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A new study may have strengthened the COP28 text

David Spratt and Ian Dunlop provide a telling review of COP28, the most recent UN climate conference. While it is true that the heavily modified text assumes it is possible to negotiate with the laws of nature and that physics doesnt care, it is also true that there is no better process. At least Spratt and Dunlop havent suggested one. But they are right to be angry and alarmed like the scientists they quote. It is infuriating, particularly for Pacific Island nations, that in the hottest year on record, as we nudge the feared 1.5-degree anomaly, that...

Do Australians want a bigger or better Australia?

When Gough Whitlam opined that Australia would not need nor should it have a population of over 15 million, no one called him a xenophobe or racist. Net overseas migration ran at around 70,000 per annum through the periods of government by Prime Ministers, Whitlam, Fraser, and Hawke-Keating. Yet, there was never a clamour for an expanded immigration policy. Successive polls have found that the great majority of Australians dont want the Big Australia policy that proved to be the final nail in the coffin for the Rudd prime ministership. According to TAPRI, 70% of Australians wanted...

Vale Mark Valencia

Readers will miss Mark's thoughtful and provocative commentaries on China and Australia-China relations. Jocelyn Chey

Criminal conviction review

So far, I havent succeeded in interesting the WA attorney general in setting up a Criminal Conviction Review Commission. Even where new facts or new science emerges after a case, there seems to be no onus on the state to correct the conviction. And yet WA has had cases of a lab failing to meet standard DNA protocols. It has had one case where some evidence appeared to indicate time runs backwards. . It would probably be better if CCRCs were composed of jurists from another state. It was concerning to see a judge the other day say that the...

On calls for genocide.

I should point out that allegations that the slogan From the river to the sea represents calls for genocide of Israel mean that the well-known song, Advance Australia Fair is unquestionably a call for an all-white Australia.

Knowing China - Australia must learn how to engage

Teow Loon Ti is quite correct in stating that China is knowable., however the statement that Australia was not a party to Chinas century of humiliation., is not correct. From its colonial era to post Federation, the Australian population, has been hostile to the presence of Chinese. There are numerous documented examples of violent incidents, commencing in the 1850's, perpetrated on Chinese gold miners in Australia by non-Chinese immigrants resulting in martial law being applied following the Lambing Flats Riot of 1861 and the creation of the White Australia policy and legislation post Federation. Anti-Chinese violence occurred also in China....

Israel's Transition to Tyranny

The World at large watches as Israel's tyrannical government continues its genocidal project in Gaza. Onlookers are either justifiably horrified, vocally admiring or perhaps casually dis-interested in this tragedy as nothing meaningful is done to halt the vengeful bloodshed of innocents by the Israeli Defense Force. Few in Western communities appreciate the historic developments that enabled the creation of modern Israel and to this end Western mainstream media has submitted to the Zionist lobby groups that shape the false narrative of the reality that is currently on display in Gaza. (one could argue that a similar paradox exists for the...

Ending the Revolutions - Historical Errors

Dear Editor, Contrary to what Dr Kildea claims in April 2021, Northern Ireland has not been engaged in a civil war for the past 45 or so years. Further he claims/implies in his article that the troubles in northern Ireland are as a result of Partition in 1921 and are therefore somehow linked to the 1916 revolution. The fact of the matter is the troubles of the 1960's started in 1968 not because of some desire to have a united Ireland but because a peaceful demonstration by Bernadette Devlin and her Peoples Democracy group attempted to walk in protest...

CIS was not created by Atlas

We are surprised that John Menadue would publish a piece like this https://publish.pearlsandirritations.com/secrecy-and-the-climate-disinformation-industry/ relying on mere innuendo and false statements. For the record: 1: The Centre for Independent Studies (CIS) was not created by Atlas. CIS was started before Atlas in Greg Lindsays back garden. 2: all our research is on the public record. We are not trying to hide. Further, our research is externally peer-reviewed. 3: our only carbon research to date has recommended a carbon tax. 4: we do not receive, and have never received, funding from Atlas.

