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To add to what Tony Kevin wrote...

I want to thank Tony Kevin for his clarity and insights about the Bankstown nurses. Many years ago I worked in mental health. Though the work changed over time, the learning didn't. I saw what the nurses were saying as angry fantasies.. and admit that at times I have has similar thoughts about people that get under my skin. For instance, I have been wishing Trump's injury required more than a sanitary napkin on his ear. It was clear to me that the agent was a smooth-talking manipulator who not only led the nurses on but then exposed them...

Query about the definition of antisemitism

This is more a question than a letter. The article 'What can one say about Israel without being called an antisemetic?' by Sawsan Madina raises such great questions. Who was consulted? How were they chosen? and many more. These questions should be answered, but I am not sure who or what organisation would be willing or able to do so. I would hope that Pearls could follow up. This definition stifles so much commentary that should be heard.

But what about Pine Gap?

Fifty years ago I learned of the existence of Pine Gap. I personally agree that we should be responsible for our own international policy, especially in our own geopolitical region. And, our own security. But what would, or could, we do about bases like Pine Gap? I appreciate there may be benefits for us in having this facility in the middle of our country. But it would also, surely, be a major impediment to us forging a truly independent relationship with any nation that might one day be an American target. I'd be most grateful if someone could...

What democracy? What trees? It’s a parking lot

We don’t live in a democracy! One of the basics of democracy is the separation of church and state. Take a look around to see how few places that’s happening. The separation of church and state should always have included the separation of state and corporations. The majority of crises the world is facing are as a result of the failure of the separation of government and corporations. For example, because of the misbehaviour of the banking sector we had the global financial crisis, with government bailing out the banks because they are to big to fail. This...

Due diligence, wherefore art thou?

I see the forthright Senator Sarah Henderson has besmirched the Jewish Council of Australia as a fringe organisation. I am sure we would all welcome the chance to examine the due diligence she has undertaken to determine that — for instance — the AJAIC is undeniably a representative organisation. Call me cynical, but I remember a time when the spokesman for the (old, not the current one) Pedestrian Council of Australia was trotted out as the resident expert and mouthpiece for every Australian who walked on the streets. A much-talented man whose name I could never be bothered...

Civil defence response to attack on Oz sub bases

It sounds as if the assessment doesn’t deal either with the civil defence response needed if a nuclear-tipped hypersonic missile targets Osborne, or for that matter, Garden Island and Henderson in WA. The federal government seems to be of the view that such a response is a state government matter, but so far I have been unable to find out what the WA government’s civil defence plan for a nuclear strike on the sub facilities is.

Invite the flotilla to visit Fremantle

There’s still time to invite the Chinese flotilla to visit Fremantle, and show our goodwill. The Morrison Government invited a three-ship flotilla to visit Sydney in 2019, and the invitation was accepted.

Trigger-happy individuals

Are they the same trigger-happy people with missiles that shot down Iran Air flight 655, killing 290 passengers, covering it up and awarding the captain and crew a medal? Not the Chinese or Russians, but those peace-loving Americans!

Islamophobia

I'd like to see the universities adopt a similar definition for Islamophobia; i.e., among other things, criticisms of the actions of Islamic states such as Iran and Afghanistan would be considered Islamophobic and subject to the same kind of penalties. Somehow I don't see this happening. Who is creating division?

A different approach to antisemitism

How can Israel be the only country immune from criticism? Could we look differently at what is making some Jewish people so fearful at criticism of Israel's genocide such that they demand unjustifiable laws banning that criticism? Yes, antisemitism is unpleasant, even hurtful, but paralysing fear-making? The slings and arrows, real and metaphorical, hurled at Jewish Australians have been no worse than post-war Italians and Greeks suffered, Catholics of my childhood, Vietnamese refugees some decades ago, more recent migrants and refugees from Afghanistan and the Middle East, none of whom have had the special consideration given to the Jewish...

Congratulations to Judith, Suzie and Michelle

Fantastic protest by Judith, Suzie and Michelle. It exposes the complete hypocrisy of several aspects or our society. You are all brave heroes/heroines.

