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.
John Menadue's recent articles
26 July 2025
Menadue on the dulling of the Australian conscience
Speaking with the Victorian Branch of Australian Fabians, P&I publisher, founder and editor-in-chief, John Menadue, reflects on the his life and work, the state of national leadership and public institutions including a debased mainstream media.
23 July 2025
Vale John Deeble - an architect of Medicare
Following John Menadue's refection on 50 years of Medicare this week, many have raised the contribution of John Deeble. Below is an edited version of a 2018 tribute to the man without whom the scheme would not have been possible.
21 July 2025
Fifty years since that little green card came into being
Gough Whitlam had to do plenty of hard yakka to introduce an universal healthcare system. Today, it is central part of Australia life, and one of our great policy achievements.
18 July 2025
The Tasmanian election on 19 July won’t fix the mess
A Joint Commonwealth/State Health Commission could help address health failure.
17 July 2025
Donald Trump and his minions may yet do us a favour in ending AUKUS
The US must be told that we will not be involved in any way and at any time in a war with China over Taiwan.
25 June 2025
Our white man’s media shuns Asia
We talk glibly about our future in Asia, but we are stuck in a US and UK media cul de sac.
18 June 2025
The bamboo ceiling is still very much in place Down Under
Our business sector lacks the skills to do business in Asia. And instead of improving, the situation is getting markedly worse.
15 June 2025
PM Albanese promises to restore trust in democracy
But his record does not give grounds for confidence. In his National Press Club address, PM Albanese referred to the trust deficit in other democracies such as the US. The clear inference is that Australia does not have a “trust” deficit.
28 May 2025
Our retreat from Asia has become a rout
On almost every measure, Australia has gone backwards on engaging with our region, and particularly with China, and it is time to do something about it.
23 May 2025
Weaponisation of ‘antisemitism’ hides primitive savagery of Palestinian genocide
As expressed in the UN General Assembly, the vast majority of the world’s governments and peoples agree that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza and now the West Bank.
3 May 2025
'Never again' for Jews, Palestinians and all humanity
A picture is worth a thousand words.
29 September 2022
Beijing wont be threatened into changing Taiwan plans, analysts say
Chinas foreign ministry lodged stern representations with the US after President Joe Biden again said American troops would defend the island if the PLA attacks.
28 September 2022
President Abbas at UNGA: Why is Israel not punished for violating international law?
Who is protecting Israel from being held accountable? Why these double standards when it comes to Israel?
25 September 2022
Wests divide and rule culture a great threat to development
The latest 2021/22 Human Development Report was recently released. Titled Uncertain Times, Unsettled Lives: Shaping our Future in a Transforming World, it paints a picture of a global society lurching from crisis to crisis, and which risks heading towards increasing deprivation and injustice. This is a big shock to those of us who aspire for a world of shared prosperity.
31 August 2022
John F. Copper: Where are the Chinese students going?
According to recent data published in China and admission reports from U.S. universities, the number of Chinese students applying for study in American institutions of higher learning in recent months has fallen markedly.
28 August 2022
Neil Hauxwell: Toward a great TAFE revival
The most important outcome from the Jobs and Skills Summit must be some federal government leadership. Our Vocational Education and Training system, including TAFE, is in urgent need of a major reset.
22 August 2022
Everett Bledsoe: The US military empire. How many US military bases are there in the world?
The Pentagon does not know how many bases it has around the world so it relies on academics to tell it. The US bases are gated communities which replicate US suburbs, shops and amenities to the exclusion of local people.
19 August 2022
Bill Armstrong: National security through community engagement. Fail to honour people and they will fail to honour you. (Lao Tsu 2000 years ago)
We are living through a change of era on planet earth. Huge changes are ongoing. There is no doubt that the recent federal election gave a mandate to the incoming Government to RESET the way we do business at many levels.
14 August 2022
Eva Bartlett: The West is silent as Ukraine targets civilians in Donetsk using banned butterfly mines
The use of PFM-1 explosives against civilians is prohibited by the Geneva Conventionsbut this evidently isnt stopping Ukraine.
11 August 2022
Alan Pears: Climate action will drive disruptive change, but we can build on past experience
Election May 2022 a new beginning for climate and energy policy?
