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's recent articles

The Confederacy stormed the Capitol. The unfinished civil war.(The Nation 7.1.20)

And then, because the rioters were white, they were allowed to walk away. But just imagine if they had been Black...Authorities would remove and arrest Trumpif he were Black.

Asian language learning in Australia was a disgrace 40 years ago. It is now much worse.

An important issue we worked on in the Department (of Immigration and Ethnic Affairs) was foreign language learning. We set the pace in the early 1980s, with not many supporters. I felt quite lonely.

Blending electoral democracy with political meritocracy: Michael Lyons

Democracies come in many shades of grey, from liberal to illiberal, authoritarian to managed, and more. A convergence of East and the West towards something akin to post-democracy might bring a much-improved world order, and a safer planet.

Ian Robinson: Changing one word doesnt fix the National Anthem but makes it worse

Prime Minister Scott Morrison is deluded if he thinks changing one word can fix our deeply flawed National Anthem. There are too many things wrong with it. Tinkering around the edges cannot save something that is rotten at the core.

The perils of outsourcing (privatisation) - a repost

In Pearls and Irritations last year we posted articles about the serious erosion in the quality of care and services in many fields - disability care, vocational education and training, child care and particularly aged care, where more than 650 older people have died in private, for-profit homes. All too often service quality has been sacrificed for profit. Political ideology has become more important than quality services for the public.

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

How Murdoch extracts concessions from governments. Consider how he got control of Foxtel!

Rupert Murdoch claims, falsely, that he has never asked a Prime Minister for anything. Yet his whole business career in three countries has been founded on threatening or seducing politicians for privileged commercial access or opportunities.

The smoko continues

In April 2012 the late Greg Dodds and I posted an article on this blog The Australian Century and the Australian smoko. We argued that while we responded well to the opportunities in Asia for over a decade in the 1980s, we went on smoko from the mid-1990s. There was widespread complacency and fear of Asia was promoted. The result has been two decades of failure by business, universities, schools and the media in equipping ourselves for the region. That complacency is still with us and the fear of Asia and particularly China is cynically promoted by Scott Morrison.

Our aggressive and violent ally. An updated repost. Part 2 of 2

Declining empires never decline gracefully. And neither will the US empire addicted as it is to a belief in its exceptionalism and its grounding in aggression both at home and abroad. Add to the mix that 70 million people voted for Donald Trump and 70% of Republican supporters believe that the election was stolen by the Democrats. A sick country! Joe Biden will smooth a few rough edges but wont do much more.

Our aggressive and violent ally. An updated repost. Part 1 of 2

Declining empires never decline gracefully. And neither will the US empire - addicted as it is to a belief in its exceptionalism and its grounding in aggression both at home and abroad. Add to the mix that 70 million people voted for Donald Trump and 70% of Republican supporters believe that the election was stolen by the Democrats. A sick country! Joe Biden will smooth a few rough edges but won't do much more.

Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity Memo: To Biden: Don't be suckered on Russia

Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity (VIPS) hopes President-elect Joe Biden will avoid the mousetrap being laid for him to make it more difficult for his administration to deal in a sensible way with Russia.

Things you learn along the way

Occasionally friends suggest to me that I should write my autobiography. Ruefully I explain that I wrote Things you learn along the way 20 years ago. The book sold about 8,000 copies but as far as I know is no longer available.

The US blatantly ignores international laws and rules in Diego Garcia (Repost 3 July 2020)

China is rightly criticised for building islands for military purposes in the South China Sea while ignoring an advisory opinion of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) brought by the Philippines. But what of the US in Diego Garcia?

Central Bankings Green Mission (Project Syndicate Dec. 8, 2020)

Since the 2008 global financial crisis, central banks have shown time and again that they have the power to maintain the economic status quo. Now, they must use that power to support a timely green transition.

The Hong Kong student bubble

This is a very humble response from a University lecturer of many years in HongKong.Its a response to various analyses to the Hong Kong protesters. Who are they and what motivates them to protest?

Partners in crime - disadvantage and our criminal justice system

Australias criminal justice systems compound disadvantage. Why should Australians be troubled by this, and what we can do about it. A summary of report by the Centre for Policy Development.