Former right-wing warrior goddess from micronation

Of course, China wants to blow the shit out of us. I used to defend Western civilisation, but now I just want the final solution to white nerds that cool lefties want. I have to hate myself and my race and become genosuicidal for you lefties. Everything my grandpa worked for will be taken away by Chinese and laidback movements. Well, let's just blow up Europe and give it to the Chinese. Maybe if Russia nuked England and took away the monarchy and stopped them from using elaborate ornate coats of arms in favour of simplistic Americanistic logos, while...

A suffering and patient God

May I venture another response to Eric Hunt’s question “what does God think?” One answer is: Who am I to speak for God? Read the book of Job and ask Him yourself. Christians, however, have is an obligation to proclaim “good news”. So let me try. First, we proclaim that creation is good. This cannot mean the absence of pain. But if you had the power to switch off the universe with its good and evil, would you do it? Neither does God, mercifully. Second, we acknowledge that God sees the pain and experiences it. This is...

Are we facing a new era of imperialism?

The only way the US would defend our shores is if we ceded our sovereignty to its emperor. We are a defenceless minnow in a sea of turmoil: because of the AUKUS pact; this must be blindingly obvious to the rest of the world. Viewed from the Trump Tower, the prospect of annexing a large, unexploited and underpopulated land mass, rich in rare earths and minerals and other highly desirable commodities, must be compelling, if not irresistable. Australia, the western front and largest island state in the US of A. Any deal on defence will never be to...

Rare earths and radioactive motor subs

I refer to Andrew Farran’s article. We need to remember that just as we are now being asked to put our trust in Peter Dutton, after the Paris 2+2 meeting of Dutton and Marise Payne with their French counterparts, both Dutton and Payne’s official websites assured us that the French submarine deal was going swimmingly, only for AUKUS to surface days later. Today, a “US fast-attack nuclear submarine has arrived at HMAS Stirling at Garden Island in the first of what is expected to be several visits to Australia this year”, says WAToday. Which of 11 Oz rare...

Wake up Australia and Australians

A lot has been made of the Chinese warships off Australia’s east coast, but much less has been said about the close contact of Australian ships and planes with Chinese planes and ships in the South China Sea. The question needs to be asked: what are we/they doing so far away from our/their own backyards? Yes, international law says we/they have a right to be there, but is it necessary to be there? We should all regularly take a walk past the many war memorials dotted across our country and take time to think what percentage of the...

What the nurses said

This article by Tony Kevin brings again into focus the unsavoury practices of the Zionist movement. However, I would like to hear from the two nurses at the centre of this affair. Maybe I've missed it, but I have seen no comments whatsoever from the two nurses themselves. Have they been silenced? Are they silent by choice? Why did they agree to the interview? What do they think now about their comments? Surely, their comments would be of great public interest?

Creationism in schools

What you are suggesting is just another way of indoctrinating children with so-called, and long-debunked, theological truths. Theological truths are not factual or evidence-based, but simply ideas based on a religion Why do you select only the Bible as an example of books that greatly affect society? Why not Karl Marx, Chairman Mao, Mein Kampf, The Origin of species, etc, etc? Because they don't promote creation and other religious fantasies? Keep your religions, all of them, out of our schools and away from our children.

End the mass murder or it will end us

We now live in a world where rule of law is no longer even an euphemism. I am a very hardened person, having fought many morality battle issues through my seven decades, but about a month ago, now well over a year after I forwarded a video to the ICC and ICJ in the Hague, where Israeli monsters had herded Al Shifa Hospital workers to a trench and then summarily shot them all (mass execution style). I then saw a video where innocent Palestinians were blown up by more Mk-84 bombs delivered through a port city and an airbase...

The new Axis of Evil

From the perspective of a polar-orbiting satellite, the new Axis Powers — Russia and America — have got poor little Canada surrounded. They own 42% of the world's weaponry and 90% of its nukes. They covet Canada's natural riches – and care not a damn for its people. All they need to complete the encirclement is Greenland. Trump's Pentagon Night of the Long Knives was the first step in a deliberate putsch to eliminate rational US military leadership and replace it with fanatics, as he is doing elsewhere in government. As Hitler did with the SA/SS and Wehrmacht....

What significance does the Old Testament have?

I was brought up in a Protestant household and attended church twice most Sundays until I left home at 19. I cannot understand how Christians can apply so much significance to the Old (largely Jewish) Testament often at the expense of the New (completely Christian) Testament. The first is about a vengeful God not unlike most mythological stories and the second is about a compassionate, all-forgiving Son of God. It is like comparing the medical practices of the Crimean war to modern day medical practices; a reference to what once the practice of sawed bones and now we...

