Pearlcast EP 1

Launching Pearlcasts

The 50th Anniversary of the Dismissal of the Whitlam Government

We kick off with a topic close to our hearts, the 50th anniversary of the Dismissal of the Whitlam Government. We have three of the best sources in the nation taking part: our editor-in-chief John Menadue – the living link to the scandal and the nation’s top public servant at the time; Jenny Hocking, author of The Palace Letters and Australia’s pre-eminent Dismissal historian; and Brian Toohey, the journalist who has dug deepest into the darkest elements of the events.

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The Whitlam agenda – the one thing we left out
Laurie Patton

THE DISMISSAL AT 50

The Whitlam agenda – the one thing we left out

Fifty years ago, the Whitlam Government was swept from power, leaving a policy legacy unmatched by any administration, before or since.

Indigenous political candidates face less voter bias than parties might think: new research
Josh Holloway,  Duncan McDonnell,  Michelle Evans

Indigenous political candidates face less voter bias than parties might think: new research

When political parties consider potential Indigenous candidates, they often worry about voter backlash.

China’s new climate targets show progress but lack ambition
Jorrit Gossens

China’s new climate targets show progress but lack ambition

On 24 September 2025, Chinese President Xi Jinping announced China’s updated targets for combatting climate change at the UN Climate Summit.

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The boy who cried antisemitism
Judith Treanor

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.”

As Australia welcomes its millionth refugee, its hardline border policies endure. We can lead by example again
Daniel Ghezelbash,  Jane McAdam

As Australia welcomes its millionth refugee, its hardline border policies endure. We can lead by example again

Any day now, Australia will welcome its millionth refugee since World War II.

Rising electricity prices have nothing to do with renewables
Ian McAuley

Rising electricity prices have nothing to do with renewables

Electricity prices are elevated, but anyone who claims renewable energy has driven the rise is either uninformed or is deliberately lying.

Seoul’s submarine ambitions – what do they mean for the region?
Jeffrey Robertson

Seoul’s submarine ambitions – what do they mean for the region?

South Korea is currently in final negotiations with the US on a deal that could reshape the balance of power in the Indo-Pacific: the construction of nuclear-powered submarines.

The Global South is drowning in climate debt
Jawad Khalid

The Global South is drowning in climate debt

As deadly storms rip through the Caribbean, a new United Nations report delivers a sobering warning: the world is failing to prepare for the climate it has already created.

In Ukraine’s Pokrovsk, narratives have collided with brutal realities
Eugene Doyle

In Ukraine’s Pokrovsk, narratives have collided with brutal realities

Up to 5000 Ukrainian soldiers are in danger of encirclement in the key town of Pokrovsk by a powerful Russian war machine that has ground ever so slowly forward over the past 18 months.

Building a strategic movement for Gaza
Sara Abdelmawgoud

Building a strategic movement for Gaza

I’ve spent the past two years deeply involved in actions, campaigns and community organising for Gaza. But as the so-called ceasefire begins and talk of ‘peace plans’ fills the headlines, I find myself asking a harder question: what now?

‘Extraordinary and reprehensible circumstances' - Part 4
Jon Stanford

THE DISMISSAL AT 50

‘Extraordinary and reprehensible circumstances' - Part 4

Malcolm Fraser was a conservative in terms of the constitution. His view was the Senate was primarily a house of review – and apart from exceptional circumstances should not frustrate, certainly not on a purely obstructionist basis”

Latest on Palestine and Israel

The boy who cried antisemitism
Judith Treanor

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.”

Building a strategic movement for Gaza
Sara Abdelmawgoud

Building a strategic movement for Gaza

I’ve spent the past two years deeply involved in actions, campaigns and community organising for Gaza. But as the so-called ceasefire begins and talk of ‘peace plans’ fills the headlines, I find myself asking a harder question: what now?

10,000+ Palestinians buried beneath Gaza rubble in ‘world’s largest mass grave’
Brett Wilkins

10,000+ Palestinians buried beneath Gaza rubble in ‘world’s largest mass grave’

“We call on the world to send international teams to recover the bodies of the missing,” said the member of one civil society group. “We call on the world to provide the necessary equipment to recover the bodies.”

Making them pay: Wielding influence in a world with no shame
Jaron Sutton

Making them pay: Wielding influence in a world with no shame

One of the upshots of US support for Israeli criminality over the past two years has been the cowardly position adopted by US supplicant states who feel wedged by realpolitik and morality.

OFFICIAL – Israel’s proposed death-penalty law is a war crime
Greg Barns

OFFICIAL – Israel’s proposed death-penalty law is a war crime

Not satisfied it seems with the continued genocide of Palestinians, Israel is now looking to execute Palestinian prisoners by introducing a death penalty law.

Lancet study shows more than 3m years of human life lost in Israeli assault on Gaza
Jessica Corbett

Lancet study shows more than 3m years of human life lost in Israeli assault on Gaza

“To speak of three million years of human life erased is to confront the true scale of this atrocity – generations of children, parents, and families wiped out,” said the head of a US advocacy group.