Addressing intergenerational injustice

The UN Child Rights Committee states that children have a right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment. Yet, as David Shearman explains, Australias young people are burdened with air pollution from burning fossil fuels, and a climate and environment that is in a state of severe decline (Amendment of the Climate Change Act will offer a future for young people 9/12). Most remain unaware that 12 per cent of all childhood asthma cases are due to cooking with gas in the home. And that 11,000 Australians die prematurely from traffic exhaust air pollution. The impact of fine particulate matter...

Pathway to Paris

Optimists still argue that the Paris Agreement is not dead. We heard them at Dubai, repeating over and over that we must keep 1.5 alive. But what if the odds dont favour the Dunlop/Spratt double saviour solution? A study done recently by Professor Jacqueline Peel of the Melbourne Law School for the Climate Council discusses some of the stumbling blocks which litter Australias pathway to observance of Paris. The main one is our failure to recognise climate change as a matter of national environmental significance (MNES) in association with the Environmental Protection and Biodiversity Protection Act. Is it too late...

If Tony Abbott thinks, few care about what

At COP28, King Charles said, We are seeing alarming tipping points being reached and we are dreadfully far off track as the global stocktake report demonstrates. Noel Turnbull wonders what Tony Abbott thinks. Its not hard to guess. At the inaugural conference of the ultra-conservative Alliance for Responsible Citizenship, just before COP28, Abbott said The climate cult will inevitably be discredited Although Abbott is a staunch catholic, the US-based National Catholic Reporter described him as a trustee of the Global Warming Policy Foundation, the UK's main climate science denial group. He is even at loggerheads with Pope Francis who...

Humanitarian crisis in Gaza

The humanitarian catastrophe that has befallen the people of Gaza has to be addressed. It cannot wait until the war stops. That means water, food, medical supplies and sanitation requirements need to get to them urgently. A Berlin-type air lift is needed to accomplish this purpose. The west has the resources and the technical means for this and could relieve the suffering. We need to demonstrate our independence and our solidarity with the innocent and the vulnerable.

PLEASE TELL ME IT ISN'T TRUE

In a recent issue which had Keating's opinion of Kissinger and several high quality articles on public policy, l was disturbed to ready Brian Toohey's piece on Hawke and Coombe. I don't want this to be true, because if it is true, my opinion of the loveable larriken transmutes into old sleaze bag. There seemed to be a lot of hearsay. Also nasty stuff about Teamsters and mafia. Would it be possible to get more fact checking for items such as this? It in some ways lowers the tone of what is a terrific and much...

"Homo Moronicus" and the climate heating crisis

In 1962 I was trying to decide whether to enrol in science or in medicine at University of Sydney. My fathers cousin Peter Funk, a CSIRO atmospheric scientist, was sending up helium balloons from Aspendale in Melbourne to measure the changes in CO2 concentration at various heights. He told me that atmospheric CO2 was rapidly increasing and was a powerful greenhouse gas, and that its source was humanitys burning of fossil fuels. He predicted all the effects of the climate heating crisis that we see today. Paul Ehrlich of Population Bomb fame has renamed Homo Sapiens Homo Moronicus and I...

Voice referendum lite

THE rejection of The Voice referendum has implications beyond the bifurcation of indigenous and non-indigenous peoples. First-Nation Australians and NZ Maori, as much as with indigenous peoples the world over, given the dalliance with authoritarianism - dictatorship even - in America and Europe. But the NO votes represent an unconscious and internalised reversion to type of Australia and its people more than realised. They reflect the resistance of elements of the Australian character lurking beneath the surface. Four aspects make up this Australian character, which obscure the lineal continuity of its history. The same racism, populism, masculinity, and secularism inform...

