Why isn’t the UN doing more than talking about Gaza?
Meg Schwarz

Why isn’t the UN doing more than talking about Gaza?

You’re not the only one wondering why the United Nations keeps releasing statements while people in Gaza — and other conflict zones — are being killed, starved or displaced. It’s easy to feel like all the UN does is express concern, make speeches and hold meetings….but shouldn’t it be doing something tangible by now?

Starvation of Gaza a continuation of a decades-old plan
Jeremy Rose

Starvation of Gaza a continuation of a decades-old plan

Israel's plan to push out all Palestinians from the Gaza Strip has been contemplated as long back as 1967, soon after the Six-Day War ended.

David Littleproud cites nuclear energy disagreement as major factor in Coalition split
John Quiggin

David Littleproud cites nuclear energy disagreement as major factor in Coalition split

Nationals’ leader David Littleproud has singled out nuclear energy as a key reason for his party’s spectacular split from the Liberals, as both parties seek to rebuild following the Coalition’s devastating election loss.


John Menadue's book on Israel's war against Gaza

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 PDF

The band is breaking up: has the Coalition stopped making sense?
Joshua Black

The band is breaking up: has the Coalition stopped making sense?

I remember seeing footage, several years ago, of a jubilant Malcolm Turnbull, then prime minister and Liberal leader, speaking in Tamworth to loyal members of the National Party.

UN warns 14,000 Gaza babies could die in 48 hours unless Israeli blockade lifted
Julia Conley

UN warns 14,000 Gaza babies could die in 48 hours unless Israeli blockade lifted

Aid allowed into besieged area described as a trickle among a sea of need.

There’s no country more important to Australia than Indonesia. Trouble is, the feeling isn’t mutual
Tim Lindsey

There’s no country more important to Australia than Indonesia. Trouble is, the feeling isn’t mutual

Making Jakarta the first overseas visit has become a set piece for newly elected Australian prime ministers dating back to John Howard in 1996.

Australia and China can power up Southeast Asia’s green energy transition
Yunkang Liu,  Fengshi Wu

Australia and China can power up Southeast Asia’s green energy transition

Australia and China share key interests in Southeast Asia in the context of a global green transition and great power rivalry.

Factional comfort gazumps innovation courage
Stewart Sweeney

Factional comfort gazumps innovation courage

Sandy Plunkett’s lament in the Australian Financial Review (15/5) over Ed Husic’s sacking as federal industry minister captures a familiar truth: innovation ministries in Canberra are often burial grounds for political ambition. Husic’s fall may have been sealed by factional headwinds, but the deeper problem is that “innovation” in Australia is rarely allowed to mean what it should.

Time to change Australia’s grand strategies
Peter Layton

Time to change Australia’s grand strategies

As global power dynamics shift and traditional alliances fray, Australia’s current grand strategies are reaching their limits.

RCEP can aid in battle against global protectionism
Shiro Armstrong,  Rebecca Sta Maria

Australia in Our Region

RCEP can aid in battle against global protectionism

The Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership, created to promote open trade and regional integration, offers a powerful platform to resist rising global protectionism.

The Russians are not coming to Indonesia
Geoff Raby

The Russians are not coming to Indonesia

In Jakarta for his first overseas visit after the election, the prime minister was displaying his elevated obfuscation skills.

Latest on Palestine and Israel

Starvation of Gaza a continuation of a decades-old plan
Jeremy Rose

Starvation of Gaza a continuation of a decades-old plan

Israel's plan to push out all Palestinians from the Gaza Strip has been contemplated as long back as 1967, soon after the Six-Day War ended.

UN warns 14,000 Gaza babies could die in 48 hours unless Israeli blockade lifted
Julia Conley

UN warns 14,000 Gaza babies could die in 48 hours unless Israeli blockade lifted

Aid allowed into besieged area described as a trickle among a sea of need.

How should Australia respond to the starvation of Gaza?
Annabel Dulhunty

How should Australia respond to the starvation of Gaza?

It has now been more than two months since Israel began to block the entry of food and medicine to Gaza. According to the World Food Program, about 1.94 million people across the Gaza Strip experienced high levels of acute food insecurity between 1 April and 10 May 2025, including nearly 244,000 people facing catastrophic food insecurity.

