
18 July 2025
The Tasmanian election on 19 July won’t fix the mess
A Joint Commonwealth/State Health Commission could help address health failure.

18 July 2025
Sectarian tension, Israeli intervention: What led to the violence in Syria?
Israel continues to bomb Syria, ostensibly in support of Druze forces in the southwest, even after ceasefire is declared.

18 July 2025
Round up the usual Chinese suspects
It’s a big week for headlines – and an even bigger week for fear. With Prime Minister Albanese landing in China, our media wasted no time rounding up their usual suspects.

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18 July 2025
Despite denials, Australia has exported F-35 parts to Israel
Leaked documents show Canberra has been supplying Israel with the means to maintain F-35 fighter jets so it can continue its genocidal campaign in Gaza, Peter Cronau and Kellie Tranter report.

18 July 2025
Headline news: Australia and China
The People’s Daily of 16 July featured the meeting between President Xi Jinping and Prime Minister Anthony Albanese in top position on page one.

18 July 2025
Navigating a bipolar world
The US might yet save us from ourselves by adding conditions to the nuclear submarine agreement that no Australian Government could accept.

18 July 2025
A memo to Albo on nuclear weapons
Sent by People for Nuclear Disarmament and the Human Survival Project To Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, Foreign Minister Penny Wong, Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles, the Parliamentary Committees on Foreign Affairs and Defence and DFAT.

18 July 2025
Even Ken Henry’s best ideas can’t fix a system addicted to growth
“Growth for growth’s sake is the ideology of the cancer cell.” – Edward Abbey

18 July 2025
There's nothing 'liberal' about the Liberal Party
It’s becoming increasingly untenable to describe the Liberal Party as liberal in either of the ways that term is used in modern politics. No wonder voters are confused about what the party stands for.

18 July 2025
The geopolitical context of Albanese's China visit
Prime Minister Albanese and I have a few things in common. We were both born on 2 March and we have both been in car accidents, and as I write this, we are both in the People’s Republic of China.

17 July 2025
Our last, best chance – national environment laws that protect nature and power the net zero economy
I am addressing you today in my capacity as the chair of the Australian Climate and Biodiversity Foundation (ACBF). The ACBF is a not-for-profit, founded in 2021 to help decision-makers find means of securing the restoration of Australia’s natural environment in ways that support a thriving 21st century economy.
Latest on Palestine and Israel

18 July 2025
Despite denials, Australia has exported F-35 parts to Israel
Leaked documents show Canberra has been supplying Israel with the means to maintain F-35 fighter jets so it can continue its genocidal campaign in Gaza, Peter Cronau and Kellie Tranter report.

17 July 2025
An ambitious plan to combat antisemitism or an effective plan to silence Israel's critics?
I watched the 7.30 interview with the special envoy to combat antisemitism, Jillian Segal, with mounting alarm. By the end of the interview, I was afraid for the future of Australia.

17 July 2025
Israeli settlers kill, destroy and steal with impunity
This week there was another attack on a religious institution. No, not in Australia but in the ancient Christian village of Taibeh, a Palestinian village in the Occupied West Bank.

16 July 2025
The Israel lobby stands loudly condemned for its silence
Reflect for a moment, as you read this piece, what is happening in Gaza.

16 July 2025
Systematic bias: how Western media reproduces the Israeli narrative
If words shape our consciousness, then the media holds the keys to minds.

16 July 2025
Jillian Segal 'won’t dictate' to husband over $50,000 to Advance
The special envoy seeking to dictate the nation’s speech has suggested it was her husband who was responsible for $50,000 given to far-right group Advance — and that she won’t “dictate” his actions.

16 July 2025
More than 5,800 Gaza children diagnosed with malnutrition in June: UNICEF
Children's bodies are wasting away, the agency said. This is not just a nutrition crisis. It's a child survival emergency.

15 July 2025
NYT report says Netanyahu prolonged war on Gaza to stay in power
He pressed ahead with the war in April and July 2024, even as top generals told him that there was no further military advantage to continuing, reports The New York Times.

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.
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18 July 2025
Round up the usual Chinese suspects
It’s a big week for headlines – and an even bigger week for fear. With Prime Minister Albanese landing in China, our media wasted no time rounding up their usual suspects.

18 July 2025
Headline news: Australia and China
The People’s Daily of 16 July featured the meeting between President Xi Jinping and Prime Minister Anthony Albanese in top position on page one.

18 July 2025
Navigating a bipolar world
The US might yet save us from ourselves by adding conditions to the nuclear submarine agreement that no Australian Government could accept.

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