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

MAX COSTELLO. It was the best of days; it was the worst of days

July 30, 2019 was the best of days for Australias immigration detention centre detainees because, at last, a mainstream media outlet revealed that their cruel maltreatment involved apparent criminal offences under Australian law. It was the worst of days, because it revealed that the laws regulator had not charged Home Affairs over an emblematic asylum seeker death by the 29 July deadline.

CONCERNED CATHOLICS CANBERRA GOULBURN. Break open the word on Plenary Council, bishops urged

The credibility and success of the most important event in the Australian Catholic Church in many decades, the 2020 Plenary Council, depends on an open and frank airing of the grave issues crippling the Church. Concerned Catholics of Canberra Goulburn calls on Australias bishops to publish all of the 17,457 submissions made from around Australia in preparation for the plenary.

RICHARD TANTER. An Australian pathway through Pine Gap to the nuclear ban treaty

The Pine Gap Relay Ground Station could be closed, with appropriate notice of intent, without genuine disadvantage to US national security. This would provide a technically and strategically feasible pathway past the most important obstacle posed by Pine Gap to Australia becoming compliant with the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons(TPNW).

EDWARD WONG. US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, Israel and Iran and The Rapture. (NYT 30.3.2019)

Yesterday, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo had dinner with Scott Morrison. They both believe in The Rapture when Christ will return to Israel with Jerusalem as its capital. Importantly at the moment we are being urged to join forces to counter the alleged Iranian 'menace' to Israel. See below an article from Edward Wong on how Mike Pompeo's beliefs are influencing US foreign policy, which we invariably follow. Odd indeed! John Menadue.

ELIZABETH and BORIS

DOROTHY HORSFIELD. Measures Short of War. Australian National Universitys Emeritus Professor Hugh Whites Plans for Defending Australia

One response from a colleague to the contentious proposal by Professor Hugh White in his newbook How to Defend Australia that the government should seriously consider adopting a nuclearcapability was the brief Oh, for Gods Sake!. Underpinning such a comment is the prospect of thekind of dystopian nightmare that stalked the Wests Cold War MAD (mutually-assured destruction)containment doctrine. As Russias President Putin, among others, has suggested tersely, in a 21stcentury nuclear war no one would survive.

STEPHEN S. ROACH. Chinas Long View (Project Syndicate 26.7.2019)

Time and again, the long view in China has stood in sharp contrast to Americas short-term approach. Sun Tzu put it best in his ancient treatise, The Art of War: If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the results of a hundred battles.

BINOY KAMPMARK. Militarizing Australia: Talisman Sabre and the US Military Build Up (American Herald Tribune)

Deemed the Expeditionary Advanced Base Operations strategy, the military method is a US Marine special, still spanking new, featuring the amphibious landing of troops on islands for seizure and capture as part of a forward projection of sea and air power aimed at the mainland.

YANIS VAROUFAKIS. Jeremy Corbyns Finest Hour? (Project Syndicate 30.7.2019)

With Boris Johnson as UK prime minister, and his Brexit strategy crystal clear, the task of the Labour opposition is equally clear. It must expose the truth about Johnsons no-deal option namely, that it means a Trump-deal Brexit and put forward its own plan to end Britain's interminable ordeal immediately.

CINDY YU. Is China Really the Enemy (The Spectator)

China is a nation with values deeply at odds with the West.

JESSIE BATKIN-WALKERDEN. Homelessness: Why Early Intervention Matters

Early intervention is a vital piece of the complex puzzle, that is Australias homelessness. Long-term, appropriate and stable housing is becoming increasingly unattainable for many people. The current state of housing unaffordability leads to many people being at risk of becoming homelessness, or indeed being homeless.

CHARLES LIVINGSTONE. The Crown allegations show the repeated failures of our gamblingregulators (the Conversation 30 July 2019)

Regulatory failure has been a hot topic in Australia recently. Royal commissions into the financial and aged care sectors have revealed major regulatory failures. The harm done by these oversights has been significant. Regulation is not just red tape. It protects the interests of those who put their faith, money, and in some cases, loved ones, into regulated institutions.

FRANCES RUSH. No Protection - No Hope

A 39 year old man from Iran arrived by boat in 2013. He was not permitted to apply for a Temporary Protection Visa until 2017. For six years he has lived in fear and struggled with mental trauma. He has no protection, no income, no social support and no family. He believes he has no hope - and suicide is an option.