False balance persists in ABC Palestine coverage
Richard Bean

False balance persists in ABC Palestine coverage

In December 2024, I presented an analysis of more than 450 interviews concerning Palestine and Israel on ABC Radio National Breakfast, since 7 October 2023. During this period, the host was Patricia Karvelas. Her last show was on Friday, 13 December.

Yes, it's a genocide
Amos Goldberg

Yes, it's a genocide

Building on Monday's piece outlining a shift in scholarly opinions on Palestine globally, we bring you a very powerful short video, narrated by Israeli professor of holocaust studies, Amos Goldberg. He says: A radical atmosphere of dehumanisation of Palestinians prevails in Israeli society to an extent that I cannot remember in my 58 years of living here.

Israel's new Gaza operation should be called 'Chariots of Genocide'
Gideon Levy

Israel's new Gaza operation should be called 'Chariots of Genocide'

About 70 people from dawn to noon on Wednesday. Almost twice the number of those killed in the massacre at Kibbutz Nir Oz. Twenty-two of them were children, and 15 were women. The previous evening, 23 were killed in a hospital.

Vale Ali Kazak
Stuart Rees

Vale Ali Kazak

On Sunday afternoon, we received the very sad news that Ali Kazak has died in Thailand, en route to Palestine. An extraordinary campaigner and shaper of the Palestinian cause for all his almost 80 years, his loss will be sorely felt. Stuart Rees wrote this tribute to Ali for Pearls and Irritations last November. More will follow in coming days.


John Menadue

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.

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Latest on China

Australia and China can power up Southeast Asia’s green energy transition
Yunkang Liu,  Fengshi Wu

Australia and China can power up Southeast Asia’s green energy transition

Australia and China share key interests in Southeast Asia in the context of a global green transition and great power rivalry.

Beijing’s global vision takes shape in Africa
Samir Bhattacharya

Beijing’s global vision takes shape in Africa

Mao Zedong once famously declared that political power grows out of the barrel of a gun. But almost a century later, China realises that triumphing in an increasingly multipolar world also requires shaping public opinion. Accordingly, Beijing is rearranging its foreign policy outlook – especially in Africa.

China and renewable energy: Dawn of the Fourth Industrial Revolution
Derek Woolner,  David Glynne Jones

China and renewable energy: Dawn of the Fourth Industrial Revolution

China’s deployment of renewable energy technologies is spectacular and globally dominant, but is not its primary focus.


More from Pearls and Irritations


Latest letters to the editor

Unsustainable nuclear policies

Fiona Colin — Melbourne

Both the Liberal and National parties are in unsustainable energy policy positions. The Liberal leader labels the government’s policy “a reckless race to renewables”; the urgency of our shift to renewables is largely due to the Coalition’s decade-long denial and delay. It remains to be seen whether the Liberals can see their way to a mature debate now that they are unencumbered by the anti-renewable Nationals members. The Nationals advocate more coal until nuclear fills the gap. As John Quiggin points out, “the earliest possible start date for nuclear is after the 2028 election. This means plugging nuclear...
Silent lies

Liam O'Dea — Warwick Qld

Thank you Richard Bean. Yesterday the ABC lied by omission. Having told us that Israel was allowing food and medicine supplies into Gaza, they failed to tell us that only five trucks were allowed to enter. A totally meaningless token. Yet the ABC made it look like Israel was actually doing something. Benjamin Netanyahu is treating the media and supine governments with contempt, and the West is just pathetic.
The cost of everything and the value of nothing

Bob Pearce — Adelaide SA

Universities are another victim of the failure of privatisation. Universities should be a place of higher learning and students should have to qualify to enter. If they successfully complete their degrees, they should be free. I went to a technical school, a pathway to a trade or becoming a mother. Down the road was a high school which was better regarded and a pathway to university. I became a tradie and built a wonderfull life from that base, but I was just a tradie working for some time in sewer treatment. How much lower than that can you...
Let's rank the threats to human survival

Jenny Goldie — Cooma NSW

In Bob Douglas' article, he reminds us of the 10 threats to human survival as listed by Julian Cribb in his 2023 book, How to fix a broken planet. It is hard not to stave off despair when faced with such a long list, so I chose the three that are most likely to keep me awake at night. They are: climate change; a threat to the world's food supply; and growth in the human population. The question is: will we be able to feed everyone in the face of climate change? We have 8.2 billion people in...



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