The murder of journalists as an act of censorship
Quentin Dempster

The murder of journalists as an act of censorship

Western reporters should by now know almost all journalists, doctors, nurses and teachers in Gaza are Hamas members, just as some UN employees are Hamas militants. - Chris Mitchell, The Australian, 18 August 2025.

Managing a mature Australia-China relationship
Gareth Evans

Managing a mature Australia-China relationship

The Australia–China bilateral relationship remains strong, despite Australian concerns about China's commitment to a free and open rules-based trading system. Trump's disruptive tariffs demonstrate that Australia must balance its relationship with the United States while ramping up cooperation on regional economic and trade issues with China.

Have Trump’s cuts made Australians kinder? 2025 aid attitudes survey
Terence Wood,  Cameron Hill

Have Trump’s cuts made Australians kinder? 2025 aid attitudes survey

Aid hasn’t been an easy sell in Australia. In all the surveys we’ve run since 2015, more respondents have thought Australia gave too much aid than thought it gave too little. In our 2024 survey, 40% of respondents said Australia gave too much, while only 22% said it gave too little.


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Pearls and Irritations is funded by our readers through flexible payment options. Choose to make a monthly or one off payment to support our informed commentary

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We have arrested the development of our young
Ross Gittins

We have arrested the development of our young

I hope you’re not among those silly people who concluded last week’s economic reform roundtable was just a talkfest that will lead to nothing concrete. Breaking news: we have to get together and talk about things before we agree on what our biggest problems are and what we will do about them.

Carbon bootprints: How war is fuelling climate catastrophe
Chandran Nair

Carbon bootprints: How war is fuelling climate catastrophe

The military-industrial complex’s vast carbon footprint is deliberately hidden from public view, while we get gaslit into using paper straws.

Death or displacement, ‘Please no more polite language about the Netanyahu evil’
Stuart Rees

Death or displacement, ‘Please no more polite language about the Netanyahu evil’

Gazans experiencing 688 days of bombing and killing now face Netanyahu’s latest final solution the destruction of Gaza City and displacement of the surviving population.

The West’s long struggle against genocide prevention: Obliteration and complicity
Dan Steinbock

The West’s long struggle against genocide prevention: Obliteration and complicity

Dr. Steinbock’s highly topical new book The Obliteration Doctrine is about the genocide in Gaza, the West’s complicity and long struggle against genocide prevention. In this Q&A with Dr. Steinbock, we will focus on just a few themes of the his highly topical new book.

ABS decision to reuse biased, coercive Census religion question puts human rights in the spotlight
Si Gladman

ABS decision to reuse biased, coercive Census religion question puts human rights in the spotlight

In about 12 months from now, Australians will again be asked to fill in a Census form that seeks information on all kinds of important questions.

Israel and its allies: When friendship means silence
Raghid Nahhas

Israel and its allies: When friendship means silence

Israel frequently presents itself as a nation surrounded by hostility, relying on close alliances with Western countries for both security and legitimacy.

Why the NDIS inevitably went pear-shaped!
Richard Bruggemann

Why the NDIS inevitably went pear-shaped!

I was a part of the old (underfunded, unfair, fragmented, and inefficient, according to the Productivity Commission) state-run system.

For 35 years after Vietnam, we had a self-reliant defence policy. We need it again
John Menadue

For 35 years after Vietnam, we had a self-reliant defence policy. We need it again

The US is almost always at war, not in defence of values and democracy but in its “manifest destiny” as the world hegemon.

Latest on Palestine and Israel

The murder of journalists as an act of censorship
Quentin Dempster

The murder of journalists as an act of censorship

Western reporters should by now know almost all journalists, doctors, nurses and teachers in Gaza are Hamas members, just as some UN employees are Hamas militants. - Chris Mitchell, The Australian, 18 August 2025.

Carbon bootprints: How war is fuelling climate catastrophe
Chandran Nair

Carbon bootprints: How war is fuelling climate catastrophe

The military-industrial complex’s vast carbon footprint is deliberately hidden from public view, while we get gaslit into using paper straws.

Death or displacement, ‘Please no more polite language about the Netanyahu evil’
Stuart Rees

Death or displacement, ‘Please no more polite language about the Netanyahu evil’

Gazans experiencing 688 days of bombing and killing now face Netanyahu’s latest final solution the destruction of Gaza City and displacement of the surviving population.

