Matthew Lesh
Adjunct Fellow
In 2019 Matthew took up his current position of Head of Research at the Adam Smith Institute in London, while continuing his affiliation with the IPA as an Adjunct Fellow.
Before moving to London, Matthew was a Research Fellow at the IPA (2016-2018) researching freedom of speech at Australian universities (inaugurating the Free Speech on Campus Audit), entrepreneurship and changing political values, as well as managing for a time Generation Liberty, the IPA's youth outreach project. In 2018, Matthew’s first book was published, Democracy in a Divided Australia, which examined Australia’s political tribes and the capture of policymaking by a new elite, while charting a path forward for a divided nation.
His writing has appeared extensively in the Australian and international media outlets, including The Australian, Daily Telegraph, Herald Sun, Australian Financial Review, Sydney Morning Herald, The Age, The Canberra Times, Brisbane Times, The Spectator Australia, The Huffington Post, ABC Opinion, Crikey, The Punch, Online Opinion, Spiked, CapX, and BrexitCentral. He also appears regularly on radio and television and has provided expert evidence to Australian Senate committees.
Matthew graduated from the University of Melbourne with a Bachelor of Arts (Hons), majoring in politics and international studies, and history. He subsequently completed a Masters in Public Policy and Administration at the London School of Economics. Matthew graduated from LSE with a Distinction and received the Peter Self Prize for Best Overall Result and the Joint Peter Self Prize for Best Dissertation.
Matthew has also worked for state and federal parliamentarians, in digital communications, and founded a mobile app development start-up.
25 November 2021
Still Left Speechless
Academics are fighting a rear-guard action as the push to enshrine free speech on campus gathers pace, writes IPA Adjunct Fellow Matthew Lesh. An indescribable anxiety flushes through your body in the split second of realising you are the punching bag. That was my experience in late 2019 when I trekked up to the Australian National University. I was invited
14 October 2021
A Catch-22 Defeated Peter Ridd – But There’s Still Hope For Academic Freedom
Peter Ridd has lost in the High Court, but the judgment has nevertheless set an important precedent in favour of academic freedom. Ridd was sacked by James Cook University in 2018 after expressing contrarian views about the science regarding the Great Barrier Reef. He also made a range of other comments about the disciplinary process and broke the confidentiality direction
2 August 2021
Britain Is Now Living With COVID And Australia Must Too
Freedom Day in London. A crowded room. Music pulsing through my veins. Sweaty bodies conspicuously not distanced. HEAVEN nightclub in London, like hundreds of others in the UK, reopened in recent weeks after 16 months. Life for expat Aussies in Britain – like myself – is getting back to normal. In recent weeks, I have ventured to Barcelona and my
1 July 2021
Australia’s COVID Catch-22
Last year Australiawas a Covid-19 success story. Just 30,274 cases and 910 deaths in 26 million people was something to celebrate. But now America and Europe are getting on with vaccinations and learning how to live with the virus. Australia is faltering with embarrassingly few vaccinations and new lockdowns. It’s become like a groundhog day, set in late March 2020.
5 May 2021
Australia Risks Undermining Its Covid Success With Monstrous Border Policies
Australia is cementing its place at the top table of international relations with Foreign Minister Marise Payne’s arrival in London today for the G7 foreign ministers summit. The Antipodean nation has been thrust to the forefront of the West’s efforts to push back against an increasingly aggressive China trying to dominate the Indo-Pacific, and rightly so. Australia has punched above its diplomatic weight in
31 March 2021
So Slow On The Jab, We Need War Effort To End Pandemic
Brisbane has been plunged into another snap lockdown after COVID-19 slipped into the community through an inexplicably unvaccinated doctor and nurse. Australia’s borders remain closed and tens of thousands are trapped overseas. Winter, with a higher transmission risk, is coming. Australia is stuck in COVID purgatory: lockdowns and domestic border closures at any moment, lives and livelihoods at risk, and
15 February 2021
This Incompetence Could Not Be More Stark
This feature article was adapted from an earlier version published in the Summer 20/21 edition of the IPA Review, here. COVID-19 has been a dramatic test of governments across the globe. A once-in-a-century plague descended more or less simultaneously, challenging the ability of states to protect their citizens. Success has been mixed: Britain has had over 35 times more deaths
15 January 2021
Our States Of (In)competence
This article from the Summer 2020 edition of the IPA Review is written by IPA Adjunct Fellow, Matthew Lesh. An edited version also appeared in The Australian on February 13, 2021, see here. COVID-19 has been a dramatic test of governments across the globe. A once-in-a-century plague descending more or less simultaneously, challenging the ability of states to protect the
12 January 2021
Banning Donald Trump From Twitter, Facebook Undermines Public Debate
Donald Trump has been banned from Twitter as well as Facebook, TikTok, and Snapchat. This came after a violent mob stormed the United States Capitol last week, desecrating key symbols of the republic. Many are celebrating the social media bans. But, just because the companies can remove Trump does not necessarily mean they should. There is merit in discussing the
5 January 2021
End The Paranoia Of Hermit Country
Australia has some of the harshest border restrictions on the planet: stringent arrival caps, two-week hotel quarantine and prevention of citizens leaving the country without special exemptions. These restrictions have kept Australians safe. But they have also left tens of thousands stranded overseas, separated loved ones, and destroyed the international tourism sector. We have lost a basic right of citizenship,
