13 June 2025
AUKUS: America saving us from ourselves
The decision by the United States to initiate a review of the AUKUS agreement might very well be the moment Washington saves Australia from itself. Saving us from the most poorly conceived defence procurement program ever adopted by an Australian Government.
13 June 2025
Investing in Pearls
There’s a certain frisson as well as tension to this time of the year (June). It’s the time when those of us lucky enough (with enough) to have to make tax decisions can choose where to make a tax-deductible contribution that will, indeed et voila, lessen our tax bill while (possibly) benefitting a good cause.
13 June 2025
I have good news and bad about your superannuation
When the government wants to cut back the massive tax concessions the rich receive on their superannuation, the media is full of it for weeks.
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For the month of June Pearls and Irritations is running a fundraising campaign through the Australian Cultural Fund. Your donation will support the development of content for topics of particular of interest to Australia - Palestine, China, Climate Change and Immigration Policy and the development of a Young Writer's Handbook to encourage new young writers.
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13 June 2025
The murky world of lobbying and the North West Shelf
It’s hard to explain to a young person how the Albanese Government could possibly have approved the North West Shelf gas project expansion last week.
13 June 2025
AI and robotics expected to play a big role in China’s next 5-year plan
China is likely to leverage advanced technology to boost manufacturing, achieving self-sufficiency while becoming an indispensable exporter.
13 June 2025
Review: Perfect Victims
Mohammed El-Kurd is a poet, writer, journalist and organiser from Jerusalem in occupied Palestine.
13 June 2025
A naval force to escort humanitarian aid is an act of peace
In honour of a brave Gazan fisherwoman Madleen Kulab, the international aid boat of the same name was turned back to an Israeli port.
13 June 2025
Two remote islands with a common purpose
After a decades-long fight, Prime Minister Starmer in late May gave up Britain’s possession of the Chagos Islands in the Indian Ocean, while Australia keeps the Cocos (Keeling) Islands, our most distant Indian Ocean territory. The United States military has continuing use of both.
13 June 2025
NACC ambiguity on Robodebt investigation 'worrying', says KC
Three months have passed since the National Anti-Corruption Commission promised an “impartial and fair investigation” into Robodebt. Nothing has been heard since.
12 June 2025
Why does international justice fail to prosecute war criminals in Gaza?
Is documentation enough to achieve justice? Since the onset of the Israeli war on Gaza in October 2023, human rights organisations have relentlessly documented severe violations.
12 June 2025
Hugh White and our post-American future
In his new Quarterly Essay, Hard New World, Hugh White delivers a devastating attack on Australia’s current defence policies.
Latest on Palestine and Israel
13 June 2025
A naval force to escort humanitarian aid is an act of peace
In honour of a brave Gazan fisherwoman Madleen Kulab, the international aid boat of the same name was turned back to an Israeli port.
12 June 2025
Why does international justice fail to prosecute war criminals in Gaza?
Is documentation enough to achieve justice? Since the onset of the Israeli war on Gaza in October 2023, human rights organisations have relentlessly documented severe violations.
12 June 2025
Genocide by starvation
This is the end. The final blood-soaked chapter of the genocide. It will be over soon. Weeks. At most.
11 June 2025
Palestine and the gravitational politics of erasure
What we are witnessing in Gaza is not only a genocide of lives, but a systematic campaign to obliterate a people’s cultural identity, memory and future.
9 June 2025
Palestinian genocide gets some big-screen time
Films and the internet are proving to be a valuable way for the message of the Palestinian struggle to be publicised.
8 June 2025
Gaza conditions 'worse than hell on Earth': Red Cross chief
We cannot continue to watch what is happening, said Mirjana Spoljaric. It's surpassing any acceptable legal, moral, and humane standard.
7 June 2025
Talk of a two-state solution may not go much further
A two-state solution to the Israel-Palestinian problem has not been mentioned for ages, but was revived recently. However, it may end with just that – talk.
6 June 2025
Media shortcomings in covering terrorist Netanyahu’s daily Gaza mass murders
Opposition by former high officials in Israeli’s military and national security establishment and Israeli allies – France, England, and Germany – to the aimless killing of civilian families in Gaza is increasing.
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
13 June 2025
AI and robotics expected to play a big role in China’s next 5-year plan
China is likely to leverage advanced technology to boost manufacturing, achieving self-sufficiency while becoming an indispensable exporter.
10 June 2025
US unlikely to be able to hold its own against China
Were the US to come up against China in a war in the Pacific, indications are that Washington would have the worse of the exchanges.
9 June 2025
China takes a softly-softly approach to diplomacy in the US
China’s ambassador to Washington, Xie Feng has adopted a less assertive approach than some of his predecessors.
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Latest letters to the editor
AUKUS is a dud club
Alyssa Aleksanian — Hazelbrook
Colonial minds
Geoff Davies — Braidwood NSW
Hugh White sees half the elephant
Tony Kevin — Canberra
Let's talk sea-level rise, shall we?
Jenny Goldie — Cooma NSW