6 August 2022
Andrew Bacevich: American Imperium - Untangling truth and fiction in an age of perpetual US wars (Repost from 1/1/2018)
'Republicans and Democrats disagree today on many issues, but they are united in their resolve that the United States must remain the worlds greatest military power. In its most benign form, the consensus finds expression in extravagant and unremitting displays of affection for those who wear the uniform. Considerably less benign is a pronounced enthusiasm for putting our soldiers to work keeping America safe. This tendency finds the United States more or less permanently engaged in hostilities abroad, even as presidents from both parties take turns reiterating the nations enduring commitment to peace.'
3 August 2022
Katrina Watson: How to save General Practice
Im a recently retired specialist doctor and I keep an eye on medical affairs. They affect all of us, especially as we get older, and people still ask what I think.
28 July 2022
Manlio Graziano - United States: the end of an illusion of omnipotence
I do not accept second place for the United States of America. That simple statement, delivered to rousing effect by Barack Obama in his first State of the Union, in January 2010, managed to summarize the current American strategic horizon in a single sentence.
25 June 2022
CRAIG MURRAY. Biden works to prolong Ukraine war
Why we live in a world where the goal of nations is to damage the lives of inhabitants of other nations is a question which continues to puzzle me.
30 April 2022
Peter Tait: Vote Independent? If that doesn't work, then what?
Voting independent needs careful preferencing. If your independent doesnt get up (or you dont have that option), you can try Active Democracy
4 April 2022
David Van Deusen: No love for Putin: No guns for Nazis in Ukraine
Ukraine in fact has a serious Nazi problem.
2 April 2022
Kathy Kelly: The people of Yemen suffer at the hands of the US, UAE and Saudi Arabia...377,000 dead
The United Nationsestimated last fall that the Yemen death toll would top 377,000 people by the end of 2021. Compare that to the deaths in Ukraine! Our media shows no interest or concern.
17 March 2022
Tobias Debiel and Herbert Wulf: Escalation and de-escalation in the Ukraine War-A German perspective
Demonization and humiliation do not pave the way to the negotiating table.
3 January 2021
The shabby treatment of nurses by medical doctors.
A collection of recent articles about the dismissal of the key role of nurses by the Medical Benefits Schedule Review Taskforce. The doctor dominated Taskforce is determined not to understand that nurses hold the health system together
3 March 2019
GARRY EVERETT. Sex Only??
The recent Hollywood movie, On the basis of sex, tells the story of the first successful court case argued by Ruth Bader Ginsburg in the 9th Circuit Court. The subject matter was discrimination by the Federal Tax Laws, against a man who was denied a tax concession as his mothers carer, on the grounds that only women were regarded as carers. It was the early 1960s, and one wonders how such an antiquated view could have still prevailed in the USA legal system.
28 February 2019
CHAS W. FREEMAN JR. After the trade war, a real war with China
[T]he greatest danger of a [real] Sino-American war is Taiwan. Taiwan is a former Chinese province that was recovered from its Japanese occupiers by Nationalist China at the end of World War II. In 1949, having been defeated everywhere else in China, Chiang Kai-shek and his Nationalist forces retreated to it.
28 February 2019
STEPHEN de WEGER. Clerical sexual abuse of adults. Another blind spot.
In 2013, after working as a research assistant project into clergy sexual abuse of children, I decided to undertake an exploratory study into clergy sexual misconduct against adults. During this study I came across what I believe should be a strategic document regarding the understanding of the clergy sexual abuse crisis we are witnessing right now - Sipes 11-point thesis. (The late Dr Richard Sipe was a note US psychotherapist and acknowledged expert in the psychosexuality of Catholic clerics).
27 February 2019
FRANCIS SULLIVAN. Pell conviction blows apart bishops' mantra
Yesterdays announcement of the conviction of Cardinal George Pell has been shattering for many and a relief for others. The fact that the most senior cleric in Australia has been found guilty is devastating on many levels. Not the least because he was such a high-profile proponent for the safeguarding children in the church and its provision of compensation to victims.
27 February 2019
BARNEY ZWARTZ. George Pell has fallen, but the cardinal's legacy casts a long shadow
So Cardinal George Pell by far Australia's best-known church leader of the past 25 years, the highest-ranked Australian ever at the Vatican, a confidant of prime ministers faces a jail sentence for child sexual abuse. The dispenser of God's grace (through the sacrament) has surely reached the nadir of human disgrace.
27 February 2019
GEORGE MONBIOT. Dark money is pushing for a no-deal Brexit. Who is behind it?
Modern governments respond to only two varieties of emergency: those whose solution is bombs and bullets, and those whose solution is bailouts for the banks. But what if they decided to take other threats as seriously?