Spineless Cowards and the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples

While Ross may be keeping his eye on NZers, mine will be on the ball. The ball in this case is the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP). Senator Lidia Thorpes bill before the Senate on December 6th was defeated 10 votes to 27 with the major parties combining to sink the bill. This act of bastardry (Im being polite) by the Federal Government exposes them for what they really are: spineless cowards! At a time when this Government had a chance to save face and show a semblance of leadership, they dogged it! ...

We need an Earth Systems Treaty for our children

We Baby Boomers have lived in the belief that developing a richer standard of living, an ever-more-comfortable quality of life, is the greatest gift we will leave to our children and grandchildren. But in our desire for more, and richer, we have built this gift through using ever-more fossil fuels. Our politicians, with few exceptions, have found it easier to continue the easy, but finite, path of fossil fuel use than to confront the urgent challenge of major transition, which would come at some short-term economic cost to their electorates. Politicians who support transition too often succumb to the mantra...

BDS campaign against Israel

Australias superannuation funds have over $3.5 trillion under management. Industry funds are increasingly questioning Board performance, especially remuneration recommendations. The representative structure of industry fund boards employers, members, and independent directors suggests a reflection of the priorities of those constituencies, albeit within the directors fiduciary duties to the fund and its beneficiaries. Given the increasing realisation by the general public of the horrific, not to mention illegal, mass slaughter of the Palestinian population in Gaza by Israels Defence Forces, fund members should expect something more than a purely financial, politically neutral, position from those who manage our retirement...

An observation on misidentifying women of colour

Alicia Vrajlal's article was enlightening. Not only for shining a light on the prejudices women of colour in professional roles still face; but is also shows very clearly that most journalists don't fact check, they don't check even the simplest things in their own articles. Just get it written, get it published and the consequences be damned. Realistically, it must be cheaper for media outlets to print falsities and then issues apologies for printing garbage; than it is to hire quality staff who can pick these mistakes up before they go into print.

Unconscionable profits funding universal wellbeing

Accountants cannot report unconscionable profits that are more than the incentive to invest. This is because accounting doctrines do not require the time horizon of investors to be reported. What is not reported cannot be taxed. Introducing boomerang ownership gets around this problem. The tax incentive would provide shareholders quicker, bigger, less risky profit sooner, on condition that they changed the corporate constitution to allocate a small fraction of their equity by book entry each year to a citizen stakeholder account. This would allow local citizens to become endowed with shares each year. The government would gain new tax...

Keating on Kissinger

However, this slight throwaway paragraph Public commentary will attest to the controversial decisions that Henry Kissinger made in respect of a number of regions in the world, and in his demise, we will probably hear more of that was an extraordinary dismissal of the immense damage done by Kissenger. Millions of people and many thousands of communities were devastated as a result of his actions on behalf of the USA. On balance, who did he really serve and benefit? History will not be kind, nor should it be.

A question of counting?

I refer to the 'journalism' outlined in this article and cannot but stand dumbfounded by not just the audacity of the perpetrators but the willing ignorance of many. I would like to offer an example in support. As of 10:20am Saturday morning, I read the latest ABC News article with updates on the Israel-Gaza war. The first section is about the number of deaths since the ceasefire has ended. 178. Gone is all reference to the horrifying tally (constantly reported like bloody sports scores) that reached over 14,000 just a week ago. It should be...

Big Oil and big lies

Smoke, mirrors and disinformation indeed. (Analysis exposes big oil P & I 1/12/2023) The International Energy Agency(IEA) has recently called out the oil sector for its reluctance to properly acknowledge the climate damage of its product, and its meagre investment (said to be 1%) in clean energy. The OPEC Secretary General, Mr Haitham Al Ghais, in reply, argued for equality of opportunity among energy sources. Cigarette makers are now obliged to warn customers of the effects of smoking. Oil merchants need a similar calling to account. Exxon Oil, one of the companies still pushing back on renewable energy sources, was...

