Amanda Hodge

Amanda HodgeSouth East Asia Correspondent

Amanda Hodge is The Australian’s South East Asia correspondent, based in Jakarta. She has lived and worked in Asia since 2009, covering social and political upheaval from Afghanistan to East Timor. She has won a Walkley Award, Lowy Institute media award and UN Peace award.

@hodgeamanda

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“environmental crimes”World

A view of the Grasberg copper and gold mine near Timika, in the eastern region of Papua, Indonesia, in 2015. PHOTO: REUTERS

Legal twist in bid to halt Papua mine sales

The case seeks to build on a previous ruling that any product traded in the UK produced through forced labour in another country constitutes a proceed of crime.

Amanda Hodge

Belt and RoadWorld

TOPSHOT - Chinese President Xi Jinping (L) and Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari (R) walk pass the honour guards during the welcome ceremony at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on February 5, 2025. (Photo by WU HAO / POOL / AFP)

US aid retreat a boon for Xi debt trap

With US soft power in full flight from the region, Beijing is moving quickly on strategic opportunities across the Asia-Pacific.

Amanda Hodge

Australia to fill gapsWorld

A health worker injects a man with a shot of the Inavac vaccine for Covid-19 at the Jakarta provincial health office on December 19, 2023, during a vaccination campaign held to administer a fifth precautionary vaccine dose amid concerns that Covid-19 cases could spike during the Christmas and New Year holidays. (Photo by BAY ISMOYO / AFP)

Gift for Beijing: Asia-Pacific analysts say shock US aid freeze ‘an own goal’

The US foreign aid freeze has thrown development projects across the Asia-Pacific into chaos as US-AID closes its Washington headquarters.

Amanda Hodge

Nightclub land boughtWorld

Artists impression of the proposed Bali Peace Park on the site of the Sari ClubImage from the Bali Peace Park websitehttps://www.balipeacepark.com.au/gallery.html

Peace park to honour Bali bomb victims gets go-ahead

Balinese authorities will push ahead with a peace park to commemorate the victims and survivors of the 2002 terrorist bombings, several years after the long-cherished idea was shelved.

Amanda Hodge

FOREIGN AIDWorld

Former economics advisor to Aung San Suu Kyi, Sean Turnell. Picture: supplied

US urged to release funds for Myanmar

The Australian former special economic adviser to Aung San Suu Kyi has urged the Trump administration to release Myanmar’s frozen reserve funds to help finance the democratic opposition.

Amanda Hodge

crackdownWorld

A woman walks with an umbrella at Marina Bay in Singapore on January 22, 2025. (Photo by Roslan RAHMAN / AFP)

Singapore silenced as vote looms

With elections looming, the Singapore government’s attempts to control the narrative and crack down on dissent is having a perverse effect.

Amanda Hodge

Chagos IslandsWorld

(FILES) US Secretary of State Marco Rubio waves to employees upon arrival at the State Department in Washington, DC, on January 21, 2025. The United States, the world's biggest donor, froze virtually all foreign aid on January 24, 2025Friday, making exceptions only for emergency food, and military funding for Israel and Egypt. Secretary of State Marco Rubio sent an internal memo days after President Donald Trump took office vowing an "America First" policy of tightly restricting assistance overseas. "No new funds shall be obligated for new awards or extensions of existing awards until each proposed new award or extension has been reviewed and approved," said the memo to staff seen by AFP. The sweeping order appears to affect everything from development assistance to military aid -- including potentially to Ukraine, which received billions of dollars in weapons under Trump's predecessor Joe Biden as it tries to repel a Russian invasion. (Photo by ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS / AFP)

Rubio warns of China’s ‘malign influence’

Britain’s agreement to hand the Chagos Islands to Mauritius has also raised questions over the vulnerability of a 10,000km-long undersea fibre optic cable running from Perth to Oman.

Amanda Hodge

World

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio (2R) walks with Indo-Pacific Quad ministers, L-R, Japanese Foreign Minister Iwaya Takeshi, Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar and Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong, as they depart a photo opportunity before meetings at the State Department in Washington, DC, on January 21, 2025. (Photo by ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS / AFP)

Quad revival augurs well for Australia, region

From benign multitasker under former President Biden, Trump 2.0 has signalled this week it expects the Quad’s role will be that of a powerful security bloc with a clear mandate.

Amanda Hodge

ImmigrationWorld

India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi (L) embraces US President Donald Trump upon his arrival at Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport in Ahmedabad on February 24, 2020. (Photo by MANDEL NGAN / AFP)

Refugee pressure piles on Asia

Donald Trump’s promised migration crackdown is already biting across Asia with India to take back potentially tens of thousands of its citizens living illegally in the US.

Amanda Hodge

World

Foreign tourists relax on the Kuta Beach near Denpasar on Indonesia's resort island of Bali on November 18, 2023. (Photo by SONNY TUMBELAKA / AFP)

Bali shutters notorious ‘Russian Village’ over planning violations

Parq Ubud’s closure marks what some critics hope will be the start of a concerted pushback against a perceived “annexation” of parts of the Indonesian island by Russian developers catering to those fleeing the Ukraine war on their borders and conscription at home.

Amanda Hodge

Original URL: https://www.theaustralian.com.au/author/amanda-hodge