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6 December 2025
China’s challenge is explaining why it succeeded
Western commentary often dwells on China’s problems while overlooking the cultural and historical foundations of its extraordinary achievements. Understanding both is essential to informed judgement.
6 December 2025
P&I provides a moral compass, keeps hope alive and spurs on action
'Let me also take this opportunity to say thank you for what you are doing for Australia. P&I provides a moral compass, keeps hope alive and spurs on action. Dr Jane Anderson Adjunct Research Fellow – Population and Global Health The University of Western Australia
6 December 2025
Hong Kong high-rise renovations a murky, greedy industry – Asian Media Report
From Hong Kong’s deadly tower fire and surging renovation graft, to climate-fuelled floods across Asia, record weapons sales, a massive Korean data breach and collapsing Chinese tourism in Japan, this week’s Asian media coverage reveals the region’s mounting pressures and political tensions.
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
6 December 2025
Israel’s NGO rules are shutting out humanitarian aid from Gaza
Rules introduced by Israel in 2025 are being used to block humanitarian organisations from operating in the occupied Palestinian territories, limiting aid delivery and silencing advocacy.
6 December 2025
Australia’s school bureaucracy is growing faster than classrooms
Administrative staffing in Australia’s public education system has grown far faster than student enrolments or teacher numbers. Unless governments act, promised school funding risks being absorbed by bureaucracy rather than improving learning and wellbeing.
6 December 2025
Refugees aren’t politically progressive by default – and policy needs to catch up
Australian settlement policy often assumes refugees will embrace progressive politics. Research and community experience show refugee political identities are far more diverse – with important implications for law and policy.
6 December 2025
After dominance: Japan enters a post-hegemony political era
After decades of near-continuous rule, Japan’s Liberal Democratic Party is now governing as a minority under a more ideologically polarised leadership. A new era of fragmented, negotiated politics is taking shape.
5 December 2025
Fear versus facts: why migrants strengthen Australia
Australia’s multicultural society is not a modern experiment or a social crisis. It is the product of shared effort, grounded in First Nations custodianship and strengthened by generations of migrants who have helped build the nation’s economy, culture and community life.
5 December 2025
Words or action? Dreyfus and human rights at home
Mark Dreyfus has been appointed Australia’s special envoy on human rights. Is the government prepared to match international advocacy with concrete action at home – by finally legislating a Human Rights Act?
5 December 2025
When foreign policy becomes domestic theatre
Australia’s response to Japan’s rhetoric has been framed as a test of loyalty, but the outrage is largely media-driven. Caution in foreign policy is not betrayal – it is a rational defence of national interest.
5 December 2025
How media coverage helps normalise the far right
Media coverage does more than report on the far right. Through language choices, sensationalism and false balance, journalism can help shift racist politics into the mainstream.
Latest on Palestine and Israel
5 December 2025
Book Review: Selling Israel: propaganda, history and contested narratives
Harriet Malinowitz’s Selling Israel examines how Zionist ideology has been promoted through propaganda, history and selective memory, and why separating Judaism from Zionism matters in confronting antisemitism.
3 December 2025
Global campaign amplifies call for the release of jailed Palestinian leader Barghouti
An international campaign is calling for the release of Palestinian political figure Marwan Barghouti, arguing his freedom could reshape Palestinian politics and revive peace efforts.
3 December 2025
What charges does Benjamin Netanyahu face, and what’s at stake if he is granted a pardon?
Benjamin Netanyahu has requested a pardon while still on trial for corruption. The move raises serious questions about legal accountability, judicial independence and political survival.
1 December 2025
‘Genocide is not over,’ Amnesty leader says as Israel keeps bombing Gaza
“So far, there is no indication that Israel is taking serious measures to reverse the deadly impact of its crimes and no evidence that its intent has changed.”
29 November 2025
Gaza’s true death toll could be 126,000 or even higher
New research suggests Gaza’s death toll may be far higher than widely reported, with devastating implications for life expectancy, poverty and accountability.
25 November 2025
The ceasefire that isn’t: 400 violations in 40 days
Israel has violated the ceasefire in Gaza hundreds of times since October, using vague or unverified justifications to carry out strike in a recurring pattern of escalation and impunity.
23 November 2025
The UN embraces colonialism: the Security Council and the US Gaza plan
The Security Council's backing of the Trump plan for Gaza ignores international law, punishes the Palestinians, and rewards those responsible for genocide.
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.
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
6 December 2025
China’s challenge is explaining why it succeeded
Western commentary often dwells on China’s problems while overlooking the cultural and historical foundations of its extraordinary achievements. Understanding both is essential to informed judgement.
6 December 2025
Hong Kong high-rise renovations a murky, greedy industry – Asian Media Report
From Hong Kong’s deadly tower fire and surging renovation graft, to climate-fuelled floods across Asia, record weapons sales, a massive Korean data breach and collapsing Chinese tourism in Japan, this week’s Asian media coverage reveals the region’s mounting pressures and political tensions.
5 December 2025
When foreign policy becomes domestic theatre
Australia’s response to Japan’s rhetoric has been framed as a test of loyalty, but the outrage is largely media-driven. Caution in foreign policy is not betrayal – it is a rational defence of national interest.
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