Pearlcasts
As we review 2025, the temptation is to look for neat summaries and settled conclusions.
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10 January 2026
Best of 2025 - States increase pressure on Commonwealth to address hospital cost increases
Hark back to December 2023. National Cabinet endorsed a historic agreement setting the parameters for future Commonwealth-state sharing of public hospital costs over the next decade.
10 January 2026
Best of 2025 - Ben Saul on Palestinian recognition and the Trump plan
At the National Press Club this week, Ben Saul argued that Australia is more than a modest middle power and must step up on Palestine.
10 January 2026
Best of 2025 - Chris Sidoti's prescription for action on Palestine
At the National Press Club this week with Ben Saul, Chris Sidoti argues that recognition of Palestine is important, but that Australia must also comply with international law obligations, including acting on arrest warrants from the International Criminal Court.
10 January 2026
Best of 2025 - Trump’s mongrel punt
In the Australian vernacular, a mongrel punt is an erratic kick forward of a football which leaves those participating in the game with an awkward choice between contesting possession (possibly at the cost of broken fingers) and waiting to see where the ball bounces.
10 January 2026
Best of 2025 - Age policy is a shambles. Where to from here? Part 1 & 2
Wherever you look, at residential aged care institutions, at retirement village life, at the home support package scheme, or talk to the people over 65 — called the old — living at home making no claim on the system, just coping by whatever means they can, this stage of life means grappling with overwhelming challenges.
10 January 2026
Best of 2025 - Could the Teals win Senate seats in an expanded parliament?
Important discussions are taking place within the government and before the Joint Standing Committee on Electoral Matters about increasing the size of the federal parliament.
10 January 2026
Best of 2025 - New revelations of the Murdoch empire’s underbelly – From The Hack’s real-life journalist
This is the humblest day of my life, declared Rupert Murdoch to a parliamentary committee on 19 July 2011.
10 January 2026
Best of 2025 - The Chris Hedges Report: We are all antifa now
The designation of the amorphous group antifa as a terrorist organisation allows the state to brand all dissidents as supporters of antifa and prosecute them as terrorists.
9 January 2026
Minister for Home Affairs Tony Burke should reject a visa application for Israeli President Herzog
Australia’s visa laws allow exclusion on grounds of character and incitement of discord. Those tests raise serious questions about whether Israel’s president should be welcomed while the killing in Gaza continues.
9 January 2026
Best of 2025 - Recognition of the Palestinian State without halting the genocide: A meaningless decision
Since the occurrence of the war in October 2023, which shocked the conscience of the world, bringing the Palestinian question back to the forefront of international attention, much more legitimacy has accrued to the rights of the Palestinians.
9 January 2026
Avoiding false conclusions
In the aftermath of the Bondi attack, explanations have been offered quickly and with strong moral force. Misidentifying the causes of violence, however, risks obscuring political responsibility and undermining efforts to reduce future harm.
Read our series
Latest on Palestine and Israel
10 January 2026
Best of 2025 - Ben Saul on Palestinian recognition and the Trump plan
At the National Press Club this week, Ben Saul argued that Australia is more than a modest middle power and must step up on Palestine.
10 January 2026
Best of 2025 - Chris Sidoti's prescription for action on Palestine
At the National Press Club this week with Ben Saul, Chris Sidoti argues that recognition of Palestine is important, but that Australia must also comply with international law obligations, including acting on arrest warrants from the International Criminal Court.
10 January 2026
Best of 2025 - Trump’s mongrel punt
In the Australian vernacular, a mongrel punt is an erratic kick forward of a football which leaves those participating in the game with an awkward choice between contesting possession (possibly at the cost of broken fingers) and waiting to see where the ball bounces.
9 January 2026
Best of 2025 - Recognition of the Palestinian State without halting the genocide: A meaningless decision
Since the occurrence of the war in October 2023, which shocked the conscience of the world, bringing the Palestinian question back to the forefront of international attention, much more legitimacy has accrued to the rights of the Palestinians.
9 January 2026
Best of 2025 - The poisonous chalice of recognition: A double-edged sword for Palestine
While we should not regard it as a “historical moment” or a “game changer”, the recognition does have the potential to help Palestinians lead us into a different future.
9 January 2026
Best of 2025 - Don’t mistake truth for hate, prime minister
Anthony Albanese says Palestinian children are taught to hate. My daughter’s first trip home proves otherwise.
9 January 2026
Best of 2025 - Ex-bishop questions if Coalition is committed to Mideast peace
Former Anglican bishop of Canberra Goulburn, George Browning, has criticised federal Opposition leader Sussan Ley over a letter she sent to members of the Republican Party who had written to Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, attempting to stop him from recognising a Palestinian state at the UN this week.
8 January 2026
Best of 2025 - Genocide betrays the living and the dead
Genocide scholars Damir Mitric and Jill Klein have deep personal and professional experience in genocide and repercussions across generations. As the world watches in horror as the genocide in Gaza continues, they bring us their story.
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
7 January 2026
Best of 2025 - If we want to win the Pacific, we must first listen – and stop blaming China for everything
A 9 September editorial in The Sydney Morning Herald, titled China and Australia in a high-speed race to win control of the Pacific, offered a vivid picture of the daily contest for influence in the region.
6 January 2026
Best of 2025 - Who’s afraid of big, bad China?
Be afraid, be very afraid. But not of China. To the contrary, the proper management of co-operative relations with China is essential to Australia’s future.
5 January 2026
Best of 2025 - Australia is one trade deal away from backing authoritarians, says Taiwan
In the grand tradition of diplomatic overreach, Taiwan's deputy foreign minister recently offered some sweet and spicy talking points to our media: semiconductors are tanks, China is akin to WWII Germany, and if Australia doesn't fast-track Taiwan into the CPTPP, we might all wake up speaking Mandarin under a fascist AI regime, as reported by News Corp and 7 News.
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