Launching Pearlcasts
The 50th Anniversary of the Dismissal of the Whitlam Government
We kick off with a topic close to our hearts, the 50th anniversary of the Dismissal of the Whitlam Government. We have three of the best sources in the nation taking part: our editor-in-chief John Menadue – the living link to the scandal and the nation’s top public servant at the time; Jenny Hocking, author of The Palace Letters and Australia’s pre-eminent Dismissal historian; and Brian Toohey, the journalist who has dug deepest into the darkest elements of the events.
Listen to Episode 1 Listen to Episode 2
5 November 2025
The second Dismissal – the loans affair and meetings with Kerr
The second part in a series of first-hand accounts of the Dismissal, from the man who was there: John Menadue.
5 November 2025
In memoriam: the slow death of the Quad
Quietly, but surely, life is ebbing away from the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (the Quad).
5 November 2025
Trump needs to stop weaponising hunger
They have the authority to fully fund SNAP,” said Rep. Rashida Tlaib. “It shouldn’t take a court order to get the president to stop starving families and release the funds.”
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5 November 2025
The press and the Dismissal – Part I
On the morning of 15 October 1975, most major newspapers advocated in their editorials that the Labor Government should go.
5 November 2025
Gen Z uprisings in the Global South
Here are seven theses to begin to understand the protests that young people have led across the world and perhaps channel them in a progressive direction.
5 November 2025
Zombie multilateralism: The undead world of APEC
After 20 years, APEC returned to Korea, but it feels different.
5 November 2025
It's hard to be an involved dad
Father’s Day was recently celebrated, bringing families together to thank their male progenitors for the support and (sometimes) caring love they give to their offspring.
5 November 2025
Moral inadequacy in national leadership
Every man is guilty of all the good he did not do, Voltaire
5 November 2025
108 years since the Balfour Declaration – a promise written in ink, fulfilled in blood
On 2 November 1917, Britain wrote with the ink of politics what it had no right to write with the ink of history.
5 November 2025
What would Whitlam think of the Albanese Government?
Gough Whitlam’s head mandarin and Pearls & Irritations founder & editor-in-chief John Menadue shares what he sees as the lessons of the Whitlam years, one of which is that the powerful can never be trusted.
4 November 2025
Ambush and deceit
The first in a series of first-hand accounts of the Dismissal, from the man who was there: John Menadue.
Latest on Palestine and Israel
5 November 2025
108 years since the Balfour Declaration – a promise written in ink, fulfilled in blood
On 2 November 1917, Britain wrote with the ink of politics what it had no right to write with the ink of history.
4 November 2025
The West’s double game on Gaza
In the aftermath of the attacks of 7 October 2023 and for months afterwards, Western governments that have been long-standing supporters of Israel — including the Australian Government — invoked “self-defence” to justify the severity of Israel’s response.
4 November 2025
Australia can't get away with genocide
Australia repeatedly fights as the deputy sheriff in our ally’s wars. Afterwards, our contributions are forgotten and we continue to dodge blame for the disastrous results, including war crimes. Can we get away with this over Gaza?
3 November 2025
Israel’s repeated ceasefire violations are part of its strategy to keep waging war on Gaza
Here’s Israel's strategy to continue the war on Gaza: find a pretext, no matter how baseless, use it to kill dozens of civilians and fighters, stop fire and claim you’re honouring the ceasefire. Then do it again.
2 November 2025
Notice which genocides you are and are not allowed to oppose
Do you notice how nobody’s losing their jobs or getting deported for criticising the genocidal atrocities in Sudan?
2 November 2025
What Israel's genocide has laid bare
Two years into an ongoing genocide — recognised as such by the UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry, Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, B’Tselem, Physicians for Human Rights, Doctors without Borders, the International Association of Genocide Scholars, the Lemkin Institute for Genocide Prevention, the University Network for Human Rights and countless scholars of international humanitarian law, genocide and Holocaust studies — we are now to normalise the obscene, and move on.
1 November 2025
Australian Palestinian farm in the occupied West Bank raided by Israeli settlers
Australian citizen, Palestinian farmer and vigneron Sari Kassis, whose family company Domaine Kassis wines sells both locally and overseas, has reported that over the past two weeks there has been a rapid increase in destructive raids on his farm by the Israeli “Hilltop Youth”.
31 October 2025
Gaza under siege: The continuation of Zionist demographic cleansing policies since the 19th century
Israeli propaganda tries to present the war on Gaza as a “defensive reaction.” Yet the historical record tells a very different story: systematic genocide, the destruction of civilian life and deliberate attempts to uproot entire populations. All of this is a direct continuation of Zionist colonial policies that began in the late 19th century.
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 on China
1 November 2025
Understanding Australia-China research mobility
Australia’s research partnership with China is a significant component of its scientific output, particularly in engineering, technology and applied sciences.
31 October 2025
The ABC and News Corp finally agree on something: China panic
Last week, a friend asked if I was worried about Chinese “nuclear threats.
31 October 2025
Taiwan as an integral part of China: A historical, legal and geopolitical analysis
The status of Taiwan remains one of the most contested topics in modern geopolitics and one of the most misrepresented.
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