Writer
John Menadue
John Menadue is the Founder and Editor in Chief of Pearls and Irritations. He was formerly Secretary of the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet under Gough Whitlam and Malcolm Fraser, Ambassador to Japan, Secretary of the Department of Immigration and CEO of Qantas.
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The US cherry picks international laws that suit it
Defence Minister Marles, always singing from the same tired US song book, fails to recognise the difference between international law and ‘a rules based international order’ (RBIO) that the US preaches. And there is a big difference. RBIO is code for US rules. Continue reading »
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Suffer the little children to come unto me…
Well, not so if they are Palestinian children that Israelis keep killing time and time again. It is part of what Israelis calls ‘mowing the grass’. Continue reading »
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Colonies of the US empire: Will the Cocos Islands become the new Diego Garcia?
The 2000 residents of Diego Garcia were forcibly removed to make way for a giant US military base. Will the same happen to the Australian residents on the Cocos Islands that lies south of Sumatra in the Indian ocean? Continue reading »
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White Man’s Media: The Chinese warship sonar incident
What a feast of anti-China stories we have had again from the Coalition and our media over the incident between HMAS Toowoomba and a Chinese PLA-N destroyer. Continue reading »
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Apology to Bob Carr
Last week we reposted an article about anti semitism by Bob Carr that was first posted by Pearls and Irritations on June 6, 2022. We highlighted that the article was a re-post. Some readers however did not notice that it was a re-post. The re-post was poorly timed. It was a mistake on my part. Continue reading »
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Our national failure to equip ourselves for Asia
Very few of the people briefing Anthony Albanese have much knowledge or experience of Asia. Many are Austral Americans as Paul Keating rightly calls them. Continue reading »
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A briefing for Prime Minister Albanese for his discussion with President Xi
You will receive briefings from many of your advisors, including from the Office of National Intelligence. My experience is that intelligence agencies have a lot of information but they often have poor judgement. The framing of issues by our intelligence agencies very often reflects the views and habits of the US and the Anglosphere. Continue reading »
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The US doesn’t “hold the world together”. It breaks it apart
The US is the ‘essential nation’, the ‘indispensable nation’, its leadership ‘holds the world together’. This is the boastful humbug that President Biden gave us on his return from Israel, where he again affirmed his complicity with Israel in its decades of occupation, ethnic cleansing and genocide in Palestine. The US assumes a moral superiority Continue reading »
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The future will be decided by economic influence, not military dominance
America is falling into a trap. It thinks the future will be decided by military dominance, despite losing one war after another. China, on the other hand, recognises that the future will be decided by economics. Continue reading »
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Murdoch stepping down – Don’t believe it!
Rupert Murdoch is addicted to media and politics. He will be continually looking over Lachlan’s shoulder. Continue reading »
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Health ministers maybe in office but seldom in power
The major barrier to health reform is the power of providers or at least their assumed power. Continue reading »
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Australian multiculturalism: Our greatest achievement?
In a broad sense ‘Australian multiculturalism’ describes the cultural and ethnic diversity of Australia. Over a half of Australians were born overseas or have at least one parent born overseas. I contend that Australian multiculturalism is our greatest achievement, but it has always been fraught with tension. The challenge of immigration and multiculturalism has been Continue reading »
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A growing string of Pearls and just as many Irritations: P&I needs your support
In 2017, Pearls and Irritations had a half a million views. By the end of 2022 we had more than 5.3 million views and we have already surpassed 3.3 million views heading into the second half of 2023. We receive more than 400,000 monthly views, and frequently many more. Continue reading »
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A Human Rights Act for Australia
In 2005 we commenced a campaign for a Human Rights Act for Australia. In 2009 as part of our campaign a Bill was drafted to ‘respect, protect and promote Human Rights for Australia’. This model Bill formed the core of our group’s submission to the National Human Rights Consultation, chaired by Frank Brennan SJ OA. Continue reading »
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Did the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki end the war?