WILLIAM D. HARTUNG. The US Military-Industrial Complex on Steroids(TomDispatch 16.7.2017)

When, in hisfarewell addressin 1961, President Dwight D. Eisenhower warned of the dangers of the unwarranted influence wielded by the military-industrial complex, he could never have dreamed of an arms-making corporation of the size and political clout of Lockheed Martin. In a good year, it now receives up to$50 billionin government contracts, a sum larger than the operatingbudget of the State Department. And now its about to have company.

JOSEPH MARTOS. Can laypeople lead a parish? Look to Louisville for a thriving example.

In his recent book Worship as Community Drama, sociologist Pierre Hegy described an unusual Catholic parish whose identity he hid under the name Church of the Resurrection. When the book was published earlier this year and we read the chapter titled A Lay-Run Parish: Consensus Without a Central Authority, we could tell that it was about us. I asked Hegy about possibly revealing the facts behind the chapter. He replied that sociological protocols had to be followed in the book, but these would not apply to an article in a newspaper. OK, here goes.

PETER DAVIDSON. Multiplications the name of the game: infrastructure and Newstart trump tax cuts as an economic stimulus

When growth is slowing and interest rates are falling, the evidence indicates that a timely investment in social housing and an increase in Newstart are more likely to boost growth in jobs and incomes and provide better value than tax cuts, especially those going to high income-earners. Every dollar invested in social housing and Newstart not only improves lives, it also increases GDP by $1.20-1.30.

DAVID POPE on 'The Freudenberg'. (Canberra Times 27.7.2019)

PAUL MOSES. Putting Church above Children. The Vatican Fails to Comply with a UN Treaty

One way Pope Francis could move ahead with his aim of curbing clergy sex abuse in the worldwide Catholic Church would be to insist that the Holy See comply with the international human-rights treaty it signed to protect the rights of the child. Since nearly every country in the world (other than the United States) has signed the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, the 1989 treaty sets a clear international standard for Catholic bishops everywhere.

JOHN MENADUE. Vale Graham Freudenberg

A dear friend and colleague, Graham Freudenberg, died this morning at the Redcliffe Hospital. He was admired and will be mourned by many people who knew him personally and a great number of people who knew him in public recognition of his work. Throughout his long illness, he remained courageous and concerned for people around him, and particularly for the Labor Party that he loved. As he physically declined, the strength of his inner life became even more apparent. He was delighted that, in his last week of life he could see again 'The Scribe' on ABC TV. ...

ERIC WALSH. Vale Graham Freudenberg .

The family of Graham Freudenberg, his influential political contacts, his many friends and admirers, the Australian Labor Party and Australia itself are diminished by his passing after a long illness.

MICHELLE PINI. Newstart, wage theft and big fat ducks (Independent Australia)

Having a gojust to put food on the table? Unless you're a well-fed restaurateur or politician, it's unlikely that you'llget a go from this Government.

MOHAMMED AYOOB. An ally, a partner and American unilateralism: on the U.S. response to Turkey's S-400 deal with Russia (The Hindu)

There are major differences but also similarities in the U.S. response to Russias S-400 deals with Turkey and India

GREGORY CLARK. China: A Maritime expansionist?

The call is for Australia to cooperate with the US to counter Beijings allegedly expansionist activities in the South China Sea. But was it not the US itself, in its 1951 San Francisco peace treaty with Japan - signed and ratified by Canberra and 47 others - who in effect gifted most of the South China Sea islands - namely, the Spratly and the Paracel island groups - to China? The US then organized a separate document with the Republic of China in Taiwan - the 1952 Taipei peace treaty - making it even clearer that these islands should be...

BISHOP VINCENT LONG-Australias Mandatory and Indefinite Off shore Detention Policy

This weekend marks the sixth anniversary of former Prime Minister Kevin Rudds announcement that no person seeking asylum by boat would ever be resettled in Australia. Every single person arriving after that date was to be subjected to indefinite detention on Manus Island, PNG, or in the Republic of Nauru, under processing arrangements between the Australian Government and those Pacific states.

SARAH ANN WHEELER, EMMA CARMODY. Was the Governments irrigation cash splash worth it? (The Advertiser)

One of us was born on a fifth-generation irrigated dairy farm in NSW; the other in a country town in the Murray-Darling Basin.

CARDINAL GEORGE PELL. Where have all the fighters gone?

