John Menadue – Pearls and Irritations

Mark Latham, former Federal Labor leader who now sits in the State Legislative Council as head of Pauline Hanson’s One Nation in NSW, is running a one-man campaign to end the ban on uranium mining which came into force in 1986. Is he flogging a dead horse? Continue reading →

There’s a simple way for Prime Minister Scott Morrison to assert some real leadership and focus the attention of the nation on how the corona virus pandemic should be confronted: he should sack the two Ministers who have demonstrated most publicly their incompetence in dealing with it. Continue reading →

On Sunday, February the 23rd my Australian husband and I was in Florence Italy, where we regularly enjoy an alternative residence, and lifestyle, to that of Basel Switzerland. We had tickets for a coveted opera performance of Donizetti’s Don Pasquale, that afternoon when we heard the news.

Continue reading →

Thinking now about our current global health/economic crisis, I see how we need creativity to get us over the proverbial hump and back to that desired state called normality. Continue reading →

Could the Caronavirus (Covin-19) outbreak be a tipping point swinging the balance of Constitutional power with respect to health in favour of the Commonwealth, as happened previously with defence, income tax and civil aviation? Continue reading →

COVID-19 will bring decreases in employment and labour supply in Australia – at a scale and speed which are unprecedented. This article explains why COVID-19 is having these effects and describes who are the workers being most affected. Continue reading →

This is an edited transcript of an interview I conducted with the ABC for a podcast series The Eleventh.  Continue reading →

In seeking to target foreign interference in Australia, the Federal Government has two countries in its sights, but it’s not just the Russians and Chinese who play the interference game. Continue reading →

 I am being challenged to consider and discern why I remain a Catholic in a Church whose membership is declining and ageing;whose clergy are decreasing in numbers and ageing,where many Catholics, particularly our children, are no longer attending Mass and accessing the Sacraments.Where do we go from here? Continue reading →

The Ruby Princess, along with a number of other cruise ships that arrived in Australia around the same time, will go down in Australian history as a super spreader of disease and death. Continue reading →

I laughed so hard I could hard stop myself from crying. There’s no limit to the wonderful capacity of human beings to produce clowns to make us laugh our way through every crisis. Continue reading →

Normally, bringing ethics and crisis politics together in a crisis is like putting Siamese fighting fish in the same tank; only one is likely to survive.

Continue reading →

Next Monday marks the first anniversary of Gladys Berejiklian becoming the first female to be elected Premier of NSW, and the Liberals’ third straight victory. Continue reading →