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

JOHN MENADUE. Our aggressive and violent ally is perpetually at war. An update from 9.8.2019

There is growing concern about Chinese influence. At the same time we seem unconcerned that we have ceded much of our defence and foreign policy autonomy to the United States. Chinese influence is minor compared with the control that we have ceded to the US and Donald Trump.That US control has led us to one disaster after another.

RODNEY TIFFEN. The Murdoch Press and the Bushfires

The disastrous summer of bushfires has not been easy for Scott Morrison, but the News Corp newspapers have also had trouble rising to the challenge.

MINXIN PEI. Bush's disastrous Iraq war paved the way for China's rise. Is Trump about to make the same mistake?(SCMP and Project Syndicate 10.1.2020)

China joined the WTO and grew into an economic giant in the time the US was fixated on fighting al-Qaeda. Its a lesson Trump appears not to have learned

J.A. DICK. War wisdom

Is it just and moral to assassinate an Iranian General?

DAILAN PUGH. The Demise of a Koala Population

Last year the North East Forest Alliance found an unusually dense Koala colony, part of a regionally significant population in a forest proposed for logging. As we geared up for a blockade, the Busbys Flat fire changed direction on the night of the 8 October last year and burnt out most of our proposed 7,000 ha Sandy Creek Koala Park. Some 90% of the Koalas were lost from the burnt forests, along with vital source colonies.

DANIELLE CELERMAJER.-Opinion Omnicide:Who is responsible for the gravest of all crimes?(ABC Religion and Ethics 7.1.2020)

As the full extent of the devastation of the Holocaust became apparent, a Polish Jew whose entire family had been killed,Raphael Lemkin, came to realise that there was no word for the distinctive crime that had been committed: the murder of a people.

JOHN MENADUE. A Repost: Drug policy reform series

Attached is a collection of articles on drug policy reform, which were published as a series on Pearls and Irritations between 6 and 11 August 2018. This series is designed to draw attention to this important issue, and to the failure of our current policies.

NICHOLAS KEARNS.- Bushfires. If this is the future we have no future.

Dr Strangelove warned us of a Doomsday Machine that would destroy the entire planet.

AMANDA MEADE.-The Australian newspaper downplays bushfires in favour of picnic races.( The Guardian 4.1.2020)

And the Herald Sun relegates bushfires to page 4 while the Courier Mail brings good news via'Onion Oricle' Read how the Murdoch papers deny climate change and largely ignore the fires. https://www.theguardian.com/media/2020/jan/04/the-australian-murdoch-owned-newspaper-accused-of-downplaying-bushfires-in-favour-of-picnic-races?CMP=share_btn_link

CHAS SAVAGE.-Global warming and action in good faith.

Meaningful action to prevent global warming requires joint action through time. In this sense, we require a focus on outcomesthe goal of limiting warming to two degrees Celsiusand what must be done to realise this. Justice, of course, requires a sharing of the burden, because only a sharing of the burden will prompt and sustain action.

JOHN WOINARSKI. Fire and nature

The future has come and it is not good for Australias natural environments. Drought, heat waves and wildfire, all linked manifestations of climate change, have subverted (and continue to subvert) the viability of many of Australias species. Across vast areas, we are losing much of our nature.

ALAN PEARS. My Climate Action Conundrum - beyond weak targets and Kyoto carryovers

Im all for being a team player. I pay taxes to help run our economy and society. I do volunteer work to support a caring society. But when a key player in the team lets us down, I feel torn. Do I keep contributing, because most people are still working together? Do I call the laggard out and pursue alternatives that are not undermined by the failure of one player? Or a bit of both? My carbon accounting conundrum is simple: if I save energy, invest in solar or take other emission-reducing actions, my personal emissions go down. But Australias,...

ROD MITCHELL.-Carbon pricing to the rescue - for climate and government.

Tragically, we now have a disaster serious enough to wake up almost all of us to the catastrophe that is unfolding in large parts of Australia and advertising itself to the rest of the world.

KEVIN CLARKE. The U.S. killing of Soleimani could have devastating consequences for Iraqs Christians

Following the news reports last night that eventually confirmed that a U.S. drone strike on Jan. 2 had killed Qasem Soleimani, leader of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Quds Force, and associates including Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, the deputy head of the Iran-backed Iraqi Popular Mobilization Forces, I found myself hoping that someone in the Trump administration was remembering the perilous status of the Christian remnant in northern Iraq.

MICHAEL EBURN AND STEPHEN DOVERS: What sort of inquiry should come after these fires?

Disasters are always followed by inquiries. Since 2009, there have been over 140 such inquiries across Australia, of varied types and processes of operating.

