‘It is clear’: UN Commission finding confirms Israel committing genocide in Gaza
Julia Conley

‘It is clear’: UN Commission finding confirms Israel committing genocide in Gaza

“To do nothing is not neutrality,” said the head of the commission. “It is complicity.”

A smart productivity play: Stop subsidising loss-making native forest logging
David Lindenmayer,  Bruce Chapman

A smart productivity play: Stop subsidising loss-making native forest logging

On 7 September 2025, NSW set the proposed 476,000-hectare boundary for the Great Koala National Park and halted native-forest logging within it (plantation harvesting continues), with formal gazettal slated for 2026.

How to get Albanese up for the Nobel Peace Prize
Paddy Gourley

GOURLEY ON GOVERNMENT

How to get Albanese up for the Nobel Peace Prize

Why on earth is the prime minister boasting about having “really warm” phone chats with the oaf who is now the president of the United States?


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Gaza City under relentless bombardment as Israel launches ground invasion
Caolán Magee

Gaza City under relentless bombardment as Israel launches ground invasion

UN chief calls situation in Gaza horrendous as a UN inquiry concludes that Israel’s nearly two-year war on Gaza amounts to genocide.

AI: Much ado about something that one day may be important
Ross Gittins

AI: Much ado about something that one day may be important

AI. AI. AI. Maybe if I utter those magic initials one more time, you’ll reach peak ecstasy. Worried about our lack of productivity? Fear not. The economy will soon be rocketing ahead.

This report measures our national well-being across five key areas. Health trends are not improving
Jenny Gordon

This report measures our national well-being across five key areas. Health trends are not improving

In 2023, Treasurer Jim Chalmers announced the government would measure what matters to the well-being of Australians as a complement to the traditional economic measures in the national accounts.

Israel’s failure: From the claim of 'existential threat' to genocide and global isolation
Refaat Ibrahim

Israel’s failure: From the claim of 'existential threat' to genocide and global isolation

In the history of human wars, outcomes are always measured by the degree to which predetermined objectives are achieved.

Climate code blue: Why hospitals must lead the healing of our planet
Madhan Balasubramanian

Climate code blue: Why hospitals must lead the healing of our planet

Hospitals must lead – not only for better patient outcomes, but for the healing of our planet. The next chapter in healthcare leadership will be written by those who can drive change for both.

Starmer’s collapse and the rebirth of a movement
Stewart Sweeney

Starmer’s collapse and the rebirth of a movement

In British politics, collapses come slowly and then all at once. Sir Keir Starmer, elected on the promise of competence after the chaos of Johnson, Truss and Sunak, has now seen his credibility unravel in record time.

AUKUS anniversary reminder to the prime minister
Nick Deane

AUKUS anniversary reminder to the prime minister

Dear prime minister, How very unfortunate that you chose 14 September to announce further expenditure on submarine facilities.

FOI changes big backward step for government transparency
Greg Barns

FOI changes big backward step for government transparency

There has been much commentary, most of it critical, about federal Attorney-General Michelle Rowland’s recently introduced Bill that amends the Freedom of Information Act by restricting access through measures that will allow undermine a core democratic principles – accountability by government to the people it serves.

Latest on Palestine and Israel

‘It is clear’: UN Commission finding confirms Israel committing genocide in Gaza
Julia Conley

‘It is clear’: UN Commission finding confirms Israel committing genocide in Gaza

“To do nothing is not neutrality,” said the head of the commission. “It is complicity.”

Gaza City under relentless bombardment as Israel launches ground invasion
Caolán Magee

Gaza City under relentless bombardment as Israel launches ground invasion

UN chief calls situation in Gaza horrendous as a UN inquiry concludes that Israel’s nearly two-year war on Gaza amounts to genocide.

Israel’s failure: From the claim of 'existential threat' to genocide and global isolation
Refaat Ibrahim

Israel’s failure: From the claim of 'existential threat' to genocide and global isolation

In the history of human wars, outcomes are always measured by the degree to which predetermined objectives are achieved.

Islamophobia reports are not enough
Shaymaa Elkadi

Islamophobia reports are not enough

For decades, Muslims in Australia have been asked to give evidence, to share their trauma, and to trust that government inquiries will bring change.

Volunteer doctors describe how Israeli troops ‘deliberately targeted’ Gaza children
Brett Wilkins

Volunteer doctors describe how Israeli troops ‘deliberately targeted’ Gaza children

“How is it possible that, in this small hospital, four children are lying here with gunshot wounds to the head – all admitted within the past 48 hours?” said one US trauma surgeon.