A broader view of radiation issues

Thanks so much for this article. So many people are nuclear energy fans (they tend to be Dutton fans as well) and dismiss radioactive waste storage problems as not an issue, safe storage is almost with us. But happy to have it in their backyards? I haven't seen any volunteers yet. We shouldn't be surprised that radioactive dust is blowing in the wind from mining sites. Because those who live near mines complain of dust and various health issues depending on what is being mined in their locality. Nor should we be surprised that that there are increased cancers,...

AUKUS and the nuclear dumps

I don’t believe that there is any coincidence at all that this nuclear debate has resurfaced immediately after Morrison’s signing up to AUKUS without transparent Parliamentary discussion or electoral approval. I don’t believe that there was any scope left for Albanese to change the contract once elected not even any scope for the subject to be discussed at the ALP conference. I believe that a compliant media has helped cover up that temporary storage of low level waste will be stored in SA and WA shipyards adjacent to the Australian population. Already the argument that we have been...

Two-state solution out of the question

Fine words John, but ain't going to happen. Been too long in the oven, the oven's cold. As long as Iran and its proxies (Hamas and Hezbollah) are determined to annihilate Israel there will never be a two-state realisation.

Who are the animals?

Outrage as Hamas disrespectfully handed back coffins containing dead Israelis, killed in an Israeli air strike, not a peep when dead Palestinians gleefully squashed by Israeli tanks filmed and posted online with descriptions describing how all their guts squirted out. Hamas could have just said, We don't know where they are, probably under the rubble with all the dead and squashed Palestinians.

2035 climate targets matter

Ken Russell is absolutely correct in stating that “the incorrect use of net zero, together with carbon offsetting and carbon capture and storage, has enabled the development of a highly successful greenwashing operation designed to ensure the ongoing use of fossil fuels”. And who benefits? Fossil fuel corporations and the big end of town. Who suffers? All life on earth. The burning of fossil fuels, no matter where they are burned, is responsible for 75% of global heating. The year 2024 was 1.6 degrees above pre-industrial temperatures. For fossil fuel CEOs to dodge and weave climate commitments, and governments...

Locked up in Beijing and Australia

I have no idea what happens in secret trials in China, nor do we know what happens in secret trials and imprisonment in Australia or what is the evidence even the defendant is forbidden from seeing. What sort of government can hold you incommunicado for weeks, not for committing a crime, but because they think you know something they want to know, then send you to jail for years if you tell where you've been? The Australian government. So the same or similar laws, but only evil when China does it.

A spotlight on the retirement phase of super

I applaud Andrew Podger for highlighting the need for an overhaul of the retirement phase of super in his article. The spotlight on this is overdue and should commence with an understanding of “what is” at present. From personal experience with Australian Super, communications are related to superannuation funds. Once these funds are rolled into a pension fund communications from Australian Super, related to pension funds, are non existent or not relevant to retirement phases. There is no guidance for retirees on managing the risks or free independent expert advice. A further concern is, with the rollover of monies...

Is pragmatism the correct word?

I was disappointed that Jan Bruck in his positive focus on the pragmatism of former German Chancellor, Angela Merkel, could not explore her unique approach a little further than he does in his short article. Bruck does not recount one major occurrence during Merkel's chancellorship which might bring into question whether pragmatism is the appropriate descriptive word. I am referring to the Minsk Accords, two agreements made in August 2014 and February 2015, where Germany was the main negotiator (supported by the French leader, Hollande) representing Kyiv and Russia represented the breakaway Donbas republics. The agreements were...

A considered vote vs a knee-jerk vote

The Teals’ pursuit of integrity in public service, and of major reform ... have the courage of their convictions....... can help revive honest government .... now give us hope. I heartily endorse your correspondent's assessment. Having experienced a (more properly described) community independent MP over the past almost three years, it has been a breath of fresh air. In Kooyong, Monique Ryan has enabled a new sense of building and being community. Her approach is to question: what is important to you, what issues concern you, how can I help you? And she listens to the answers, formulating her...

