15 April 2025
If I were housing minister… politics
If I were housing minister in the next Parliament, and if I could secure the PM’s backing to squarely face up to the overdue need for fundamental housing reform, I would have a busy schedule ahead.
15 April 2025
Managing overseas student policy is key to keeping migration numbers in check. If I was immigration minister, Part 2
Ever since Scott Morrison told overseas students to go home at the start of the pandemic and then stomped on the student visa accelerator once the pandemic ended, overseas student numbers have increased and policy has been fraught with constant changes to reduce the inflow of students.
15 April 2025
Looking for a fair wind: Reflections on Australia’s maritime security
Australians may miss out on opportunities to reinforce our regional security if they are over-concerned about Chinese aggression in the South Pacific and do not take the opportunity of engaging in regional dialogue to resolve common problems.
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
15 April 2025
The effect the Greens will have as a ginger party
The Greens no longer aspire to be a party of government. They have become what is best described as a ginger party, a political party that tries to influence the direction and policies of the Labor Party.
15 April 2025
We have good reason to have hope at Easter
At least once in a lifetime, every human being is likely to experience pain of such calamitous proportion that it feels as if the world is coming to an end, but in truth it isn’t.
15 April 2025
Federal election: A different type of beauty contest
Opposition Leader Peter Dutton is fighting this election as if it were what some of my sisters in journalism would call a dick-measuring competition.
15 April 2025
How Trump’s tariffs will affect Pacific islands
Most Pacific island countries got off relatively lightly when Donald Trump announced his “reciprocal” tariffs. Ten were levied tariffs of 10%, the minimum handed out. (Timor-Leste also got a 10% tariff.) Three Pacific nations were given higher rates: Vanuatu (23%), Nauru (30%) and Fiji (32%).
15 April 2025
In a broken world, China-Japan-Korea co-operation is Asia’s backbone
By blending economic might, technological prowess and cultural bonds, co-operation can be elevated into a transformative, inspiring force.
15 April 2025
How to lose friends and help rivals
If the US wanted to thrust Indonesia into the strategic political orbit of China, it couldn’t have found a better way than imposing a 32% tariff on imports from the archipelago.
15 April 2025
Building peace through contemplation, compassion and our common humanity
We acknowledge respectfully the Boonwurrung people and the elders and people of the Eastern Kulin nation who have traditional connections with, and responsibility for, the land on which we meet.
14 April 2025
There is no future without children
Imagine a world without children, a world steadily depopulating like that in the dystopian novel by P.D. James, Children of Men.
Latest on Palestine and Israel
14 April 2025
Gaza's trees now bear a strange fruit
Nobody following the real news, and aware of the long history of colonial occupation, ever believed that Zionist Israel would proceed into the second phase of the ceasefire as agreed.
11 April 2025
Zionist Federation lodges Federal Court complaint against journalist Mary Kostakidis
The Zionist Federation of Australia has filed a legal action with the Federal Court of Australia against renowned Australian journalist Mary Kostakidis relating to a complaint it first raised with the Australian Human Rights Commission in July 2024, claiming posts she made on social media platform X were antisemitic in nature.
10 April 2025
Federal election: Time to hold MPs accountable for stance on genocide
Israel’s slaughter of Palestinians in Gaza, and now its seizing of their land is the worst example of genocide since the horrors of the genocides of Darfur in Sudan in 2003 and Rwanda in the 1990s.
9 April 2025
An arresting American Gaza challenge
Recent US commentary backing President Trump’s extraordinary American Gaza takeover project has regularly stressed how critics should come up with a better plan.
6 April 2025
Was Israel complicit in the 7 October 2023 massacre?
The dreadful atrocities by Hamas on 7 October 2023 horrified the world and triggered the destruction of Gaza, the deaths of more than 50,000 Gazan men, women and children and the wounding of tens of thousands more.
5 April 2025
Palestine is the issue to consider when you enter the voting booth
On the day Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announced the election date, Jews Against the Occupation '48 issued an open statement addressing the current government in the hope that Labor would shift its policies on Israel/Palestine.
3 April 2025
Peter Slezak's speech to the University of Technology Sydney rally on 26 March
Remarks made by UNSW academic Peter Slezak at a rally at UTS on 26 March, have attracted considerable negative coverage in the Murdoch media. [The Australian and The Daily Telegraph] Pearls And Irritations is carrying the full text of the speech so that readers can make up their own minds.
3 April 2025
Israeli practices exacerbate the humanitarian crisis in Gaza
The Gaza Strip has witnessed catastrophic humanitarian crises during the genocide committed by the Israeli occupation. The war has caused widespread destruction of infrastructure, leading to the near-total collapse of the healthcare system and essential services.
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.
DonateLatest on China
15 April 2025
Looking for a fair wind: Reflections on Australia’s maritime security china, defence, politics
Australians may miss out on opportunities to reinforce our regional security if they are over-concerned about Chinese aggression in the South Pacific and do not take the opportunity of engaging in regional dialogue to resolve common problems.
15 April 2025
In a broken world, China-Japan-Korea co-operation is Asia’s backbone
By blending economic might, technological prowess and cultural bonds, co-operation can be elevated into a transformative, inspiring force.
11 April 2025
ABC has Four Corners with just one angle: Anti-China Media Watch
In the midst of a federal election campaign, China is front and centre, with the major parties falling over themselves to look tough on national security. The mainstream media is once again aiding and abetting the political narrative without any serious analysis; Albo and Dutton are going to swipe back the Port of Darwin from its CCP-linked owners, but the mainstream media is clueless as to how that will happen; Tony Abbott tells his former chief of staff we’re being bullied by China; and a heavily-promoted Four Corners program fails to scale the great wall of objectivity.
More from Pearls and Irritations
Latest letters to the editor
Tobacco, not alcohol, causes most harm in Australia
Peter Sainsbury — Sydney
Not enough children or too many people?
Robyn Friend — Launceston
Clues to a Dutton Government
Fiona Colin — Melbourne
Population – it's all in the numbers
Geoff Rohan — Canberra ACT