Lets put Covid deaths into context

Dear Editor, The ABC reports that: COVID-19 entered the top five in 2022, with most deaths occurring during the Omicron wave. It's the first time an infectious disease has been a leading cause of death in more than 50 years. (https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-09-27/covid-in-abs-leading-causes-of-death-data-heart-disease-/102906350) The virus was responsible for more than one in 20 deaths in 2022, making it the third-leading cause of death behind coronary heart diseaseand dementia. The latest causes of deaths report from the Australia Bureau of Statistics (ABS), which is released once per year, said COVID-19 accounted for 9,859 of 190,939 deaths last year. Leading causes of death...

Marise Payne and the inquiry into Covid

Broinowski referred to Marise Payne as Malcolm Turnbull's Foreign Minister in the context of her call for an inquiry into the source of COVID. In fact, Payne was appointed by Turnbull as Defence Minister and later appointed as Foreign Minister by Scott Morrison, who is not mentioned in the article. It was under Morrison that she called for the inquiry. Broinowski also conjectures that the Chinese assumed she was put up to this by Trump following her visit to Washington, and then says it was very likely so, since Australia's exports to China suffered and America's did not. This appears...

Our democracies must change to meet the climate crisis

Chandan Nair sets out with exquisite clarity the fundamental weakness that the developed world faces in our fight against our changing climate. Democracies with regular election cycles focus politicians on populist policies and short-term fixes. Politicians will not court unpopularity through imposing hardship on their electors; click-bait-hungry media exacerbate this problem. As Chandan Nair says: ... climate change and other existential threats make for good slogans, but weak manifestoes. Our world is close to a tipping points brink. If humanity is to survive we need effective solutions urgently to transition our world to a more sustainable basis. Our democracies have...

Australia, UK and USA are militarising the Indo-Pacific

China and several Asian countries maintain that under international law, foreign militaries are not able to conduct military and intelligence-gathering activities, such as reconnaissance flights, in their exclusive economic zones (EEZ). Yet the USA and Australia insist that under UNCLOS their navies and air forces have that freedom in any economic zone without needing to notify the host country. But new deals negotiated by Washington with Micronesia, the Marshall Islands and Palau means the USA can stop navies and air forces from other countries entering their EEZs. Australia needs to decide whether its EEZ is not to be...

Slaughter of the Innocents

Somehow, despite the ugliness that is in the world and the sense of futility amongst those of us who try to find the 'why' of the ugliness and how we can possibly hope to combat it, we believers still feel that tiny tickle, identified and beautifully expressed by Emily Dickinson. Hope is the thing with feathers - That perches in the soul - And sings the tune without the words - And never stops - at all John Menadue's piece touched me in many ways. Mostly his despair, his disbelief over the brutal savagery of an aggressor that...

Hamas attacks were not 'by the Palestinian people'

I must lodge a complaint about the use of the words - ... the October 7th military raid on Israel by the Palestinian people. I find this extremely offensive and wholly misleading. I am a strong advocate for the Palestinian cause and usually find Paul Heywood-Smith's work most stimulating. But I think this is an unacceptable statement. Hamas unleashed an atrocity, a war crime on a large number of persons - many civilians, many children, many non combatants. If this could be in any way viewed as a military raid it was an illegal one and most...

Concerning climate predictions

Many articles cite low temperature changes like 1.5 degrees. I am not a climate scientist but I used avaliable data in an effort to predict how much temperature was expected to rise if all fossil fuels were used up at the current pace. Available data led me to conclude that it would take 200 years and that the temperature rise would be at least 10 degrees C. But more likely higher. I included the effects of permafrost and decrease in earth albedo due to melting ice. I think it is useful to point out that kind of concrete problem so...

Criticism of Israel is not Antisemitic

Critics rightly argue the Israeli government should be held accountable for its policies, decisions and for the illegal occupation of Palestinian lands. But let us not confuse opposing policies of the Israeli government, or advocating for the rights of Palestinians, with antisemitism. Jews are not a race, this categorisation is wrong and dangerous. According to SBS Cultural Atlas, Israels population reports the following religious affiliations Jewish (74.3%), Muslim (17.8%), Christian (1.9%), Druze (1.6%) other religions (4.4%). To speak of antisemitism in relation to the genocide of Palestinian peoples, is incorrect. To speak out against Israel is an anti-Israeli...

