
22 June 2025
Chalmers hints at more tax reform – What should we do first? Part 1
In the first of a two-part series Saul Eslake examines what the top tax reform priorities should be.

22 June 2025
Writers bearing witness in a time of genocide
I’ve been thinking a lot about an honours thesis I wrote more than 20 years ago, that thing you sweated through, that maybe your mother skimmed, that you stuck in the back of a cupboard somewhere never to be read or thought of again.

22 June 2025
Environment: Murray-Darling Plan delivers profits, but not environmental improvement
Murray-Darling Plan has achieved five of seven economic goals but only 2 of 12 environmental ones. Will climate change be good or bad for the economy? Nations’ current emissions reduction policies unlikely to keep global warming under 2oC.

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For the month of June Pearls and Irritations is running a fundraising campaign through the Australian Cultural Fund. Your donation will support the development of content for topics of particular of interest to Australia - Palestine, China, Climate Change and Immigration Policy and the development of a Young Writer's Handbook to encourage new young writers.
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22 June 2025
Aboriginal-Chinese roots of reconciliation: China’s first cultural envoys in Australia
As Australia marked Reconciliation Week (27 May – 3 June ), a landmark exhibition at the National Museum of Australia reminds us that Indigenous–Chinese bonds helped forge the links between the two peoples long before Canberra and Beijing formalised diplomacy in 1972.

22 June 2025
US brain drain set to gather pace as academics seek posts outside Trump’s America
Increasing numbers of scientists are eyeing opportunities in Australia, Canada, China and Europe amid threatened cuts to funding.

21 June 2025
A new cold war is sweeping across Europe – with global repercussions
The last three and more years have seen the bloodiest war on European soil for the better part of 80 years.

21 June 2025
IDF actions in Gaza directly contradict Jewish ethical tradition
The Israeli response to the Hamas attacks on 7 October 2023 has been massive and all-encompassing.

21 June 2025
Thai Government in turmoil over embarrassing call – Asian Media Report
In Asian media this week: Party quits Thailand’s governing coalition. Plus: Cambodia named a global cyberscam hub; Japanese PM empty-handed after Trump meeting; US tariff regime a critical test for ASEAN; New efforts to ease two-Koreas tensions; Indonesia revises history of anti-Chinese riots.

21 June 2025
Australia’s trade survival depends on beating Trump’s tariff contagion
How does Canberra cope in a world that threatens to spin off into competing blocs and help shape a world that preserves multilateralism, even if the United States is not a constructive part of it?

21 June 2025
News Corp’s China obsession: why beating the drum is easier than thinking
Introducing our new columnist Fred Zhang, who brings you his take on the way the Australian media reports and/or mis- and under- reports on China.

21 June 2025
AUKUS submarines would be obsolete before Australia gets them
Before the drawings have been completed, new detection technology has already made RN SSN AUKUS obsolete.
Latest on Palestine and Israel

21 June 2025
IDF actions in Gaza directly contradict Jewish ethical tradition
The Israeli response to the Hamas attacks on 7 October 2023 has been massive and all-encompassing.

20 June 2025
Speaking out from within: Jewish voices confront Israeli aggression
As Israel's military campaign in Gaza reaches unprecedented levels of destruction, a global wave of protest has emerged.

20 June 2025
Now is the time for humanitarian aid to flow into Gaza
Israel recently launched a brutal new offensive in Gaza, followed by an expanded ground offensive, killing and injuring thousands of beleaguered Palestinians.

19 June 2025
Stop Netanyahu before he gets us all killed
We could soon see several nuclear powers pitted against each other and dragging the world closer to nuclear annihilation.

17 June 2025
Imposing meaningful sanctions against Israel is not difficult
For decades, the Israeli Government has revealed itself impervious to pressure from international bodies like the United Nations and the International Criminal Court of Justice.

17 June 2025
Why targeted measures on Israeli officials won’t stop the war in Gaza
On 14 June 2025, five Western nations — Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Norway, and the United Kingdom — jointly imposed sanctions on two senior Israeli ministers: Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich.

16 June 2025
Australian society and the conflict for Palestine
Australia’s symbolic actions on Palestine may not change the course of the conflict, but they matter deeply at home.

15 June 2025
Sanctioning Ben-Gvir and Smotrich is but a tiny, sad step in ending the Gaza massacre
Alas and alack! Woe be unto us, for we have sinned: Five countries have imposed sanctions on Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir. The war in Gaza will now stop immediately, and maybe the occupation, too, certainly the apartheid.

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

22 June 2025
Aboriginal-Chinese roots of reconciliation: China’s first cultural envoys in Australia
As Australia marked Reconciliation Week (27 May – 3 June ), a landmark exhibition at the National Museum of Australia reminds us that Indigenous–Chinese bonds helped forge the links between the two peoples long before Canberra and Beijing formalised diplomacy in 1972.

21 June 2025
News Corp’s China obsession: why beating the drum is easier than thinking
Introducing our new columnist Fred Zhang, who brings you his take on the way the Australian media reports and/or mis- and under- reports on China.

20 June 2025
People of Pacific Rim say 'no' to US-China war
The Pacific and Pacific Rim countries have a geographical commonality. They are encircled by, or have a border with, the vast, blue, peaceful Pacific Ocean.

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Latest letters to the editor
Climate hypocrisy
Amy Hiller — Kew
Zionists are antisemites
Peter Hehir — Rozelle
Clarifying Zionism
Alexander Donald — Cairns
Progressive patriotism and vision
Wes Mason — Gisborne