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.
Go to Pearlcasts
22 November 2025
A calculated plot, an ambush, a coup
Five decades on from the dismissal of the Whitlam government, Australia is seeing a notable shift in the narrative that now recognises it as a calculated coup, and an assault on the conventions of government.
22 November 2025
Working with PM Fraser - burying White Australia - Part 4
John Menadue stayed on as the most senior public servant in the land, after the trauma of the Dismissal. In this 5-part series he details what life was like working with PM Fraser. Given his closeness to Whitlam, some of his conclusions are surprising.
22 November 2025
US wants Seoul’s subs to counter China – Asian Media Report
In Asian media this week: Washington sees global role for South Korean navy; the military cements government control in Pakistan; Palestine is an obstacle to Trump’s new Middle East plan; Japan prepares for drawn-out dispute with China; why South Korea is turning its back on coal power; and boot camps for beauty queens.
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22 November 2025
Never underestimate a shearer's cook
What comes next for Liberal leader Sussan Ley after the party walked away from committing to net zero?
22 November 2025
Trump’s latest Epstein gambit
The next time you hear that Trump has somehow reversed his earlier resistance to releasing the Epstein files, remember that he hasn’t. He could have ordered their disclosure long ago; he never needed a congressional resolution compelling it.
22 November 2025
Root canals and conspiracies
Social media misinformation is creating a public health problem of lost teeth, prolonged dental pain, unnecessary costs, and worsening inequalities in oral health.
22 November 2025
Two Trump peace plans
Trump’s proposed peace plan for Ukraine is sparking outrage across Europe. But how does this response compare with his earlier plan for Gaza?
22 November 2025
BBC and ABC targeted by conservative critics for the wrong reasons
Right-wing critics attack the ABC and BBC, but the real media bias is in ignoring Palestinian voices and defending power.
22 November 2025
The war on Sudan: the choice is ours
International mechanisms and the international community have failed Sudan and the Sudanese people. The tragedy unfolding today was predictable, but not unavoidable.
22 November 2025
Only a republic can reverse executive power creep
A democratic republic would end the structural uncertainties that allowed both the Whitlam dismissal and Scott Morrison's many ministries, as well as bringing the Australian people into a new constitutional relationship.
21 November 2025
Working with PM Fraser - a country divided - Part 3
John Menadue stayed on as the most senior public servant in the land, after the trauma of the Dismissal. In this 5-part series he details what life was like working with PM Fraser. Given his closeness to Whitlam, some of his conclusions are surprising.
Latest on Palestine and Israel
21 November 2025
UN Members complicit in genocide
UN Special Rapporteur on Palestine Francesca Albanese discusses why, in her most recent report, she called out more than 60 nations for their collective-crime roles in the ongoing genocide in Gaza.
20 November 2025
UN approval of Gaza ‘Stabilisation Force’ slammed as ‘Denial of Palestinian self-determination’
CodePink said the plan “will leave Palestine in the hands of a puppet administration, assigning the United States, which shares complicity in the genocide, as the new manager of the open-air prison.”
18 November 2025
Gaza winter catastrophe repeating in tents that resist neither wind nor rain
The seasons change, but for those fighting for survival through wet winters and baking summers in Gaza's tents, the suffering remains.
17 November 2025
Israeli settler attack on West Bank mosque draws international condemnation
Calls for justice grow as Israeli settlers set Hajja Hamida Mosque ablaze in latest attack on Palestinians in West Bank.
16 November 2025
Trump’s ploy at the UN is American imperialism masquerading as a peace process
The Trump administration is pushing an Israeli-crafted resolution at the UN Security Council aimed at eliminating the possibility of a State of Palestine.
15 November 2025
Gaza woman blinded in Israeli strike opens bakery to subsist and hope
Despite her injury, Warda Abu Jarad has started baking cookies and bread to help provide for her family.
15 November 2025
Recovering moral imagination in a time of war
There is a moment in every conflict when language collapses. Words like justice, revenge, and security are repeated so often they lose their meaning.
14 November 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
22 November 2025
US wants Seoul’s subs to counter China – Asian Media Report
In Asian media this week: Washington sees global role for South Korean navy; the military cements government control in Pakistan; Palestine is an obstacle to Trump’s new Middle East plan; Japan prepares for drawn-out dispute with China; why South Korea is turning its back on coal power; and boot camps for beauty queens.
21 November 2025
Democracies good, China bad – and history not required
Japan and China both have legitimate security concerns. But an informed debate needs major media outlets to stop systematically erasing the historical context that shapes how the region understands current events.
20 November 2025
Australians are markedly more worried about the US, but still wary about China
Australians' concerns and mistrust of China are easing, while doubts about the US are increasing.
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