Womens Voice

The regular contributors to Pearls and Irritations are mostly older men. Their insights are deep, wise and always appreciated. However when an edition is all men, no women contributors, its time to review processes. Its time. Womens voice is important.

The ongoing battle to keep Australia a petrostate

Noel Turnbull expresses concern about the Australian governments nonchelance regarding recent global temperature records. As he puts it, the government is busily approving new fossil fuel developments which probably make it impossible to reach even the derisory targets the government has pledged. The likely omission of a climate trigger in the revised EPBC Act is more evidence that the government is terrified of offending almost anyone. But a recent development provides some hope. The government will underwrite 9GW of storage and 23GW of variable renewable generation doubling the renewable energy capacity on the grid. Right on cue, Murdoch journalist Terry...

Australians: letting all n sundry know the score

Australians

Can an Australian soldier disregard orders if they believe that order to be unlawful?

After reading John Jiggens article about David McBride, I find myself confused, and so am looking for an answer from people who might know. I was under the impression that an Australian soldier can disregard orders if they believe that order to be unlawful under international law? Is this not exactly what McBride was doing? Or am I dreaming?

A minor dissension

In an otherwise excellent open letter to Julian Leeser, a letter that needs to be read by everybody who supports Israel in its unconscionable campaign of genocide against the Palestinian people, I have only one small note of dissent. In his opening paragraph he says the attack by Hamas was inhumane and without warrant. It might be argued that the attack was inhumane, after all people were killed or captured, but without warrant, I dont think so. As Browning so go gently argues, the people of occupied Palestine have endured decades of dehumanising treatment. Under such circumstances I...

McMullen misses major factor: Bidens incompetence

Did Bob McMullen, whose political nous is unquestionable, watch video media coverage of Bidens erratic public behaviour during Xi visit for APEC? Biden was embarrassingly all over the place as George Galloway noted. Scathingly. This can only get worse over next 12 months . The man is a hollow shell . Of course Trump will be President, barring concocted disqualification or assassination. Australian government elites had better get used to it.

Relationship to Asia

With over 20% of Australians having Asian heritage there are strong links to the region plus there are many thousands of expatriates living and working in Asia. But Dutton shamelessly channels Howard, Abbott and Morrison in dog whistling and fear mongering at every opportunity and he does a lot of damage both here and in relationships with our neighbours.

The success of lobbyists is widening the Gap

As John Menadue put it in September last year, Regulation of the way we manage lobbying in Australia is an even more important issue than a National Integrity Commission. The lobbying of governments around the world by the fossil fuel industry is a major reason for the Climate Emergency we now face. At COP27 in Egypt, there were 636 representatives of oil and gas industries, a rise of more than 25 per cent on the previous year. When tabling her Lobbying (Improving Government Honesty and Trust) Bill, Monique Ryan the Member for Kooyong explained how the lobbying Code of Conduct...

A Vile Article

For years I have read Pearls and Irritations which has arrived in my inbox quietly on Sunday mornings. Many articles have been thought provoking as the writers' opinions have challenged some of my beliefs and understandings of various topics and ideas as good journalism should. However, this morning's article has crossed the line. The belief that 'It (Israel) should be expelled from the community of nations': How is this sage advice going to improve the current situation if Israel is excommunicated from the world stage? If you want to give space on your web site to such...

Supporting sensible climate policy

As a fellow concerned parent, I admired and supported Gregory Andrews brave hunger strike for climate action. Even the most optimistic emissions reductions scenario presented by the UN offers just a 14 per cent chance that humanity will keep global heating below a safer 1.5 degrees. Given this, the Albanese governments continued support for gas, approval of four coal mines, and unwillingness to rein in native forest logging is unacceptable. Climate change impacts are already hurting communities across Australia. What will life be like for our children? Andrews five demands of the federal government ending fossil fuel subsidies, an...

