Sharri Markson:
Well, a former supporter of terror group Hizb ut-Tahrir has been appointed assistant research professor at Cambridge University. Farah Ahmed has outrageously criticised British schools for teaching that child marriage is wrong. And to discuss, chief economist at the IPA, Adam Creighton, joins me now. Adam, what can you tell me about this academic?
Adam Creighton:
Well, it’s just outrageous, really, that she’s been appointed to this position. She’s argued that teaching English is the most dangerous of all disciplines because it encourages competition apparently, and also individualism, things apparently that Islam does not approve of. I mean, she’s been on the record for many, many years, saying crazy and outrageous things, I would argue, that Western civilizations are cancer, that it’s disgusting. She’s received hundreds of thousands of pounds from the British government since 2002, even running schools, public schools, I believe, or at least schools that are subsidised by the government. And she’s managed to find herself in this very senior professorial position at what is arguably the most prestigious university in the UK. I mean, she’s tacitly being endorsed by the British government because that’s a university that is heavily subsidised by British taxpayers. So I mean, the whole situation is just an outrage. And I think really that Cambridge needs to have an audit, I would say, now of its academics, given there are these two cases just in recent weeks that are just completely outrageous.
Sharri Markson:
I mean, Adam, you went to one of these elite British universities. I think you were at Oxford.
Adam Creighton:
I went to Oxford, yeah.
Sharri Markson:
But what does it say about these universities, that they’ve changed so much, that they’re hiring people like this?
Adam Creighton:
Yeah. Look, it’s pretty shocking. 25 years ago, I was at Oxford for a few years. And look, it was left wing. I mean, let’s face it, most academics are pretty left wing. And that’s fine, I suppose, to an extent, but they weren’t massively against Western civilization. And I certainly can’t imagine that a professor like this would’ve been appointed at either university back then. So I think it’s a sign of our civilization’s lack of confidence. We no longer have the courage of our convictions. It’s very sad to see. And I hope that there’s a community pushback against this, and like I said, that there is some sort of audit.
Sharri Markson:
Yeah.
Adam Creighton:
It’s just a shameful situation that this woman is being subsidised.
Sharri Markson:
Yeah, absolutely. I want to turn to the economy. The IBA Governor Michele Bullock this week warned about the low productivity. I mean, what needs to be done? This is quite dire now.
Adam Creighton:
Well, yeah, look, it’s been very bad for some time, but look, I’d just be happy if the federal government focused on reducing insanity and not increasing productivity. I mean, we’ve had this situation now where they’re spending billions of taxpayers’ dollars to force solar and wind power into the grid. And that of course puts smelters out of business, it puts steel works out of business, and then they come along and spend even more billions to bail them out. That’s obviously shocking for productivity. And you’ve got the workforce. Jobs growth is all in sectors, largely government supported sectors, the so-called care economy, which are extremely unproductive. So of course you’re going to have a national slide in the figures.
So look, I just think the bottom line is government needs to get out of the way and let households and businesses make their own decisions about spending money, and then you’ll get better productivity. I mean, government spending, remember, it’s spending other people’s money on other people. It’s a very inefficient way of doing things. If you spend your own money, then you know what you want and you’re worried about cost. So the larger government is, the less productive society’s going to be.
Sharri Markson:
Yeah, absolutely. I want to turn to the Victorian State Government now. Tell us about this treaty body and how much they’re spending to hire a new chief executive.
Adam Creighton:
Yeah. Look, this is just outrageous, totally obscene, really, from Ben Carroll, a new premier here, who’s out there saying that he’s going to support integrity in spending and efficiency. And you’ve got a $470,000 salary for the head of this so-called treaty body, which has some weird name that no one can actually pronounce, Gellung Warl or something. And this is a state where people voted 60/40 just a few years ago explicitly against a body like this, a body which has already cost well over 100 million dollars in setting it up.
Sharri Markson:
Extraordinary.
Adam Creighton:
And the ongoing costs I think are going to be 70 to 100 million dollars every year. And this is a state with $200 billion of debt, right? I mean, it’s completely outrageous. I mean, if he wanted to make a good decision to try to get in in November, he should knock the whole thing on their head.
Sharri Markson:
Yeah, well, you need to get into that treasury department there, Adam, and fix it all up. Thanks. Good to see you again.
This transcript of Adam Creighton speaking on Sharri – News24 13 August 2026 has been edited for clarity
