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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John Menadue. Scott Morrison at the Human Rights Commission.
Minister Morrison, assisted by the Secretary of his department, continued his aggressive ways at the hearing on August 22. He said that his policies discouraged asylum seekers risking their lives at sea. He described himself as the champion of the voiceless, ‘the ones that are at the bottom of the ocean’. He clearly wants to Continue reading »
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John Menadue. Keep trucking!
At the hearings of the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse in Melbourne last week, Cardinal George Pell is reported as saying that if the driver of a (trucking company) sexually assaulted a passenger they picked up along the way ‘I don’t think that it is appropriate for the .. leadership of Continue reading »
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John Menadue. The Bishop and the Prime Minister
In August 1987 The Bulletin published an account by Tony Abbott of why he left the seminary. A link to Tony Abbott’s account is below. Following Tony Abbott’s account, Fr Bill Wright on August 25, 1987, replied. He was a priest at that time in the Archdiocese of Sydney and Vice Rector of St Patrick’s Continue reading »
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John Menadue. Those pesky nuns.
I was taken with an article by Nicholas Kristof. It was first published in the New York Times and yesterday in the SMH. The link to the article is below. In this article there is a quote from an American nun “Let me get this straight. Some priests committed sex abuse. Bishops covered it up. Continue reading »
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John Menadue. The ANZAC Myth.
The four-year and well-funded carnival celebrating Anzac and WWI is now rolling. The carnival will depict WWI as the starting point of our nation, as our coming of age! It was nothing of the sort. It was a sign of our international immaturity and dependence on others. What was glorious about involving ourselves in the Continue reading »
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John Menadue. Who triggered the disaster in Iraq?
George Bush and his neocons must bear the principal responsibility for the disaster which is continuing to unfold in Iraq. In Australian terms, the most guilty partners are without doubt the Howard Government and News Corporation. The Howard Government’s decision to support the invasion of Iraq in 2002 was loudly supported by Tony Abbott. He Continue reading »
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John Menadue. Is there light at the end of the dark tunnel?
In my blog of April 17 I outlined ways in which we might find a way out of the refugee quagmire. It is reposted below. There is speculation that the government may announce an increase in the refugee intake to help the Christians and other minorities suffering dreadful persecution in Iraq and Syria. I hope Continue reading »
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John Menadue. Who owns Medibank Private?
The government has announced that it hopes to raise $4 billion from the sale of Medibank Private. But like many of its budget ‘savings’ it might find that it has to rely in this case on the High Court rather than the Senate to decide if the $4 billion ‘saving’ can be realised. The case Continue reading »
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John Menadue. Missing in action when Kerry and Hagel come calling?
I can understand Tony Abbott’s wish to direct attention away from the budget by going off to The Hague and London. But are Australia’s national and policy interests being served by his absence when John Kerry and Chuck Hegel visit us. In my blog of July 31 ‘Overplaying one’s hand’ I quoted Tony Abbott’s comments Continue reading »
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John Menadue. Will the new Colombo Plan work?
Julie Bishop has announced a ‘signature initiative’ of the Australian government which aims to lift knowledge of the Indo-Pacific in Australia by supporting Australian undergraduates with internships in the region. This initiative is commendable but I hope it avoids the problem of earlier attempts to lift Australian understanding and skills for our region. The main Continue reading »
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John Menadue. Diplomatic lessons for Canberra.
In my blog of July 31 ‘Overplaying one’s hand’ I said that there were clear lessons to be learned from the disasters of MH370 and MH17. The lessons are – don’t overplay your hand or overstate your case for domestic political reasons. Today in the SMH, Paul McGeough, see link below, refers to the failure Continue reading »
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John Menadue. . Come by air – no problem!
Many newspapers this morning are full of stories about fraud and bureaucratic negligence over air arrivals. The integrity of the visa system is being called into question. One June 20, last year, I posted an article ‘Come by air – no problem!’ It is reposted below. This blog highlighted the widespread preoccupation with boat arrivals. Continue reading »
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John Menadue. Suffer the little children to come unto me…
Well, not so if they are Palestinian children or asylum seeker children in our detention centres. At last counting there were 1,230 Palestinians killed in Gaza as a result of 3,000 or more air and artillery strikes. 56 Israelis have died. Close to 1,000 of those Palestinians killed were civilians, including children. Only three Israeli Continue reading »
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John Menadue. Overplaying one’s hand.
With the benefits that governments get with incumbency, presidents and prime ministers need to be careful not to overstate their case or overplay their hands. The temptation is great, particularly when there are national outpourings of grief and when a global stage awaits. Tony Abbott was certainly on the world stage over MH370. On 21 Continue reading »
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John Menadue–President Jokowi and Australia
The election of Joko Widodo as Indonesia’s seventh president is a victory for burgeoning democracy in our neighbour with 240 million people. It was a victory for civil participation by ordinary people to defeat Prabowo Subianto by a margin of 53% to 47%, by 8 million votes and winning in two thirds of Indonesia’s provinces. Continue reading »
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John Menadue–King Coal to be dethroned.