TONY BROE. Privatising Aged Care Assessment Teams

The Federal Government, which has long funded Australia-wide Aged Care Assessment Teams, commonly and often affectionately known as ACATs, has made a surprise decision that it will privatise them from April 2021, with a tender to be held this year (30 December 2019).

DAVID MORE. The ADHA Is Pulling A Large And Costly Confidence Trick On The Australian Medical Profession.

The Australian Digital Health Agency is expecting the medical profession to make a huge effective financial contribution in time and effort to make a flawed My Health Record System even a very partial success. The profession won't wear it I believe.

JOHN MENADUE. The facts on boat arrivals that the media wont face(A repost)

From September 2015, almost four years ago, Peter Hughes and I have pointed out repeatedly that Tony Abbott and Scott Morrison triggered the surge in boat arrivals from September 2011 and did not stop the boats as they claim from December 2013 when Operation Sovereign Borders commenced.

ED. SIMON.-Why We Will Need Walt Whitman in 2020 (NYT 30.12.2019)

All the more reason amid today's national rancour to revisit Whitman's open embrace of the democratic ideal, his declaration that 'every atom as belonging to me as good belongs to you',no matter where you were born. Read the full article at... https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/30/opinion/walt-whitman-nytimes-2020.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share

KATHARINA BUCHOLZ.- The Shocking Size of the Australian Wildfires

The devastating California wildfires of 2018 and last years fires in the Amazon rainforest made international headlines and shocked the world, but in terms of size they are far smaller than the current bushfire crisis in Australia, where approximately 12 million acres have been burned to date.

RICHARD FLANAGAN.- Australia is Committing Climate Suicide

As record fires rage, the country's leaders seem intent on sending it to its doom. Read Richard Flanagan in the New York Times of January 3, 2020. s://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/03/opinion/australia-fires-climate-change.html

GEORGE MONBIOT.-There is an antidote to demagoguery its called political rewilding(The Guardian 19.12.2019)

This form of radical trust devolves power away from top-down government, often with some very unexpected results.

GEORGE GRUNDY.- The Leadership Vacuum

On 25thApril 2006 the Beaconsfield gold mine in Tasmania collapsed. One man was killed and two others trapped nearly a kilometre below the ground

GEORGE GRUNDY.- The Slow Death of Retailin Perth

Champagne corks were conspicuous by their absence as Amazon recently announced plans to expand their operation in Australia by opening a new warehouse in Perth.

NOURIEL ROUBINI.-Trump will make China great again.(Project Syndicate 23.12.2019)

Despite the latest Sino-American skinny deal to ease tensions over trade, technology, and other issues, it is now clear that the world's two largest economies have entered a new era of sustained competition. How the relationship will evolve depends greatly on America's political leadership which does not bode well.

KERRY GOULSTON. Vietnamese and Australian doctors learning together: reflecting on 20 years of collaboration

This is a story of friendship and support between doctors in Australia and Vietnam, originating some 20 years ago, which shows how modest beginnings have evolved into important and lasting relationships of mutual respect and learning with one of our increasingly important Asian neighbours.

ANDREW SALMON.-Gruesome find may shed light on Koreas Tiananmen(ASIA TIMES 21.12.2019)

Gwangju Uprising and its brutal suppression still hugely contentious; discovery of 40 more bodies fuels fire

JOHN MENADUE. Failed leadership. A repost from 17 September 2018

Good leadership is about facing the group up to the hard issues. Without clearly defining why and how we need to change and creating some disequilibrium there will be no worthwhile change. We have have had failed leadership on climate change.

TOBY HALL.-The surprising truth about Australian hospitals we don't need so many(ABC 17.12.2019)

For a long time I've argued that a significant barrier to substantial reform in healthcare in Australia is that the main players are too captive to their membership bases or special interests to be willing to leave their corners and engage in meaningful discussion.

SOURABH GUPTA Deconstructing USChina decoupling(EAF 14.12.2019)

There is too much fraternising with the enemy for USChina economic ties and global technology ecosystems to be disentangled into neat geopolitical coalitions. Nevertheless, in the short course of 18 months, US President Donald Trumps administration has provided ample signals of how selective decouplingof USChina ties could transpire if regularised as policy.

FRANCES RUSH: Reflections on the year for people seeking asylum

Last year was a very challenging year for people seeking asylum and the many Australians who support them.

Greg Dodds: The Asian Century and the Australian Smoko. A repost from 30 December 2013

The Asian Century and the Australian Smoko was first published in April 2012. This repost might be interesting holiday reading. (There has been little improvement in 8 years .John Menadue)

MICHAEL ARRIA. Brown University committee votes to divest from companies connected to the Israeli occupation (Mondoweiss 6.12.2019)

On Dec 2, Brown Universitys Advisory Committee on Corporate Responsibility in Investment Policies (ACCRIP) voted to recommend that the school divest from companies that facilitate Israeli human rights violations. Six ACCRIP members voted in favor of divestment, two voted against it, and one member abstained.

