Coalition immigration policy: unbalanced, unachievable, unworthy
The Coalition’s migration plan promises dramatic cuts to net overseas migration and the temporary visa population, but key measures are inconsistent, administratively weak and in some cases beyond government control.
Labor should not take Green preferences for granted
Labor’s primary vote is weakening while Green preferences remain crucial in close contests. Albanese’s hostility to the Greens may become increasingly difficult to sustain.
How much aid is the Australian government giving to Palestine?
As wealthy countries cut aid, Australia remains far below the UN target for development assistance. Its support for Palestinian statehood is not matched by an adequate humanitarian response to Gaza and the occupied Palestinian territories.
Takaichi dominates Japanese politics, but her honeymoon may be short-lived
Sanae Takaichi has consolidated extraordinary political power, but the economic conditions that sustained the Abe era have changed and Japan’s fragmented opposition may not remain her only problem.
Australia’s climate policy – a crime against humanity
Australia cannot credibly claim climate leadership while expanding coal and gas exports that accelerate global heating, deepen Pacific vulnerability and lock in further human suffering.
South Australia’s green gold rush gathers pace
New wind farms and big batteries are pushing South Australia closer to 100 per cent net renewables, while supplying major industry and driving billions of dollars in new investment.
Climate change has devastated one of the world’s great penguin colonies
The chinstrap penguin population on remote Zavodovski Island has fallen by 63 per cent in just 15 years, as warming seas push their krill food supply further south.
Support our independent media with your donation
Pearls and Irritations leads the way in raising and analysing vital issues often neglected in mainstream media. Your contribution supports our independence and quality commentary on matters importance to Australia and our region.
Donate
Aged care is turning the family home into an entry fee
Scarce aged care places increasingly favour families able to pay large accommodation deposits, drawing on housing wealth that may be the only debt-free asset shared across three generations.
There is no ‘debate’: them is us – Message from the Editor
Another week, another migration policy. Except that makes it sound normal, and this nasty race to the bottom between those who purport to represent us is anything but.
The growing gap between Australia’s policies on nicotine and reality
Australia’s tobacco and vaping policies have helped create a vast illicit market while governments continue to pour money into enforcement and neglect cheaper, more effective harm reduction.
Australia’s migration debate is ignoring the regions that need migrants most
Migration is doing much of the demographic heavy lifting outside Australia’s major cities. Cutting it without a serious regional population strategy risks accelerating decline in smaller communities.
Landmark High Court ruling puts coal mine extensions on notice
A landmark High Court ruling has overturned approval of the Mt Pleasant coal mine extension, requiring NSW planning authorities to properly consider the local climate impacts of emissions from coal burned overseas.
Elections will test whether Trump and Netanyahu can outrun accountability
As Spain’s Pedro Sánchez takes a markedly different path on Gaza, Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu head towards elections burdened by war, scandal and deep questions about democratic accountability.
Ian Proud’s Heathrow detention is a warning about the West’s shrinking tolerance for dissent
The detention of former British diplomat Ian Proud after attending the Valdai Conference raises troubling questions about the use of counter-terrorism and border powers against people advocating dialogue rather than escalation.
Five myths behind the Coalition’s migration crackdown
The Coalition promises the biggest migration cut in Australian history, but its policy confuses arrivals with net migration, oversimplifies housing pressures and mistakes political symbolism for serious integration policy.
Using interest rates to fight inflation is dumb, unfair and overdue for a rethink
Higher interest rates hit younger mortgage holders far harder than everyone else, making monetary policy both inequitable and inefficient. Inflation control should be spread more fairly across the economy.
What of those who truly own football?
Manchester City may face severe punishment if its financial breaches are upheld on appeal. But the people who will live with the consequences had no say in the decisions that brought the club here.
Lula can still win – but Brazil’s right has staged a formidable comeback
Lula trails Flávio Bolsonaro heading into Brazil’s presidential runoff, after a campaign shaped by voter fatigue, hostile media coverage and sustained intervention from Trump’s political network.
Australia’s ‘useless’ paddock trees are anything but
Large old paddock trees provide shade, shelter, habitat and cultural value across rural Australia. Yet they are disappearing faster than new generations are being established.
Bangkok’s floods show what happens when a warming climate meets a sinking city
Bangkok’s latest deadly floods were driven by an extraordinary downpour, but the city’s sinking land, rapid urbanisation and rising seas are making extreme rainfall increasingly difficult to absorb and drain.
Australia’s AI boom must leave regional communities with more than the bill
Massive AI infrastructure projects may bring jobs and investment, but regional development should be judged by what communities control, retain and can build long after construction ends.
The great AUKUS deception: Australia pays to defend America
AUKUS has been sold as a plan to strengthen Australia’s defence. Its deeper purpose is to bind Australia permanently into US military strategy against China and make American security dependent on Australian participation.
The Republican consensus on Israel is starting to fracture
Christian Zionism helped turn support for Israel into Republican orthodoxy. But America First scepticism and a growing generational divide are exposing cracks in a coalition once treated as politically untouchable.
Israel's war against Gaza
Media coverage of the war in Gaza since October 2023 has spread a series of lies propagated by Israel and the United States. This publication presents information, analysis, clarification, views and perspectives largely unavailable in mainstream media in Australia and elsewhere.
Download the PDFLatest letters to the editor
Data centres and their burdens
Les Macdonald — Balmain NSW 2041
Coalition still hasn’t learnt the climate lesson
Amy Hiller — Kew, VIC
The value of higher education
Gail Abbott — Armidale, NSW
The exception to the rule
Les Macdonald — Balmain NSW 2041
A lively expectation of favours to come
Les Macdonald — Balmain NSW 2041
And the alternative is?
Bob Pearce — Adelaide SA
We don't deserve a seat on UN Security Council
Jenny Goldie — Cooma NSW
Security Council bid
jo Vallentine — coolbellup, W.A.
