy Program from 2019 to 2022, directing the annual Lowy Institute Poll and researching China’s politics, Taiwan, and Australia-China relations.

She was a Fellow of the ANU National Security College’s Futures Council for 2020-21 and a member of the Advisory Board for the University of Melbourne’s Asian Law Centre. Natasha is a regular contributor to Australian and international media outlets including CNN, BBC, Bloomberg, CNBC and The New York Times.

Prior to joining the Lowy Institute, Natasha was an Australian diplomat in China and Solomon Islands. She was a part of the drafting team for the Australian government’s 2017 Foreign Policy White Paper. She holds a Bachelor of Laws (Hons I) and a Bachelor of International Studies from the University of Sydney and speaks Mandarin.

State of mind: How Australians see the pandemic and efforts to help

New polling by the Lowy Institute looks at Australians’ attitudes to Covid-19 responses at home and abroad.

Polling

COVIDpoll 2021

Lowy Institute polling on Australian attitudes to the COVID-19 pandemic

Commentary

Australia Is Under Pressure to Implement Magnitsky-Style Laws

Both Washington and the Australian public want more sanctions on China. Originally published in Foreign Policy.

Closer Taiwan-US ties are stabilising the region, not the opposite

Displays of solidarity for Taiwan won’t contain Beijing’s ambition, but US support must factor in its thinking.

Polling

Being Chinese in Australia: Public Opinion in Chinese Communities

Amid debates on foreign interference, Australia-China relations and the COVID-19 pandemic, the Lowy Institute’s Multiculturalism, Identity and Influence Project conducted a…

Commentary

How China is remaking the world in its vision

This is an edited extract of an essay in the latest issue of Australian Foreign Affairs, The March of Autocracy, published today. Originally published in The Conversation…

Commentary

Australia's relationship with China can survive – but it won't be the same again

There can be no return to the relations of the past. The question for 2021 is how to find a new settling point. Originally published in The Guardian.

Commentary

China cannot have it both ways on trade

Beijing's tactic of using trade as a political stick against Australia will not impress the rest of the world. Originally published in the Australian Financial Review.

Commentary

A dysfunctional America helps China – but hurts Australia and our region

It doesn’t matter to Beijing who wins the presidential election. But a divided America may translate into an isolated Australia. Originally published in The Guardian.