The future of George Pell is in doubt but his shadow will remain for many years across the Australian Catholic Church. Through a rigged system he was able to effectively decide who became bishops in the Church. This was critical in appointments to the two most senior archdiocese in Australia, Sydney and Melbourne. Both Archbishop Fisher of Sydney and Archbishop Comensoli of Melbourne owe their appointments to George Pell. They are his proteges,his proxies. Anthony Fisher aged 59 has 15 years remaining as Archbishop in Sydney . Peter Comensoli aged 55 has another 20 years to run as the supremo...

JESSICA CORBETT. Majorities of Both US Veterans and Public Believe Wars in Iraq and Afghanistan 'Not Worth Fighting' (Common Dreams)

The polled groups also told the Pew Research Center that the U.S. military campaign in Syria wasn't worthwhile

JOHN MENADUE. Taxpayer subsidised Private Health Insurance is a political scam.

Stephen Duckett of the Grattan Institute has highlighted the growing and serious plight of PHI as more and more young people decide not to waste their money and are opting out of PHI. In response the CEO of NIB in a bizarre suggestion proposes that the government should 'scrap Medicare and mandate private health cover'(AFR 23 July 2019). This is special pleading for a broken and terminal system.It would make things worse. He wants the government to save his failing industry despite a $12 b annual subsidy. All the evidence shows that PHI is indefensible as to both...

VIC ROWLANDS. Israel Folau - a line in the sand.

If Israel Folau cannot find a way to qualify his homophobic interpretation of the Bible so that it does not cause hurt and offence to other people, his reputation as a person may well be the main casualty of his wilful disrespect.

CHAULA RININTA ANINDYA. Should Indonesia accept Islamic State returnees? (East Asia Forum)

Indonesian former members of the so-called Islamic State (IS) stuck in Syria are now under the media spotlight. Many of them live in poor conditions, are struggling to make ends meet, expressing remorse for joining IS and pleading for the Indonesian government to repatriate them. The issue of how to handle them is now stirring debate on social media.

J.A. DICK. Natural and Unnatural human rights

On Monday, July 8, the US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced the creation of an advisory commission: the Commission on Unalienable Rights. He hopes it will provide the intellectual grist of what I hope will be one of the most profound re-examinations of inalienable rights in the world since the 1948 Universal Declaration.

GEOFF GALLOP. Effective public servants need nuanced understanding of politics, what drives their minister and government. Geoff Gallop offers eleven theses on Australian politics in practice.

Geoff Gallopis a former premier of Western Australia. Your minister cannot avoid dealing with the politics, so you should understand the ideas behind it, and the policy compromises they must make to secure alliances.

BE SEO. Australia is turning into a car park for dirty vehicles (AFR 15.7.2019)

Australia's most popular cars emit between 8 and 42 per cent more carbon dioxide than their UK counterparts, raising concerns that the country has become a parking lot for dirty vehicles.

ELISE HARRIS. Persecuted Christians urge more action, fewer empty words

With global religious persecution increasingly thrust into the international spotlight, members of several Christian communities suffering violence and discrimination have said promises are no longer enough, but action is needed from political leaders. Typically seen as a political non-priority, religious persecution, and anti-Christian persecution in particular, has been getting more attention since the 70th anniversary of the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights was marked in December 2018.

RICHARD BEASLEY The Murray Darling Basin Plan - Four Corners v Media Watch

Monday week ago, Four Corners aired Cash Splash. It concerned whether government funded water saving schemes (efficiency measures in the Basin Plan) have been a waste of money. Since the broadcast, the National Irrigators Council, and other lobby groups, have indicated they will lodge a complaint to the ABC. Subsequently, Media Watch suggested that Four Corners ignored inconvenient evidence. I disagree, but more of that later.

PATTY FAWKNER, SGS. Chittister, Censorship and an Adult Church.

It was decades ago, but I remember the day and the conversation well. It was a Monday morning and I was returning to work at a Catholic adult education organisation after a short break. I was confronted with the news that, during my absence, our newly appointed director had removed copies of Paul Collins book, Papal Power, from the organisations bookstore.

HAJO DUKEN. Brexit, preservation of the UK union and a deep and special relationship with the EU - two out of thre e ain't bad (but far from certain)

Whenever we think that the level of absurdity in this drama cannot be exceeded, we are proven wrong. It appears that England (not the whole of the UK) has virtually decided that the earth is flat. Is a no-deal horror scenario now inevitable or is there a way out for the new Prime Minister?

PERCY ALLAN. How to Avoid a Recession - why QI should replace QE

Both the IMF and the OECD say that monetary policy is largely exhausted so fiscal policy should now be used to ramp up economic growth held back by the triple Ds of high Debt, ageing Demographics and disruptive Digitisation (including robotics). Australias Reserve Bank has come to the same conclusion.

