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.

Blurring fact and fiction in the US election

Much of the chaos expected in the coming days and weeks can be tied to the commander in chief’s rhetoric.

Loyalty tests make Australia weaker, not stronger

A parliamentary hearing on the challenges facing diaspora communities turned into a political stunt.

Commentary

Is our love affair with America over?

Most Australians would greet a Biden victory with relief. But that may not be enough to remedy the fear that the United States has changed for the worse. Originally published in…

Submissions

Submission to the Joint Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade Inquiry into the Implications of the COVID-19 Pandemic for Australia's Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade

Joint submission by Lowy Institute researchers to the JSCFADT inquiry into the implications of the pandemic.

Commentary

For all its bluster, China knows Australia isn't merely doing the bidding of the US

There are signs that Beijing recognises Australia’s positions on Hong Kong, Taiwan and Xinjiang are based on its own interests. Originally published in The Guardian.

Commentary

Great expectations: The unraveling of the Australia-China relationship

Natasha Kassam writes about Australia-China relations for the Brookings Institution's Global China Series, which assesses China's growing role in the world.

Interactives

Emerging From COVID: Policy Responses To The Pandemic

In this new feature, Lowy Institute experts provide policy recommendations for Australia to address issues that are critical to our nation’s — and the world’s —…

Policy Briefs

Emerging from COVID: Policy Responses to the Pandemic

Lowy Institute experts provide policy recommendations for Australia to address issues that are critical to our nation's — and the world's — successful emergence from the pandemic.

Polling

Lowy Institute Poll 2020

The 2020 Lowy Institute Poll, conducted as the COVID-19 crisis was unfolding across the globe, reveals unprecedented changes in Australian attitudes to the world around us,…