In 2016, President Obama visited Hiroshima. He was the first US President to do so since the bombing in 1945. He said that he would not be apologising for the dropping of the bomb and would not try and second-guess President Harry Truman’s decision. Continue reading »
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Who started the trade war with China?
There is a sharp contradiction at the heart of the Albanese government’s attempt to stabilise trade with China, whilst at the same time preparing for war with China in support of the United States. Continue reading »
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Will the QUAD go the same way as SEATO and just become irrelevant?
President Biden sends an odd message in being unable to attend the QUAD meeting in Sydney. But at least there will be no opportunity to announce new US bases to attack China from Australia. Continue reading »
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White Man’s Media: Anti-China media beat ups continue…
This time over possible Chinese naval bases in the South Pacific. Continue reading »
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Will the Albanese Government revive the values that underpinned Medicare?
Or will it fiddle around the edges like the Rudd/Gillard Governments? Continue reading »
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We are being seduced into war again by the US, this time over Taiwan
The US must be told that we will not be involved in any way in a war with China over Taiwan. Continue reading »
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Why dental care was excluded from Medicare and why it should now be included (an edited repost)
In 1974, the Whitlam Government decided to exclude dental care from Medicare for two reasons. The first was cost. The second was political. Whitlam felt that combatting the doctors would be hard enough without having to combat dentists as well. Forty-six years later, with Australia much richer and the proven success of Medicare, it is Continue reading »
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A tainted Defence Strategic Review
P&I Editorial: Conflicts of interest at the heart of AUKUS and the Defence Strategic Review (DSR) – including the principal author of the DSR benefitting from US State Department funding designed to build support for AUKUS and the US alliance – demand independent investigation. Continue reading »
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AUKUS: a collection of views not found in our Washington dominated media
AUKUS: signed and sealed by the Liberal government when it joined the pact in September 2021, the spoils of which have been delivered by the Labor Government in March 2023. The Labor Government and Australia will pay a heavy price for what is being done in our name. We are being humiliated by our own Continue reading »
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The Iraq war, the Murdoch war and media culpability: Twenty years on…
The media here thought the terrorism over past decades in Australia fell from the deep blue sky and had no relationship to the help John Howard gave to George Bush in the illegal and immoral invasion of Iraq. Twenty years after that invasion, the Australian media continue to fail us badly over its coverage of Continue reading »
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AUKUS and the drive to war with China: Special Issue
A Labor government has puts guns before butter… how extraordinary! Today, Pearls and Irritations has taken the unusual step of devoting our issue line up entirely to articles on the drive to war with China and the disastrous commitment of $368 billion dollars of Australia’s public funding to nuclear submarines. Continue reading »
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Lobbyists are undermining public trust in our political institutions
Four Corners has once again highlighted that Lobbyists are most prolific in Canberra. Lobby firms infest Barton and Kingston. It is easy walking distance to Parliament House, the National Press Club and the major departments. A real LobbyLand with the Minerals Council of Australia, the Australian Medical Association, Lockheed Martin, the Australian Pharmacy Guild, the Continue reading »
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The Australian retreat from Asia is becoming a rout
Eleven years ago I gave the speech below. I was then pessimistic about our understanding of Asia. The situation has got markedly worse since then, writ large in the unremitting attacks on China stemming from ignorance and parochialism, particularly in our White Man’s Media. Continue reading »
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The Abdication of Australian Sovereignty
Reducing the risk of Australia becoming trapped in an American war in Asia, again, requires the Australian government to give notice now to the United States that it wishes to withdraw from the Force Posture Agreement. Continue reading »
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The Japanese Ambassador in Canberra is being withdrawn
Journalists Matthew Knott and Andrew Tillett and other anti China hawks cultivated by Yamagami-san will be particularly disappointed that they will lose their anti China news feed as well as their sushi and sake. Continue reading »
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The US sees China through the dark mirror of its own unbridled aggression
As China grows and prospers many in the US want us to believe that China will follow the same path that the US itself pursued- global military aggression, the overthrow of numerous governments around the world and persecution of minorities at home. Continue reading »