Indefinite Detention and the NZYQ case

The case was not an academic exercise. It concerned the fate of numerous foreigners from multiple countries, many of them hardened criminals; exactly how many, the Solicitor-General was unable to say. One thing is sure: indefinite immigration detention was not unlawful when the matter came before the High Court. Its legality was established by the High Court itself 20 years ago in the case of Al-Kateb. If the High Court were now minded to take the exceptional step of reversing that decision doing violence to the doctrine of precedents which is one of the foundation stones of common...

Do international agreements mean anything?

In response to John Pilgers excellent article, I point out that 25 years ago Australia signed the Rome Statute setting up the International Criminal Court which can investigate war crimes. Among its provisions there is this: Article 68 Protection of the victims and witnesses and their participation in the proceedings 1. The Court shall take appropriate measures to protect the safety, physical and psychological well-being, dignity and privacy of victims and witnesses Now one would imagine that our prosecutorial authorities in Canberra would feel some inclination to honour the principles which the Australian government has espoused by...

The entire Public Health System is now enslaved to The System

The issues outlined in this outstanding article are sadly not only attributed to Aged Care. Indeed the entire Public Health System is now enslaved to The System where Patient Care is dictated by policies and procedures rather than the needs of the individual. He is indeed, sadly, correct in his Yes Minister analogy. The Bureaucratisation of health care has refocused the attention of healthcare providers on computers and systems that demand constant attention and input; more than many patients receive. It is only a matter of time before the complaints and concerns regarding Aged Care are applied more broadly...

Ugly Christian Apocalyptic beliefs

For the past year, I have researched the shooting deaths of two young cops and a concerned neighbour in Wieambilla in the Western Downs of southern Queensland in December 2022. This cruel, arbitrary ugly event has been deemed by ASIO as the work of religiously-motivated extremists, not Islamic but Christian ones. The three killers were shot to death by police, just as they expected to be. Ex-PM Scott Morrison, a happy-clapper born-again Christian, pouncing around with the UK's ex-PM Boris Johnson in Israel, is better than anything Laurel and Hardy's scriptwriters could come up with. Tonight on X...

Mitigation and Australia

When the Hawke government was elected in the early 1980s, BHP Steel was contemplating shutting down steel production in Australia. The minister, Button, proposed a modernisation capital injection, that BHP wouldnt repay if they could not be made profitable . It worked, despite Australia being a very small part of world production. Right now, to replace fossil fuels, Australia has to triple its electricity production, because not only coal, but oil and gas use, need to be replaced by renewables. As the generating cost is currently about $0.10 per kW.hr for coal, $0.05 for onshore wind, and $0.025 for...

END TIMES AND ARMAGEDDON WELCOMED

Reb Halabi's excellent expose on Scott Morrison's religious zealotry taking precedence over rational thought made for chilling reading. I was brought up in an extremist Christian Zionist group and can verify that unquestioned adherence to their fanatical beliefs in the End Times, the Rapture and Armageddon is a given. While Mr Morrison may strenuously deny there is any conflict of interest, in his heart he knows that should his beliefs be at odds with matters of global importance, his religious convictions will always win. Look no further than Australia's embarrassing and dangerous prevarication on genuine commitment to climate...

Immigration: economy, politics or survival?

Abul Rivzi has pinpointed the viciousness that will envelop political discourse on the current half-million figure of new immigrants, and the ensuing social disharmony that will follow as the right-wingers give new impetus to the race card. Is it now time to consider the more critical issue of what might constitute a sustainable population for Australia, given the frequency with which water usage keeps re-emerging as a critical issue across most of the continent? The economy is the main driver of argument about immigration, which has spilt over to social cohesion occasionally since World War II. This...

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