20 February 2019
DEMETRI SEVASTOPULO AND DAVID BOND . UK National Cyber Security Centre says Huawei is manageable risk to 5G( Financial Times London 18.2.2019
British intelligence has concluded that it is possible to mitigate the risk from using Huawei equipment in 5G networks, in a serious blow to US efforts to persuade allies to ban the Chinese supplier from high-speed telecommunications systems.
20 February 2019
MARILYN HATTON. Pray and light a candle for our church in crisis.
For years a small but expanding number of Catholics in Australia have beenappealing for church reform and have struggled to gain attention from our bishops. Our prayers and entreaties for change in the clerical, male-dominated cloisters have fallen on unattentive ears.
14 February 2019
RUTH ADLER. Brexit uncertainties fuel speculation on Irish unification referendum
With weeks remaining until the 29 March deadline for a deal on Brexit, there is speculation that failure to reach agreement will result in increased momentum for a referendum on Irish unification under the Good Friday Agreement. Several Cabinet Ministers in Theresa Mays government are reportedly seriously concerned about the prospect, with one describing it as very real. Another has expressed concern that the British government risks sleepwalking into a border poll. Such a referendum would, however, be unlikely to succeed at the present time.
6 February 2019
LIZ HANNA. A warming Australia spells serious trouble for human health
Climate change. Global warming. A hotter planet. A hotter Australia. Yet few are asking the difficult question of how hot is too hot?. We have so many elephants in the room at present that the room is getting pretty crowded, but as we are barrelling towards 1.5oC of planetary warming since pre-industrial times, the how hot is too hot elephant is definitely in the room. We need to let it out and examine heat tolerance.
6 February 2019
GERARD O'CONNELL. Before arriving in U.A.E., pope challenges his hosts to help end Yemen crisis
Pope Francis made a powerful appeal to the interested parties and to the international community to end the humanitarian crisis in Yemen in which some 10 million people risk starvation.
3 February 2019
CLAIRE GIANGRAVE. UN panel probes Italys role in Churchs child abuse scandals
A United Nations Committee for the protection of minors questioned the Italian government last week about clerical sexual abuse in the country, expressing concern over laws that protect predator priests from criminal charges.
24 January 2019
IAN AND TIM ROBINSON. A Sad Excuse for a National Day
A National Day should be the anniversary of a central event in the life of the nation, a day when we all come together and celebrate our nations shared values a celebration of the start of our nations journey, usually the attainment of independence, or some other significant national milestone.
23 January 2019
CIARA MORRIS. Seeing China Through a Washington Lens
Balancing relations between China and the US is arguably Australia's greatest foreign policy challenge in the 21st century. But is Australia getting it right?
20 January 2019
PATSY MCGARRY. Church response to modern abuse scandals 'same as 30 years ago.'
Marie Collins claims lessons of abuse in Ireland not being used to change policy elsewhere The church reaction is a mirror image of what we were hearing here in Ireland 30 years ago.
16 January 2019
SANG JIEJA. Tibetans get home decor order: Hang Xi, Mao portrait
Dalai Lama images removed from temples, monasteries as Party reinforces iconography of its 'heroes'; households next
15 January 2019
RICHARD KINGSFORD. The catastrophic fish kill on the Darling River decades in the making
The plight of the Darling River shocked the nation last week, when up to a million fish were killed by lack of oxygen, accompanying the disruption of a blue-green algal bloom on a forty kilometre stretch of the river near Menindee, southeast of Broken Hill. This followed a similar kill of tens of thousands of native fish in December.
14 January 2019
'CHRIS HARRINGTON. Care? The scourge of the ward station'
The professionalism in hospitals may have contributed greatly to better data collection and use of technology, but after a visit to a hospice and an ICU unit recently, I wondered what has happened to care. Our system is failing us.
14 January 2019
JEFFREY SACHS and others.- Fully Filling the Global Fund.
In a world divided by conflict and greed, the Global Funds fight against AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria is a matter of enlightened self-interest and a reminder of how much humanity can accomplish when we cooperate to save lives. For public and private donors, that means providing the financing needed to eliminate all three scourges by 2030.
10 January 2019
JONATHAN WEISMAN. American Jews and Israeli Jews break up
The events of the past year brought American and Israeli Jews closer to a breaking point. President Trump, beloved in Israel and decidedly unloved by a majority of American Jews, moved the United States Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem in May, with the fiery evangelical pastors John Hagee and Robert Jeffress consecrating the ceremony.
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