Pearlcast EP 1

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
Working with PM Fraser - the changeover - Part 1
John Menadue

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.

Coalition politicians who can't accept the threat of climate change should resign
Ian Dunlop

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.

Book review: Turbulence - Australian foreign policy in the Trump era
Bevan Ramsden

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.

Donate

This month, support Pearls and Irritations with your tax deductible donation

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.

The integrity of our media matters - please support Pearls and Irritations

For the next month you can make a tax deductible donation through the Australian Cultural Fund via the link below.

Make a tax deductible donation
Breaking free of media group-think is a scary, lonely journey. I know. I was forced to do it
Jonathan Cook

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.

Ian McAuley

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.

It’s as if their lives do not matter
Joseph Masilamany

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.

Pope Leo and transparency in child sexual abuse cases
Kieran Tapsell

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.

Stop pretending punishment works
Sheena Colquhoun

Stop pretending punishment works

When Premier Jacinta Allan is photographed proudly advancing Victoria’s Treaty process, she is rightly praised.

Daniel Ghezelbash: The Refugee Convention is under threat, but it is not the problem
Daniel Ghezelbash

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.

US Democrats cave once more
Christopher D. Cook

US Democrats cave once more

The perils of unprincipled, performative so-called “resistance.”

Gaza winter catastrophe repeating in tents that resist neither wind nor rain
Refaat Ibrahim

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

Gaza winter catastrophe repeating in tents that resist neither wind nor rain
Refaat Ibrahim

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.

Israeli settler attack on West Bank mosque draws international condemnation
Al Jazeera Staff

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.

Trump’s ploy at the UN is American imperialism masquerading as a peace process
Jeffrey D. Sachs,  Sybil Fares

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.

Gaza woman blinded in Israeli strike opens bakery to subsist and hope
Rory Sullivan

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.

Recovering moral imagination in a time of war
Roger Chao

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.

The boy who cried antisemitism
Judith Treanor

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.”

Building a strategic movement for Gaza
Sara Abdelmawgoud

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?

10,000+ Palestinians buried beneath Gaza rubble in ‘world’s largest mass grave’
Brett Wilkins

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.”

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

China-phobia in Australia is endangering the country’s security
Allan Patience

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.

China’s new climate targets show progress but lack ambition
Jorrit Gossens

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.

After Trump goes home
Geoff Raby

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.

John Menadue

Support our independent media with your donation

Pearls and Irritations leads the way in raising and analysing vital issues often neglected in mainstream media. Your contribution supports our independence and quality commentary on matters importance to Australia and our region.

Donate

More from Pearls and Irritations

Emergency powers and tariffs: The US Supreme Court’s test of the President’s authority
Gary Sampson

Emergency powers and tariffs: The US Supreme Court’s test of the President’s authority

Richo’s grave should be extra deep
Jack Waterford

Richo’s grave should be extra deep

Sudan cannot be an invisible tragedy
Abang Anade Othow

Sudan cannot be an invisible tragedy

50,000 march to celebrate death of fossil fuel industry at COP30
Jon Queally

50,000 march to celebrate death of fossil fuel industry at COP30

‘My Viceroy’ - Part 5
Jon Stanford

‘My Viceroy’ - Part 5

‘Good neighbours are essential’: the history behind the Indonesia-Australia security treaty
Greg Barton

‘Good neighbours are essential’: the history behind the Indonesia-Australia security treaty

Nuclear testing threatens global stability
John Tilemann,  John Carlson

Nuclear testing threatens global stability

Beyond machete bans and new laws – tackling youth violence
Roger Chao

Beyond machete bans and new laws – tackling youth violence

The last Boomer
Stewart Sweeney

The last Boomer

How did Australian universities go from free education to $50,000 arts degrees in 50 years?
George Williams

How did Australian universities go from free education to $50,000 arts degrees in 50 years?