Brereton's comments which gave rise to the Chinese tweet on Australian Afghanistan war crimes

The Brereton report sheds light on the tweet posted by a spokesperson for China's Foreign Ministry of a digitally altered image depicting an Australian soldier holding a knife to a veiled Afghanistan child.But I have not seen any of our mainstream media do the obvious, publish the relevant extracts on alleged killing of Afghan children by Australian soldiers.

Robodebt was a Morrison fiasco at every stage (Peter Van Onselen, The Australian, 21.11.20)

The buck should stop with the PM, but he wont be held to account. With summer just around the corner, this weeks $1.2 billion settlement of the Robodebt class action has shone a light on government failings.

Hong Kong is part of China. Our media fails to grasp this basic point.

Hong Kong was seized by Britain to facilitate its opium trade. After a century of humiliation for China, Hong Kong was returned to China in 1997 under a complex arrangement. Foreign countries should keep out of what is a domestic issue for China. CIA, take note.

Have your say: Senate inquiry into media diversity in Australia

After more than 500,000 people signed a petition launched by former prime minister Kevin Rudd raising concerns about the influence of Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation, the Senate is to hold an inquiry into media diversity.

Podcast ABC The Eleventh, February/March 2020

At the bottom see an edited transcript of an interview I conducted with the ABC for a podcast series The Eleventh It also includes some more recent articles on the Dismissal.

The election and the US military empire (Ron Jacobs, CounterPunch, 6.11.20)

When examining the activities of the US military it is essential to maintain the long view. In other words, despite the practice of looking at Pentagon activities in four-year spans that approximate the terms of the US president, the reality is that the military operates on its own timeline.

We now know what America is. (Andrew Mitrovica, Al Jazeera, 4.11.2020)

After four years of Trump, millions of Americans have still chosen to vote for him. The biggest lie is not about Trump,but America.

Growth of Pearls and Irritations

The past six months have been very encouraging for Pearls and Irritations.

Open letter to the Prime Minister from more than 70 Australians opposing the $498m redevelopment of the Australian War Memorial

The Australian War Memorial development project will have major heritage impacts on the Memorial, a place that has deep meaning for all Australians. The intervention by the Australian Heritage Council, the governments principal adviser on heritage matters, shows that reconsideration of the project is imperative.

Exorbitant cost of the Coalition's renewed interest in manufacturing

Before the budget Scott Morrison announced through Michelle Grattan a $1.5 billion plan to boost manufacturing in six priority areas - resources technology and critical minerals processing, food and beverage, medical products, recycling and clean energy, defence and space. Not surprisingly there was no critical examination by the mainstream media.

Reform of the waterfront, with its dogs and security guards, was minor compared to what's needed for health sector

Medicare funds the established system of health care delivery, a system that has not seen major changes since Medicare was established 56 years ago. It needs serious reform and particularly in the way the health workforce is structured. The pandemic has revealed serious weaknesses.

Coalition outsources role of government to business, the US

The Coalition acts as an agent of the business sector in domestic affairs and an agent of the US in international affairs.

LobbyLand: An Analysis of Australian Industry Associations' Influence on Climate Policy

This analysis identified five lobbying organisations that stood out as the 'most obstructive, negative and influential' in refusing to address climate change. They were the Minerals Council of Australia, the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, NSW Minerals Council, the Business Council of Australia and the Australian Petroleum Producers and Exploration Association.

LobbyLand. The used motor vehicle lobby.

We are paying to protect an industry that no longer exists. We see it almost every day in the media; rent-seekers like the motor industries extracting benefits for themselves through political influence and lobbying at the expense of the broader community. It has very little to do with markets.

The perils of outsourcing (privatisation) on many fronts

In Pearls and Irritations in recent weeks we have posted articles about the serious erosion in the quality of care and services in many fields - disability care, vocational education and training, child care and particularly aged care, where more than 650 older people have died in private, for-profit homes. All too often service quality has been sacrificed for profit. Political ideology has become more important than quality services for the public.

Social Housing: the social need and the economic opportunity

The unfairness of Joe Hockeys first budget in 2014 presaged the end of his political career. If Josh Frydenberg fails to address the need and opportunity for action on social housing will it start his political decline?

LobbyLand. The scourge of powerful special interests and lobbyists.

