Corporate Virtue Signalling: How to Stop Big Business from Meddling in Politics

Jeremy SammutApril 30, 2019

CLICK HERE TO BUY HARDCOPY

 

Snowflake- A very sensitive person. Someone who is easily hurt or offended by the statements or actions of others.

If you thought corporate virtue signalling peaked when 1300 Australian companies backed marriage equality, you had better think again.

In this book, Jeremy Sammut shows why the support of big business in that campaign could be just the beginning of corporate meddling in politically-contentious issues to come.

Companies will become political players campaigning for ‘systemic change’ behind ‘progressive’ social, environmental, and economic causes if the Corporate Social Responsibility – CSR – activists operating inside Australia business get their way.

The notion that corporations need a ‘social license to operate’ threatens to give business leaders a license to play politics on company time — and with shareholders’ money.

But to ensure the business of business remains business and not politics, it is not enough simply to complain about the takeover of business by ‘corporate lefties’.

Introducing a new principle  — the ‘Community Pluralism Principle’ –  into company governance would hold the leaders of Australian business accountable for stopping corporate meddling in political debates that are none of business’s business.

Dr Jeremy Sammut is a Senior Research Fellow and Director of the Culture, Prosperity, and Civil Society Program at the Centre for Independent Studies. He has a PhD in Australian history and is the author of The Madness of Australian Child Protection: Why Adoption Will Rescue Australia’s Underclass Children  and contributing editor of The Future of Medicare: Health Innovation in 21st Century Australia both published by Connor Court.

Related Commentary

Religious tests a red line we shouldn’t cross
Peter KurtiJanuary 29, 2026DAILY TELEGRAPH
Morrison deserves credit for insisting accusations of Islamophobia must not shut down necessary debate. But...
It’s judgment day: time for unis to kick politics off campus
Steven SchwartzJanuary 29, 2026THE AUSTRALIAN
The problem is not academic freedom itself. The problem is that universities have forgotten what...
Fear after Bondi is putting free speech on trial
Peter KurtiJanuary 14, 2026AUSTRALIAN FINANCIAL REVIEW
Instead of rushing to add new laws to an already swollen statute book, we should...

• Subscribe

Subscribe now and stay in the loop with our giving appeals, event alerts, newsletters and research updates.

We are always pleased to hear from you. If you have any questions or feedback, please contact us here: