Pearlcasts
As we review 2025, the temptation is to look for neat summaries and settled conclusions.
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28 January 2026
The United States is a lawless and dangerous ally. What is Australia's Plan B?
Mark Carney’s Davos speech highlights a world in rupture, not transition. Australia needs to rethink its dependence on the United States and begin preparing a credible Plan B.
28 January 2026
How the new hate laws could chill protest in Australia
Australia’s new hate laws give ministers broad powers to ban groups – but uncertainty about what counts as a “hate crime” risks chilling legitimate political protest.
28 January 2026
Beginning of the end for the Nationals
The Nationals are likely doomed if they don’t go back into a coalition. And they are likely doomed if they do.
28 January 2026
Female-only swimming saves lives: the overlooked gap in Australia’s drowning prevention
Female-only swimming sessions are not a cultural luxury. They are a proven, evidence-based public safety measure that too many Australian women still cannot access.
28 January 2026
China’s ambitions are narrower than Washington thinks
China’s foreign policy priorities are driven more by domestic stability and long-standing sovereignty claims than by ambitions to dominate the global order.
28 January 2026
Rivers Flow: Reflections on the Songs of Archie Roach and Ruby Hunter curated by Kim Scott
A thoughtful collection of reflections reveals how the songs of Archie Roach and Ruby Hunter continue to carry truth, memory and responsibility across generations.
28 January 2026
Australia, bravery and the case for an Earth System Treaty
Rising inequality, climate instability and ecological collapse are not separate crises but interacting threats that demand coordinated global action.
28 January 2026
Why billionaires building doomsday bunkers can’t predict the next global catastrophe
Reports of billionaires building doomsday bunkers are often read as signs of looming catastrophe. Psychology suggests they reveal something else entirely.
28 January 2026
Trump insults NATO dead – and Australia stays silent
Donald Trump’s claim that NATO allies avoided frontline fighting in Afghanistan has sparked outrage abroad. In Australia, political leaders have said little.
28 January 2026
Irony abounds: Indonesia gets human rights protection job
Indonesia has assumed the presidency of the UN Human Rights Council, raising questions about credibility, consistency and the future of scrutiny in places like West Papua and Iran.
27 January 2026
Trump fills the great Albo silence
Australia’s leaders are trying to avoid becoming a target in a harsher, more coercive world. But silence and caution can’t substitute for strategy – or for honest leadership that levels with the public.
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Latest on Palestine and Israel
26 January 2026
From international law to loyalty and deals: Trump’s Board of Peace play
The Trump-led Board of Peace points to a shift away from international law and multilateral institutions toward a system built on loyalty, coercion and financial leverage.
24 January 2026
Cultural “cohesion” becomes censorship, and a festival falls apart
Adelaide Writer’s Week was derailed after the withdrawal of an invited speaker, triggering mass author withdrawals and a board resignation. The episode raises hard questions about free speech, institutional courage, and the politics of Israel and Gaza in Australia’s cultural life.
23 January 2026
Bad laws are the worst sort of tyranny – and this one ticks every box
A sweeping new bill to combat antisemitism, hate and extremism was rushed through federal parliament this week with minimal scrutiny and major rule-of-law flaws. Its vague definitions, retrospective reach and expanded executive powers risk undermining rights, due process and democratic accountability.
20 January 2026
The rules are breaking – and the world is watching
The abduction of Venezuela’s president signals a world where power is replacing law, and impunity is setting the pace.
18 January 2026
Best of 2025 - Gaza’s economy has collapsed beyond recognition
Gaza’s economy, society and basic infrastructure have been almost entirely wiped out. With 90 per cent of people displaced, food systems destroyed and schools and hospitals in ruins, reconstruction is becoming harder by the day.
16 January 2026
Banning slogans won’t build social cohesion
After Bondi, New South Wales politicians want to ban words and slogans. But rushed laws could punish political speech, not protect the public.
16 January 2026
Iran in the vortex: what's really happening
As protests unfold in Iran, Israeli and US figures openly talk of regime collapse. Foreign interference risks worsening violence and derailing change from within.
16 January 2026
Best of 2025 - The boy who cried antisemitism
For two years, we’ve been told Australia is drowning in antisemitism. Every protest for Palestinian human rights, every mural, every chant criticising Israel has been hauled up as “evidence.”
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
28 January 2026
China’s ambitions are narrower than Washington thinks
China’s foreign policy priorities are driven more by domestic stability and long-standing sovereignty claims than by ambitions to dominate the global order.
21 January 2026
The US is powerless to push China out of Latin America
Trump’s move on Venezuela signals a wider push to squeeze China out of Latin America. But Beijing’s trade, investment and infrastructure ties may prove hard to unwind.
20 January 2026
Can Washington still strike a grand bargain with Beijing?
A prominent Chinese academic argues the conditions are right for a US–China “grand bargain”. But recent events in Venezuela and the Middle East raise hard questions about what kind of America China is dealing with.
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