Nothing for nothing

Even though it is not even at the negotiation table, Ukraine is now finding out that aid from the United States comes at a heavy price to its critical mineral resources. A debt it didn’t even know it was running up. How long before we are asked to hand over a 50% stake in Australian critical minerals to the US in exchange for them “protecting us” with Pine Gap, Nurrungar, Northwest Cape and US forces rotation under the FPA?

Vote 1 Ventriloquist Dummy Party! Really?

Encyclopaedia Brittanica: “Semite, Name given in the 19th century to a member of any people who speak one of the Semitic languages, a family of languages spoken primarily in parts of western Asia and Africa. The term therefore came to include Arabs, Akkadians, Canaanites, Hebrews, some Ethiopians (including the Amhara and the Tigrayans), and Aramaean tribes. Although Mesopotamia, the western coast of the Mediterranean, the Arabian Peninsula, and the Horn of Africa have all been proposed as possible sites for the prehistoric origins of Semitic-speaking populations,” I reference Encyclopaedia Brittanica the bastion of white supremacy. When the leader of...

A tyrant by any other name...

Gim Teh writes chillingly of America under Trump. Surrounded by megalomaniacs and minions, with the numbers in the House and the Senate, a handpicked majority of conservative judges in the Supreme Court, and absolution from criminality while in office, he already has more power than George III. Only the 22nd Amendment stands in his way for a life tenancy of the White House. As his increasingly irrational behaviour plunges, not only his own countrymen and women, but also the whole global community into a quagmire of fear and uncertainty, doubts as to his mental state are being raised. ...

7% of Americans believe chocolate comes from brown cows

After all, according to a 2017 survey, some 23 million Americans believe chocolate comes from brown cows. I looked into this statement and found it to be disingenuous. The survey was not scientific and wasn't meant to be taken as evidence of Americans' knowledge of dairy products. Also it wasn't chocolate, it was milk chocolate. This misinformation makes me question all future P&I articles now whereas I used to think it was above reproach.

Illegal occupation

Why isn't the world crying out about the illegal occupation of Palestine? Israel has the right to defend itself? Clearly not when it is illegally occupying Palestine and the West Bank. The Hamas attack was bad enough, but it disappears into insignificance compared to Israel's murderous attack on a foreign nation. Is the entire world cowering while the Zionists are exterminating an entire population? A Holocaust indeed.

Greenhouse gas emissions from imports

Peter Sainsbury rightly draws attention to Australia’s huge exports of greenhouse gas emissions in the form of fossil fuels for combustion overseas. In addition, we must consider the emissions embodied in our imports of fossil fuels in the goods and services we purchase that are made overseas. It has been estimated that they are similar in magnitude to our official emissions, that is, greenhouse gases emitted within Australia. We can reduce our imported emissions, as individuals, by buying Australian, and, as a nation, by using renewable energy to manufacture more goods within Australia.

The considerable cost of retirement living

The article by Andrew Podger fails to refer to the issue which concerns many aging retirees and that is the frightening cost of low- and high-care accommodation, starting with the initial bond. The $250,000 referred to as retained superannuation capital is in no way adequate for this task. I am sure Andrew has considered this issue and i would be interested in his solutions.

Viva Barb Dadd's revolution

Thoroughly enjoyed your article Barb, beautifully written, poignant and a call to action for all aspiring activists. Congratulations.

Shame is old hat

It seems shame is an anachronism. As Paddy Gourley amusingly, but darkly, suggests, some ghosts who should remain just that are coming back into focus, assisted by the hugely comedic and deadly Murdoch juggernaut. Mark Pezzullo for one. An independent inquiry into the latter’s conduct as secretary of home affairs found Pezzullo had breached the rules on at least 14 occasions in relation to “overarching allegations” including using his power, status or authority “to seek to gain a benefit or advantage for himself, failing to act apolitically, failing to disclose a conflict of interest and failing to maintain confidentiality...

Don't be so hasty about Ronald Reagan

They are not the same people as on whose behalf Ronald Reagan, 40 years ago, celebrated the fact that 'Americans courageously supported the struggle for liberty, self-government, and free enterprise throughout the world, and turned the tide of history away from totalitarian darkness and into the warm sunlight of human freedom'. I'm really not sure about this particular bit of saintliness. Reagan was well in the grip of neoliberal big business. High profits, low wages, kill the opposition. Whatever lofty words he might have said, Reagan was leading the US down the path that has given us Trump. ...