On May 1 last year I posted “A canary in the coal mine”. It focussed on the growing and wide concern about the damage to the climate caused by coal fired electricity generation. It also drew attention to the action of Jonathon Moylan who sent a hoax email concerning Whitehaven Coal to the ANZ Bank Continue reading »
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John Menadue–A lot of nonsense about productivity.
A lot of nonsense about productivity For years the Business Council of Australia and News Corp have been warning us about our poor productivity record and the need to change our industrial relations laws to bring trade unions to heel. A part of this campaign against unions is now being played out in the Royal Continue reading »
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John Menadue–Power prices – we ain’t seen nothing yet!
We have seen wild exaggeration about the effects of the carbon tax on prices and the economy. It has all turned out to be quite a fizzer. The price increases we have seen have little to do with the carbon tax and the economy continues to grow steadily. Whyalla has survived. But we have a Continue reading »
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John Menadue. Free Trade Agreement with Japan – ‘turbo charging’ our trade or mainly hype?
Next Tuesday Prime Minister Abe will visit Australia. I expect the Free Trade Agreement with Japan or its new name the Economic Partnership Agreement with Japan will feature prominently. I repost below what I said on March 29 about the limited value of these bilateral agreements. Only last week, the Productivity Commission expressed similar reservations. Continue reading »
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John Menadue. Joe Hockey and class warfare.
In his speech to the Sydney Institute last night, Joe Hockey said that the criticism of the budget was unfair and reminiscent of ‘class warfare’ of the 1970’s. Joe Hockey was right on one thing. There is class warfare and he is waging it particularly against the young and the aged in Australia. Warren Buffet Continue reading »
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John Menadue. Taxes and the free riders.
Our tax system is in a mess. It is easily exploited by the wealthy who can afford expert financial and taxation advice. We hear from Alan Jones and the Daily Telegraph about dole-bludgers. The Minister for Social Services Kevin Andrews says that disabled pensioners should get off the couch. Tax avoidance and tax bludging however Continue reading »
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John Menadue. Have we too many doctors?
There are no international comparisons that I can find that show that we have a shortage of doctors in Australia. In fact, we may be moving into a situation of having a surplus of doctors. In its “Health at a glance” the OECD found that we are above the average in our supply of doctors. Continue reading »
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John Menadue. The Blame Game in health
Attempts to resolve the Commonwealth/State blame game have been unsuccessful and expensive. Time and time again federal governments try and buy off state criticism by spending more taxpayer’s money without any real improvements in the delivery of health services. This futile blame game is not surprising in a federation where there are nine departments of Continue reading »
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John Menadue. Get ready for El Nino, Tony
The late Senator Moynihan from New York famously said that everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but no one is entitled to their own facts. Tony Abbott and Greg Hunt along with Alan Jones and Andrew Bolt have strong opinions on climate change that are not based on facts. If El Nino develops as Continue reading »
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John Menadue. Are our bankers listening or caring?
On Wednesday in London at a conference on ‘inclusive capitalism’ the Governor of the Bank of England, Mark Carney, and IMF Chief, Christine Lagarde, gave the international banking community the most severe pasting that I can ever recall of a particular industry, or at least one that operates “legally”. They said that bankers regarded themselves Continue reading »
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John Menadue. Australia-Japan – friends should be frank.
Tony Abbott is shortly to visit Japan. He should be aware of the serious ultra-nationalist trend in Japan. That ultra-nationalism in the past has brought tragedy to the Japanese people and our region. The chief exponent of this ultra-nationalism in Japan is Prime Minister, Shinzo Abe,who will be his host. I believe that Japan is Continue reading »
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John Menadue.The vendetta against the ABC and the cost to Australia
Tony Abbott’s vendetta against the ABC is prejudicing Australia’s regional diplomacy. The ABC is the most trusted media organisation in the country but Tony Abbott wants to bring it to heel. He has grown used to the fawning Murdoch media. According to Essential Research, 70% of Australians have a lot of or some trust in Continue reading »
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John Menadue. Think tanks, cash for comment and the corruption of public debate.
In recent months we have been partly appalled and partly amused by the urgers and spivs from both sides of politics that have been paraded in Sydney before the Independent Commission against Corruption. Most recently we have seen developers and others using fronts to launder money to hand on to political parties. Even the Young Continue reading »
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John Menadue. For some the age of entitlement continues.
Joe Hockey talks endlessly that the days of entitlement are over. They may be over for the unemployed, students, the sick and pensioners – in fact the majority never had days of entitlement. But they are certainly not over for the miners and the financial sector. These two sectors survived unscathed from the budget. This Continue reading »
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John Menadue. Seven dollar GP co-payment – and an unintended consequence
If the co-payment takes effect, it is likely to result in an increase in doctor’s fees. As Ian McAuley has pointed out, the attraction of bulk-billing for the doctor is that it removes the cost of handling and accounting for transactions. The invoice is sent directly to Medicare. Once the doctor is obliged to handle Continue reading »