The West’s long struggle against genocide prevention: Obliteration and complicity
Dan Steinbock

The West’s long struggle against genocide prevention: Obliteration and complicity

Dr. Steinbock’s highly topical new book The Obliteration Doctrine is about the genocide in Gaza, the West’s complicity and long struggle against genocide prevention. In this Q&A with Dr. Steinbock, we will focus on just a few themes of the his highly topical new book.

Redefining Hamas, pleading for a peace force
Stuart Rees

Redefining Hamas, pleading for a peace force

In conflicts, unless perception of opponents is re-defined, claims as to who is worthy, who unworthy are repeated and resolution remains elusive.

As press freedom groups decry latest 'murder' of journalists by Israel, fury grows over impunity
Brad Reed

As press freedom groups decry latest 'murder' of journalists by Israel, fury grows over impunity

Israel's broadcasted killing of journalists in Gaza continues while the world watches and fails to act firmly on the most horrific attacks the press has ever faced in recent history, said one press freedom advocate.

Caritas Internationalis statement on the man-made famine and assault on Gaza City
Caritas Press Release

Caritas Internationalis statement on the man-made famine and assault on Gaza City

On 20 August 2025, Israeli forces stormed Gaza City, where nearly one million displaced civilians had sought refuge, many already starving.

This is what happens when money dies
Hani Qarmoot

This is what happens when money dies

Israel has blocked the transfer of currency into Gaza; the result is catastrophic.


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

Managing a mature Australia-China relationship
Gareth Evans

Managing a mature Australia-China relationship

The Australia–China bilateral relationship remains strong, despite Australian concerns about China's commitment to a free and open rules-based trading system. Trump's disruptive tariffs demonstrate that Australia must balance its relationship with the United States while ramping up cooperation on regional economic and trade issues with China.

Australia and Taiwan caught between Trump and Xi’s great-man fantasies
James Curran

Australia and Taiwan caught between Trump and Xi’s great-man fantasies

If there was any doubt in Canberra that the traditional political alignment with the US is in turmoil, the past week or so confirms it irrefutably.

Shared vision, greener together: China and Australia unlock opportunities in eco initiatives
Zijian Qi

Shared vision, greener together: China and Australia unlock opportunities in eco initiatives

On 9 April, Swatten, a subsidiary of Sieyuan Electric which is headquartered in Shanghai, China, made an appearance at Booth 58 of the Smart Energy 2025 expo in Sydney.


John Menadue

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Latest letters to the editor

Do these times suit Albanese’s leadership style?

Peter Keightley — Mount Martha Victoria

While this is an excellent opinion piece, it seems to assume that time is available to continue with “business as usual”. Unfortunately, science and physics do not appear to have been consulted in arriving at this assumption. Both are now abundantly clear that not only is “business as usual’ no longer sustainable, but that the actions now required to maintain a future for Homo sapiens and all other life forms on this planet are nothing short of revolutionary. Significant changes that have advanced the species, such as abolition of slavery, female franchise etc, were not achieved by continuing...
Yes I can, yes I can, said the Little Red Engine

John Mosig — Kew, Victoria

As usual, Julian Cribb presents us with a truly vivid picture of the mess we’ve made of our short tenure on Planet Earth. Gifted the twin miracles of perception and self-expression, a garden of abundance and clean air and water to breathe and drink, we’ve allowed our basest nature to prevail. It gives meaning to the ethics of the early Christians who featured the seven deadly sins in their theology. I suspect they adopted them, as they read like a universal roadmap for any organised society. Nevertheless, it makes you wonder where we’d be if we’d stopped to think...
Contraction of the human enterprise must start now

Jenny Goldie — Cooma NSW

In Julian Cribb's article, water scientist Peter Gleick is quoted as saying: “The size of the world’s population, the nature of our consumption and economies and our use of energy and water resources have combined to threaten our very existence. This basically sums up why we humans find ourselves in a state of overshoot. Our impact on the Earth is simply too great, thus contraction of our population and economies must start happening now. This is not to say that all aspects of our economies have to contract. Technological developments that lead to decarbonisation must be encouraged, not least...
Renewable food

Fiona Colin — Melbourne

The planet is “now dominated by two species, cows and humans”. That is Julian Cribb's stark illustration of the consequences of planet-wide over-consumption. The Potsdam Institute’s latest report describes how this gross explosion in animal life “has come at the price of massive degradation of plant life”. What is to be done? In his article “Why the world needs renewable food (14/7), Cribbs set out the three pillars of a renewable world food supply: regenerative farming, urban food (sustainably using water and other resources with in urban environments) and deep ocean aquaculture. Some Australian farmers have adopted regenerative...



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