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
19 November 2025
Working with PM Fraser - the changeover - Part 1
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.
19 November 2025
Coalition politicians who can't accept the threat of climate change should resign
Politicians who cannot accept climate change is humanity's greatest threat should have no place in the Australian parliament.
19 November 2025
Book review: Turbulence - Australian foreign policy in the Trump era
For anyone concerned about where Australia’s foreign policy including AUKUS, is taking us, Clinton Fernandes' book is essential reading.
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We continue to see powerful interests shape the headlines and spread misinformation faster than facts in current times. This year, Pearls and Irritations has again proven that independent media has never been more essential. We have continued to push the issues ignored by mainstream media, building our voice as a trusted source for local and global issues. We ask you to support our plans for 2026.
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19 November 2025
Breaking free of media group-think is a scary, lonely journey. I know. I was forced to do it
The western media's failure to report the reality of Gaza didn’t start on 7 October 2023. It’s always been like this. Here’s why journalists won’t tell you the truth about Palestine.
19 November 2025
Migration myths
Migrants aren’t to blame for expensive houses or stress on infrastructure: in fact they’re making more contribution to our shared assets than Australians.
19 November 2025
It’s as if their lives do not matter
Many Rohingya have gone missing at sea, but this latest boat tragedy highlights ASEAN’s indifference.
19 November 2025
Pope Leo and transparency in child sexual abuse cases
If the Catholic Church wishes to change a culture of secrecy, leadership has to come from the top.
19 November 2025
Stop pretending punishment works
When Premier Jacinta Allan is photographed proudly advancing Victoria’s Treaty process, she is rightly praised.
19 November 2025
Daniel Ghezelbash: The Refugee Convention is under threat, but it is not the problem
We are at a crossroads for refugee protection. Around the world, displacement has reached record highs, with more than 122 million people forced from their homes, including over 31 million refugees.
19 November 2025
US Democrats cave once more
The perils of unprincipled, performative so-called “resistance.”
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.
Latest on Palestine and Israel
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.”
14 November 2025
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?
8 November 2025
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.”
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
15 November 2025
China-phobia in Australia is endangering the country’s security
The toxic roots of China-phobia are deeply embedded in modern Australia’s cultural history. It has a firm grip on the minds of many of Australia’s policy wonks, politicians, media commentators, and the general public.
14 November 2025
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.
11 November 2025
After Trump goes home
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.
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Latest letters to the editor
A spotlight can be blinding. Ask any rabbit
John Mosig — Kew, Victoria
Melick: Modelling a modern major-general
Richard Llewellyn — Colo Vale
Albanese fakes a policy connection with Whitlam
Peter Henning — Melbourne
Pinocchio and the growing nose
Les Macdonald — Balmain NSW 2041