A major reason for the loss of trust in governments and parliaments is the way powerful special interests with their lobbyists have come to dominate the public debate and skew decisions in their favour. The fossil fuel sector is the most obvious and recent example.

LobbyLand

In Pearls and Irritations, we will be running a series on lobbyists and their threat to our democracy.

Houses are becoming commodities to buy and sell and not homes.

The Property Council and our tame media are obsessed on property prices. Are prices up or down this month? They see property as a commodity for wealth creation. Housing policy should be about housing as a human right and for use, where in homes we raise families, entertain friends and where we can close off from markets and business.

The underfunded ABC is at the mercy of well-funded, anti-China organisations

The Australian Strategic Policy Institute is funded by the Defence sector including US arms manufacturers. They call the tune in their anti-China campaign. Yet ASPI pretends it is independent. The ABC and others fall for the anti -China paranoia.

Our intelligence agencies are out of control -An edited repost from Jan 17, 2019

It seems likely that the prosecution by the Commonwealth Government of former spy (Witness K ) and his lawyer Bernard Collaery will be heard in closed court. What a travesty of justice this is.

We need a standing Royal Commission to supervise our intelligence agencies

We need intelligence agencies that are accountable. We do not have that at the moment. We have witnessed the failure of bank regulators. Regulatory failure in the intelligence sector is even more in plain sight.

The confusing and wasteful role of the States in our foreign relations

The role of the States in relations with foreign countries has been raised by Scott Morrison. It has an unfortunate anti-China ring about it but he is correct to assert the primacy of the Commonwealth in foreign relations. In Japan, in the late 1970's I found state commissioners a pest. They confused Japanese ministers and officials.

What a post-war contrast Germany and Japan; Angela Merkel and Shinzo Abe (REPOST from Aug 31, 2017)

For all its atrocities in the 1930s and 1940s, Germany has become an exemplar country promoting prosperity and peace. Angela Merkel stands out as a world leader more than any other. By contrast, Japan has again become a divisive country in its region and its Prime Minister, Shinzo Abe, has been acquiescing and promoting an ultra-nationalist cause. Germany quickly came to terms with its past. Japan has refused to.

An apology

My regrets that the Pearls and Irritations site was down for an extended period yesterday. It is now up and running again with all articles available. Regards John Menadue

The perils of privatisation and private greed

The pandemic has starkly shown us the importance of good government, good public policies and good public institutions. It has also shown us the failure of private institutions, private markets and outsourcing to private providers. If the wholesale arm of Telstra had been kept in public hands we would have had a modern NBN long ago. The behaviour of the privatised Commonwealth Bank has bought shame to us all.

Military and security agencies are eroding civil society

War and militarisation has become ever-present in so much of our public life. Civilian power and responsibility is being marginalised. We go to war without our Parliament even debating the merits of such a momentous act. We are ceding civilian control to our military and security agencies.

Iran's pact with China is bad news for the West (Foreign Policy 9 August 2020)

Tehrans new strategic partnership with Beijing will give the Chinese a strategic foothold and strengthen Irans economy and regional clout.

A progress report on Pearls and Irritations

Pearls and Irritations has topped 10,000 subscribers.

Hong Kong from the inside

Reporting by outsiders on Hong Kong tends to be over-simplistic and seen through Western eyes. We need to look at things through the eyes of Hong Kongers. The old Hong Kong is dead but the new one may emerge not quite like either the West or China would foresee.

The Queens implausible denial

It beggars belief that the Queen did not know that John Kerr was planning to sack Gough Whitlam. She may not have known the detail of the coup in progress, but she knew the substance. But like Lord Nelson she pretends she did not see anything. Nonsense.

Australia firms in China say bilateral tensions now a bigger risk than weak economy: survey(South China Morning Post 17.7.2020)

For Australian businesses with close China ties, tensions between the two countries pose a more worrisome threat than a slowdown in the Chinese economy, a new survey has found.

John Kerr, Martin Charteris and the Palace Letters.

In his grovelling and voluminous letters to the Palace and Martin Charteris, John Kerr had time to comment on some of the minor players. The letters from the loyal and obedient servant of Her Majesty, reminded me of my discussions with him before the Dismissal and the events in the year afterwards.

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