ARTHUR SING.- Thailand also cruelly treats asylum seekers. It has it's own Black Hole of Calcutta.

Manus and Nauru remain a focus in Australia for everyone concerned about the cruel treatment of refugees and asylum seekers and rightly so.

YVONNE PATTERSON. An Australian Fairy Story for 2020: Religious Freedom

There comes a point in public discussion about policy or legislative proposals where academic analysis isnt enough to get to the heart of the matter.

KERRY BROWN.-Everything remains up for stakes in Hong Kong. (EAF 29.12.2019)

This year was a torrid time for the city of Hong Kong and one where the years end brought only a little respite.The complacent image of Hong Kong being a place of political passivity conveyed throughout the period under British colonial rule up until 1997 had been dispelled long ago by major protests in 2003 and then the Occupy Central movement in 2014. Yet, the events of 2019 offered something of an order of magnitude distinctly different from anything that had occurred before.

JOHN MENADUE. The anti-China think tank receives farewell largesse from the Coalition. (A Repost from 5.4.2019)

The ASPI is not an independent think tank that it claims to be. It is joined at the hip to the US defence/arms and intelligence complex and an enthusiastic supporter of almost all things American. Fed by our intelligence agencies it is paranoid about China and has become the go to organisation for anti-Chinese commentary.

MICHAEL JANDA.-Ken Henry's tax review is gathering dust, but its ideas could kick-start Australia's economy (ABC 23.12.2019)

Ten years ago to this day, Ken Henry handed then-treasurer Wayne Swan a wish list of tax reforms to set Australia up for the 21st century.

ROBERT FISK.-How Skewed Polling and Media Bias are Warping American Attitudes About the Green New Deal

What are opinion polls and what exactly do their outcomes signify?

NASSRINE AZIMI. Nakamura Tetsu: humanitarian doctor, farmer, and hero of Afghanistan (Asia Pacific Journal, 16 December 2019)

Afghanistan has lived through so many tragedies throughout its recent modern history that one would be forgiven, to think it inured to still one more tragedy. Yet the nation-wide outpouring of grief and outrage, at the murder of the Japanese physician and development worker Dr. Nakamura Tetsu and five of his colleagues in Nangarhar, in eastern Afghanistan, has been intense and heartbreaking.

CRAIG WHITLOCK.-At War with the Truth(Washington Post 9.12.2019)

A confidential trove of Government documents obtained by the Washington Post reveals that senior US officials failed to tell the truth about the war in Afghanistan throughout the 18 year campaign, making rosy announcements they knew to be false and hiding the unmistakable evidence that the war had been unwinable. (Behaving like a US colony ,Australia joined the disastrous Afghanistan War like so many other US led wars of intervention that ended in defeat ,untold human suffering and brought terrorism to our shores. John Menadue) See the Washington Postdocuments.

JOHN HENRY NEWMAN.-A Sermon for Christmas Day

THERE ARE two principal lessons which we are taught on the great Festival which we this day celebrate, lowliness and joy.

ANDREW AILES. Father Christmas loves everyone

Father Christmas lives many lives, Because hes a master of disguise. You may have met him on a train, Or seeking shelter from the rain.

JOHN HENRY NEWMAN -Christmas Lessons

John Henry Newman was an Anglican priest who converted to Catholicism and who became very influential in the Catholic Church in England. He was highly educated, but had a simplicity about him that attracted many people. Newmans sermons in particular were very enlightening, geared at the common person, but steeped in spiritual insight. For Christmas he highlighted two principal lessons, lowliness and joy, when reflecting on the shepherds on that Christmas night.

NURADZIMMAH DAIM.- Dr Mahathir Poses Questions on Muslim World Issues (Malaysian New Straits Times 19.12.2019)

As the Kuala Lumpur Summit kicks off today, Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad raises issues in the Muslim world, calling delegates to ponder on the root causes as they seek for solutions. Muslim nations are in a state of crisis.

ALICE PRIEST. Its beginning to look a lot unlike Christmas

How far can it go before the lack of Christmas look and Christmas feel actually indicates a total loss? How far can the sacred, intangible architecture stretch, be refashioned or reframed, before it no longer holds.

SR PATTY FAWKNER SGS. The Feast for the Frayed and Fatigued

Christmas is the feast for the fatigued and the frayed, because God is with us in the actual reality, not the fairy tale version, of our lives.

MILES LITTLE.-Democracy? What kind?

'We have two Australias: Election results show a growing divide within the nation. So read a headline in the Sydney Morning Herald on Saturday, May 25th, to an article by Matt Wade.

J.A. DICK. Spirited Community

A very personal email about a friend's faith journey.

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