Past time to cut the US apron strings

We can no longer ignore the need for Australia to plan for its own defence, rather than fund a role as a compliant auxiliary of the US in the Pacific. Amen to that!! Easier said than done when we have another unpredictable superpower in East Asia. Easier said than done, getting an anti-AUKUS letter published in the MSM. Speak up people. Time to rally! Australia long since took up parroting the US' anti-China chorus. But is any of it true, including that China is unpredictable? How has China behaved? Spreading influence by building infrastructure, not dropping...

Shame on governments that gave Murdoch free rein

Thank all the gods I don't read any Murdoch rag. I'm with Grace Tame! My sympathies to Paddy Gourley and all who are forced to read such garbage as part of their working life.

Myopic self-indulgence

At least Saul Eslake managed a reasonably accurate description of Trump. Otherwise, this dalliance in knee-jerk journalism is perhaps the most condescending, patronising, presumptuous, and vacuous insult I've ever read on P & I. He's used election results in order to support his apparent political and social myopia, engaging in no analysis whatsoever in order to replace facts with generalities. He excoriates and vilifies a contrived homogeneous mass of humanity in the US with no effort to account for reality: the US population simply doesn't fit, even generally, into his mischaracterisations. Instead of addressing the structural faults and...

The cynical pre-budget submission process

Ross Gittins is correct that governments never pay attention to pre-budget submissions from the public. This is because the process operates on the assumption that submissions will be ignored. As Gittins says, the call for submissions has just gone out, as usual. But the high-level outline of what is in or out of budget is usually pretty much settled in December the previous year. In recent years this has slipped under increasingly disorganised governments but my guess, from both my experience and the wan looks of of my ex-colleagues, is that the final touches are being put on budget...

Who do they serve?

There has to be concern that Peter Dutton thinks well of Trump. Trump’s pronouncements on Greenland and Panama, followed by his idea of removing Palestinians from their own land, and asserting that Ukraine started the war with Russia are cause for grave concern. So much so, that those working in any capacity within the Australian public service whose sworn allegiance is to the US president should be asked to return to the US.

Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose

Refaat Ibrahim talks to one horrific issue in the never-ending repetition of the human experiment. It seems humankind is hardwired to a cycle of behavioural traits that finish in man’s inhumanity to man. As we lurch drunkenly into yet another catastrophic phase of what looks to be our destiny, some of the players have changed roles; sadly, the roles remain constant and the methods tragically familiar. In the 1930s, Hitler and Stalin divided Poland as a prelude to signing a non-aggression pact. With its eastern front buffered, the Third Reich set out to make Germany great again under Lebensraum....

Alternative WTO?

The article poses that the World Trade Organisation is no longer effective and may be beyond recovery. One of the reasons for this decline seems to be the US' aberrant behaviour. One could pose the question whether an alternative WTO that excludes the US may serve as (temporary?) relief from the current problems. Well, there is an possible alternative that is being developed, namely BRICS. Joining BRICS may not please the US (and would likely produce more of the economic threats that Trump is happy to spray around), but sometimes it may be necessary to stand up to a...

Populist right policy – show us the evidence

There is no evidence that cutting public sector jobs saves the taxpayer money. History attests to the contrary. The point about populist right policy is that it is based not on fact but on popular misconception exploited for electoral advantage. During the years of Thatcherism, the series Yes, Minister was conceived to pillory the public sector as ridiculously bureaucratic, hopelessly inefficient, and perpetually self-serving. It thus reinforced the neoconservative ideological project of small government, public choice theory, and free-market economics. The reality is that public sector job cuts equal service cuts; and outsourcing and privatisation result more often...

Pacta sunt servanda

Well said, Saul. In our Australian bewilderment we shouldn't deny the benefit of the US connection. But our obsequious leaders, from our US ambassador, the foreign minister, (who both should have absented themselves from the inauguration of the felon-in-chief by making an appointment to meet Michelle Obama on that notorious occasion), prime minister and deputy prime minister following in that path, we have publicly failed miserably to assert our national interest and self-respect. Instead of meekly submitting the first payment of our ongoing impoverishment to the bogus nuke-submarine deal, they should have instead redirected funds to the Cambodian de-mining...

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