‘We took the gloves off’: Former Israeli military chief admits 220,000 Gaza casualties
Brett Wilkins

‘We took the gloves off’: Former Israeli military chief admits 220,000 Gaza casualties

A former Israel Defence Forces chief of staff says more than over 10% of Gaza’s population of approximately 2.2 million was killed or injured since October 2023.

Attacking Qatar shows Israel doesn’t want a Gaza ceasefire
Abubakr Al-Shamahi

Attacking Qatar shows Israel doesn’t want a Gaza ceasefire

Netanyahu keeps changing his position on a Gaza ceasefire, using different ploys to keep the war going.

The UN turns 80
Alison Broinowski

The UN turns 80

The most important agenda item for the United Nations General Assembly this month will be the future of Palestine. But Palestinian leaders will be unable to discuss it, because they will be absent.


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

Confucius Institute decline signals China’s soft power shift
Jocelyn Chey

Confucius Institute decline signals China’s soft power shift

While Chinese soft power is thriving in the so-called Global South, it is waning elsewhere.

The rise of China and learning the correct lessons from history
EAF editors The Australian National University

The rise of China and learning the correct lessons from history

Given that the only certainty in international affairs these days is uncertainty, we should probably be circumspect about projecting how the world might look decades down the track — let alone how our current moment might be portrayed in the rearview mirror of history.

China’s giant military parade didn’t surprise just the West
Geoff Raby

China’s giant military parade didn’t surprise just the West

China’s recent display of its newly acquired military might surprised not only international observers, but also its own seasoned diplomats.


John Menadue

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More from Pearls and Irritations


Latest letters to the editor

Food insecurity one of the greatest climate risks

Jenny Goldie — Cooma NSW

In reporting on the First National Climate Risk Assessment, Julian Cribb highlights a number of threats to Australia from a wild climate that is increasingly out of control. Among them is rising food insecurity which will result from falling crop yields, rising heat stress for livestock, increasing loss of water for irrigation, declining output from forestry and fisheries and biosecurity threats. This goes far beyond the worry that our wine industry will have to relocate to Tasmania as the mainland becomes too hot. It raises the question: Will we even be able to feed ourselves? Right now, we can...
Confucius institutes

David Holm — Taipei

I really must respond to this article, as one of the two former academic directors of the Confucius Institute at the University of Melbourne, which we established in partnership with Nanjing University in the early 2000s. Nanjing University, by the way, was and is a highly reputable institution, judged at the time to be a fitting partner for the University of Melbourne. The CI was set up separately from the Chinese program in the Asia Institute, precisely in order to waylay any suggestions of interference. This did not stop some UoM academics from other departments from making unfounded allegations....
Albanese is Billy Hughes and Joe Lyons, not John Curtin

Peter Henning — Melbourne

Anthony Albanese styles himself as a recycled Curtin, and even as a recycled Whitlam. He is neither. He is more a combination of Billy Hughes and Joe Lyons, prime ministers who used the labour movement as vehicles, but whose ultimate ambitions to secure a place within the conservative Tory establishment, framed by loyalty to British imperial interests, “to King and Empire”, overrode all other considerations. Since 2022, Albanese has made loud and clear his loyalty to the British monarchy, his support for NATO extending its role into the Indo-Pacific, his extraordinary support for AUKUS, his determination to transfer massive...
America, truly the 'farewell tour'

Les Macdonald — Balmain NSW 2041

Chris Hedges is one of the most perceptive and concerned observers of US decline. As in his book, America,The Farewell Tour, he makes a compelling case for that decline driven by extremist religious ideologies, rampant individualism and a self-destructive economic ideology. It is a society with a history of widespread resort to inter-personal violence from its very beginning in the genocide of the native peoples and the enslavement of black Africans for personal gain. Hedges has an almost unique capacity to draw all that history together with the current consequences of it, to make sense of an otherwise chaotic...



Latest from Al Jazeera

China bans tech firms from Nvidia chip purchases: Report
CEO Jensen Huang is expected to discuss the developments with US President Donald Trump in London on Wednesday.
Online forum CEOs called to testify at Congress after Charlie Kirk murder
Republican-led committee plans to ask CEOs of Discord, Steam, Twitch, and Reddit about the 'radicalization' of users.
‘War on free speech’: Outcry after Maldives passes controversial media bill
Critics say new media regulatory bill will muzzle the press and free speech online, a claim the government dismisses.
US Treasury Sec Bessent accused of contradictory mortgage pledges: Report
The Bloomberg News report comes as the White House pushes to fire fed governor Lisa Cook for a similar reason.
British protesters say ‘No to racism, no to Trump’
Demonstrators offer counterbalance to royal grandeur and flattery of US president at Windsor Castle.
Indonesia’s Subianto appoints new security minister after deadly protests
Ex-rival and former general Djamari Chaniago selected after protests about the economy left 10 dead last month.