Message from the editor
Catriona Jackson

Message from the editor

Israeli settler attack on West Bank mosque draws international condemnation
Al Jazeera Staff

Israeli settler attack on West Bank mosque draws international condemnation

Latest letters to the editor

A spotlight can be blinding. Ask any rabbit

John Mosig — Kew, Victoria

https://johnmenadue.com/post/2025/11/forecasting-the-impact-of-sino-indian-relations-on-changing-world-order/?utm_source=Pearls+%26+Irritations&utm_campaign=0bbf855fd9-Daily&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_0c6b037ecb-0bbf855fd9-744841694 While Ronald Keith makes many good points, there’s reason to feel there’s some he’s misinterpreted. When it comes to China recognising world order, the annexation of Tibet, the invasions of India (1962) and Vietnam (1979), the expressed intention of annexing Taiwan, and its belligerence in the South China Sea, suggests China accepts only a Chinese world order. Mentioning the percentage of world population without reference to greenhouse gas emissions also warrants review. Emissions from China and India make up 40 per cent of the global output. It hardly looks as though they’re aligning themselves with COP decrees...
Melick: Modelling a modern major-general

Richard Llewellyn — Colo Vale

PJK rarely misses the bullseye when he launches a broadside, and this does not suggest otherwise. I have watched Melick's performance with a mixture of mirth and despair – and I was a senior member of staff when Ruxton was the RSL stooge on Council. Ruxton, for all his idiosyncrasies, was far preferable to Melick. As another of the recent coterie of ex-Army Reserve majors-general we have witnessed exhibiting all the competence of some notable British senior Army commanders of World War I vintage, it beggars the imagination as to why that career path should be considered an...
Albanese fakes a policy connection with Whitlam

Peter Henning — Melbourne

Anthony Albanese’s panegyric on Gough Whitlam identifies many of the Whitlam Government’s achievements. But if it is an attempt to paint an image of his own government as fitting the visionary Whitlam mould, it does the opposite, because it reminds us of the stark policy differences which amount to a rejection by the Albanese Government of all that Whitlam stood for. Where Whitlam broke the shackles of imperial control, ploughed resources into public education, the creation of universal healthcare and other major social reforms, and sought to create an independent and more egalitarian Australia, the Albanese Government seeks to...
Pinocchio and the growing nose

Les Macdonald — Balmain NSW 2041

I don't know if others have noticed that every time Mike Burgess appears in public, which is a rapidly growing and unpleasant phenomenon, his nose appears to be getting bigger. Like his puppet master Scott Morrison, his propensity for calumny, exaggeration and outright fabrication of threats that only ASIO can discover and eliminate is rampant. He can of course get away with it as the leader of an organisation that has no oversight of the truth or otherwise of what it says. He regularly fails to produce a jot of evidence for his claims that would stand any chance...

Catch up on other sections

Arts 130 China 1222 Climate 1451 Commendations 21 Defence 2465 Economy 2875 Education 719
Employment 39 Finance 4 Health 1542 History 71 Immigration 975 Indigenous Affairs 385 Israel Palestine 1435
Media 1882 Pearlcast 3 Podcast 43 Policy 222 Politics 18622 Racism 17 Religion 1239
Review 40 The Human Future 67 Our Top Five Each Week 2220 USA 598 World 1511

Latest from Al Jazeera

What is the international stabilisation force for Gaza?
A UNSC resolution passed backing the creation of an international stabilisation force in Gaza. So what does that mean?
Syria launches first trial over coastal violence that killed thousands
The attacks in March killed thousands, many from the Alawite religious minority.
Mixed reactions to UN Security Council approval of Gaza plan
There have been mostly positive reactions to the vote, marking a turning point in Israel's two-year war on Gaza.
US House votes on releasing Epstein files: What to expect
Trump said he will sign off on a bill to release the Epstein files if it passes in Congress on Tuesday.
What’s on the agenda as Saudi Arabia’s MBS meets Trump in the US?
Agenda to include security, weapons, trade, investment and Trump's ambition to add Saudi Arabia to the Abraham Accords.
Race to reopen Gaza schools
The ceasefire has led to an urgent push to reopen classes for 600,000 Gaza children who have missed two years of school.