Palestine’s future: Australians are outraged
Margaret Reynolds,  Stuart Rees

Palestine’s future: Australians are outraged

At an Australia-wide webinar on 31 October, David Spratt paid tribute to the late Ali Kazak, Palestine’s first ambassador to Australia.

Israel, lies and videotape
Alison Broinowski

Israel, lies and videotape

We have heard a lot in the last two years and one month about Jewish Australians feeling unsafe or intimidated.

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

Latest on China

China’s new climate targets show progress but lack ambition
Jorrit Gossens

China’s new climate targets show progress but lack ambition

On 24 September 2025, Chinese President Xi Jinping announced China’s updated targets for combatting climate change at the UN Climate Summit.

After Trump goes home
Geoff Raby

After Trump goes home

china,  politics,  usa,  world

If anyone had any lingering doubts about the change in the world order, the sight of President Trump pumping his fist into the air at the doorway of Air Force One, before turning his back on Asia to fly home, they should be put to bed now.

Australia-China policy: Guardrails, not walls
Marina Yue Zhang

Australia-China policy: Guardrails, not walls

An industry networking day in Canberra this week laid bare a simple truth: politics is still beating economics in Australia’s China policy.

John Menadue

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More from Pearls and Irritations

Another RSL dope wants to draw us into a major war
Paul Keating

Another RSL dope wants to draw us into a major war

ASIO's Mike Burgess and a lust for the limelight
Paddy Gourley

GOURLEY ON GOVERNMENT

ASIO's Mike Burgess and a lust for the limelight

After 50 years, it’s time we called it a coup
Donald Rhodes

THE DISMISSAL AT 50

After 50 years, it’s time we called it a coup

Mamdani’s victory bought hope to Gaza
Refaat Ibrahim

Mamdani’s victory bought hope to Gaza

Burn it all down movements
Kosmos Samaras

Burn it all down movements

Lame duck syndrome emerging
Noel Turnbull

Lame duck syndrome emerging

Only Arabic: When 'multicultural' media turns to racial profiling
Shaymaa Elkadi

Only Arabic: When 'multicultural' media turns to racial profiling

Nuclear arms control and the Asia-Pacific
John Tilemann,  John Carlson

Nuclear arms control and the Asia-Pacific

Stealing the breath of life
Julian Cribb

Stealing the breath of life

What Washington really thought of Whitlam before the dismissal
James Curran

THE DISMISSAL AT 50

What Washington really thought of Whitlam before the dismissal

The Dismissal was a calculated conservative plot: Albanese
The Hon Anthony Albanese MP

THE DISMISSAL AT 50

The Dismissal was a calculated conservative plot: Albanese

‘Spooky fiddling’: Preparing the ground – Part 3
Jon Stanford

THE DISMISSAL AT 50

‘Spooky fiddling’: Preparing the ground – Part 3

Latest letters to the editor

Pinocchio and the growing nose

Les Macdonald — Balmain NSW 2041

I don't know if others have noticed that every time Mike Burgess appears in public, which is a rapidly growing and unpleasant phenomenon, his nose appears to be getting bigger. Like his puppet master Scott Morrison, his propensity for calumny, exaggeration and outright fabrication of threats that only ASIO can discover and eliminate is rampant. He can of course get away with it as the leader of an organisation that has no oversight of the truth or otherwise of what it says. He regularly fails to produce a jot of evidence for his claims that would stand any chance...
A matter of cautious hope

Hal Duell — Alice Springs

I agree that Zohran Mamdani's victory has brought hope, not just to the Gazans but to all who have grown appalled by the apparent inability of our current crop of leaders to address the underlying issue of inequality. I suspect that this victory in New York City was aided by social media, and as a consequence I foresee a concerted effort to bring that avenue of public discourse under greater control. I feel the hope this article mentions has to be tempered by two considerations. The first is, what now? Consider the dog who, having chased the car,...
Infantilism as a national value

Les Macdonald — Balmain NSW2041

Our national inability, cultured in us by Great Britain and the US, to bell the cat of our continued infantile need for mummy or daddy to tell us what to think and do, remains. If what happened to us in 1975 happened in a country we had been taught to hate or fear, we would have called if what it was – a coup!! But to acknowledge that happened in Australia would challenge our childish need for mummy or daddy to tell us what just happened. It relieves us of need to make a decision for ourselves....
Only Arabic?

John Fitzgerald — Melbourne

Curiously, I see only Chinese text when the Vic bail ads come up while watching BBC or other English language programs on SBS. Not Arabic. This is presumably because my SBS individual profile indicates I view many Chinese language programs on SBS. So I suspect the author’s experience is likely a matter of individual viewer profiling by SBS, not collective racial profiling. Perhaps the author should seek confirmation or denial (and correction if appropriate)?

Catch up on other sections

Arts 130 China 1221 Climate 1446 Commendations 21 Defence 2464 Economy 2873 Education 718
Employment 39 Finance 4 Health 1542 History 71 Immigration 974 Indigenous Affairs 385 Israel Palestine 1430
Media 1881 Pearlcast 3 Podcast 43 Policy 221 Politics 18577 Racism 17 Religion 1239
Review 37 The Human Future 67 Our Top Five Each Week 2210 USA 595 World 1500

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