MARTIN WOLF. Legacy of Bretton Woods is under threat (Financial Times 11.7.2019)

Trumpian populism is destroying 70 years of global economic co-operation. What can we put in its place?

SUSAN CHENERY. A Repost: The Scribe: portrait of Graham Freudenberg, author of the speech that changed Australia (The Guardian 9 October 2018))

Legendary Labor speechwriter Graham Freudenberg was at the centre of power for more than 40 years. A new film sheds light on the man who wrote the script. (This outstanding documentary will be telecast on the ABC on Sunday night July 14 ,2019 at 9.35 John Menadue)

CAITLIN JOHNSTONE. US Foreign Policy Is A War On Disobedience (Medium, 7 July 2019)

In an excellent new essay titled Were Not the Good Guys Why Is American Aggression Missing in Action?, Tom Engelhardt criticizes the way western media outlets consistently describe the behavior of disobedient nations like Iran as aggressions, but never use that label for the (generally antecedent and far more egregious) aggressions of the United States.

TONY DOHERTY. Dancing to my Death.

With the Love called Cancer

GREG BARNS AND TONY NAGY: The Troubling Irony: The UK Government Conference on Media Freedom and Julian Assange

On Wednesday and Thursday this week The UK and Canadian Governments are hosting a conference called Defend Media Freedom. Australian Foreign Minister Marise Payne is participating. Yet only a few miles away from the London conference venue Julian Assange, the publisher of WikiLeaks and journalist, languishes in Belmarsh Prison as he awaits a request by the United States to extradite him for revealing the war crimes of the United States and its allies in Iraq and Afghanistan.

KERRY BROWN. Whither one country, two systems? (East Asia Forum)

If reportedly a quarter of the population of the country or city where you live go out on the streets to demonstrate, there is a serious problem. We can quibble about whether it was indeed two million that demonstrated in Hong Kong on Sunday 16 June, or a half of that or less. But for once the eyes could not lie: the whole of the central area was crammed with people, many of whom had already been demonstrating only a few days before.

JOANNE WALLIS. Australias one step forward, two steps back in the Pacific (East Asia Forum)

In 2016, former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull expressed Australias commitment to a step-change in its engagement with the Pacific Islands. The 2017 Foreign Policy White Paper sketched the skeleton of this step-up but it wasnt until 2018 that those bones were fleshed out. While Australia is set to implement several meaningful labour mobility, security and diplomatic initiatives, simultaneously counterproductive domestically driven policies could undermine the ability of those programs to improve engagement with Pacific Island states.

Thai police seize 51 Pakistani Christian asylum seekers (UCANEWS Reporter, Bangkok, 8 July 2019)

Thaiauthorities in Bangkok have arrested 51 Pakistani Christian asylum seekers in an incident that has reignited fears among the citys Christian refugees of another immigration crackdown on illegal immigrants. According to eyewitnesses, immigration authorities arriving in two police vans pulled up outside a low-rent apartment building in Bearing Soi7 in eastern Bangkok where several Pakistani Christian families had been hiding out after having overstayed their tourist visas to Thailand.

JOHN MENADUE. Here we go again- attacking unions and 'red tape'.

With no policy agenda and with the economy sagging, the Morrison government('We are the good economic managers') intends to take us back to what Tony Abbott and Joe Hockey offered us six years ago, an attack on the trade unions again and less red tape.

JOHN QUIGGIN. The Murray-Darling Basin scandal: economists have seen it coming fordecades (The Conversation, 9 July, 2019)

Nations behave wisely, Israeli foreign minister Abba Eban observed five decades ago, once they have exhausted all other alternatives. One can only hope that proves the case with water policy in Australias Murray-Darling Basin, the nations largest river system and agricultural heartland.

LEONID PETROV. Love the North Korean Style: Alek Sigleys Misfortune is a Coded Message

Alek Sigley was expelled from North Korea for using the Internet Last weekendthe worldwasbaffled by thestatement ofthe(North)Korean Central News Agency(KCNA)whichexplainedwhyAlekSigley, the Australian student whohadstudied at the Kim Il-sung University in Pyongyang,wasdetained, investigated and expelled. Nobody, including seasonedNorth Koreawatchers, could make sense of this brief but eloquent statementthat became viralamong Western mediaevenbefore it appeared on theKCNAofficial site.

<