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

GERARD O'CONNELL. Before arriving in U.A.E., pope challenges his hosts to help end Yemen crisis

Pope Francis made a powerful appeal to the interested parties and to the international community to end the humanitarian crisis in Yemen in which some 10 million people risk starvation.

RICHARD FLANAGAN. Tasmania is burning. The climate disaster future has arrived while those in power laugh at us. (The Guardian 4.2.2019)

Scott Morrison is trying to scare people about economic policy but seems blithely unaware people are already scared about climate change.

STEPHEN LONG. Hayne's findings shouldn't be a shock; the banking scandals were decades in the making (ABC News 4 Feb.2019).

How did it come to this? How did we arrive at a situation where banks and financial houses slugged dead people with fees?

ADELE FERGUSON. The regulators failed bank customers but they are now being trusted to fix this mess. (SMH 5.2.2019)

After a year of shame and grovelling apologies, the day of reckoning finally arrived. For those Australians hoping for structural separation of the banks, an overhaul of the regulators or heads on sticks, royal commissioner KennethHayne's verdict would have been disappointing.

KAREN COX. Now Hayne has reported, the lobbyists will get to work (SMH 5.2.2019)

After a year of front pages filled with the evidence of scandalous wrong doing, rip-offs and greed in our banking and financial services institutions, we finally have a roadmap from Commissioner Kenneth Hayne on how to solve the finance sectors ills. His report is bold, full of commonsense and clear solutions.

ANDREW LINDEN, WARREN STAPLES. Hayne's failure to tackle bank structure. (The Conversation 5.2.2019)

Hayne's failure to tackle bank structure means that in a decade or so another treasurer will have to call another royal commission.Every 10 to 15 years its the same. Ever sincefinancial deregulation in the 1980sweve had a finance industry scandal followed by an inquiry, a quick fix, and a declaration that it shouldnt happen again.

STEPHEN LONG. This letter from the big banks helped shape the royal commission. ABC News 5 February 2019

It is a revelation that underscores the close relationship between the major banks and the Government.

JAMES MASSOLA. The Australian priest helping trapped refugees the world ignores. (SMH 3/2/2019)

Mick Kelly remembers the phone call from his friend in Pakistan as if it was yesterday. He asked me to help out this one guy who was fleeing Pakistan, and on his way to Bangkok. That was more than five years ago, Kelly recalls. That friend - like Mick, a Jesuit priest - was asking for the Sydney-born Kelly to give a Pakistani Christian and would-be refugee help when he arrived in Thailand's sprawling, unfamiliar capital. It all started by accident and has grown from there.

ELENA COLLINSON. What A Labor Victory Might Mean For Australian Foreign Policy (Council on Foreign Relations).

A federal election is due this year in Australia. While the Liberal-National Coalition government has yet to formally announce a polling day, the stage has effectively been set for a May election. According to Australian law, May 18 is the latest possible date a federal election could be called. The opposition Australian Labor Party (ALP) is favored to win, having consistently polled ahead of the Coalition over the last year, at least, and having extended their lead in polls in the aftermath of Malcolm Turnbulls ouster from the Coalition prime ministership in an internal Liberal Party leadership contest last year.

JOHN MENADUE. Conservatives like Scott Morrison set the gold standard in scare campaigns.

With the Coalition policy cupboard bare and broken we should not be surprised about the attacks on Bill Shorten and a scare campaign in the electorate. Last week Scott Morrison told us that he is 'cashed up and ready to go negative'. We are being warned about the coming disaster if many well off people are denied the benefits of negative gearing,capital gains concessions or denial of tax credits even for people who don't pay any tax at all. But that was just the beginning. Rhodes scholar winner and Minister for Energy threatened that 'Labor's energy policies would shut down...

DANIELLE WOOD, CARMELA CHIVERS AND KATE GRIFFITHS. Tasmania's gambling election shows Australia needs tougher rules on money in politics.

Todays Commonwealth donationsdata releaseis a stark reminder of the deep flaws in our political donations system.Contributions to political parties are revealed up to 19 months after the event, and sometimes not at all. Withmost states now operating far more transparent regimes, the only conceivable explanation for the current Commonwealth system is that our political leaders dont want us to see where the money is coming from. And the information contained in todays data dump gives clues as to why that might be.

CLAIRE GIANGRAVE. UN panel probes Italys role in Churchs child abuse scandals

A United Nations Committee for the protection of minors questioned the Italian government last week about clerical sexual abuse in the country, expressing concern over laws that protect predator priests from criminal charges.

DAVID JAMES. Venezuela beset by American dirty tricks (Eureka Street, 30 January 2019)

For those wishing to peer into the heart of darkness, the nexus between big oil and big money is a good place to start. Those who control the energy market and the financial markets control the world.

RICHARD KINGSFORD. The successive government failures behind the fish kills. (SMH 31.1.2018)

With the NSW election looming, its time to make sure the next state government has environmental policy front and centre at the big table of decision making. On nearly every major measure for the environment numbers of threatened species, pollution, state of ecosystems and burgeoning threats were going backwards.

MARTIN WOLF. China's challenge of one world, two systems. (AFR 31.1.2018)

The accelerating breakdown in relations between China and the US is the most significant current event. How is this to be managed, given today's global interdependence?

JOSH GORDON. Will Labor's dividend imputation policy overwhelmingly affect the low paid? (ABC News)

For months the Morrison Government has argued Labor's controversial plan to raise more than $5 billion a year by scrapping refundable franking credits on dividends from shares is not fair.

CJ Polychroniou. Noam Chomsky: Ocasio-Cortez and Other Newcomers Are Rousing the Multitudes (Truthout, 30 January 2019)

A quick glance around the world today reveals that politics almost everywhere from the federal government shutdown in the US to the power struggle in Venezuela and from Macrons crisis in France and UKs Brexit nightmare to the Israeli-Iranian rivalry are engulfed in a state of uncertainty and turmoil. Meanwhile, oligarchy is replacing democracy as the widening social and economic gap between rich and poor continues unabated. So, who rules the world now? The US is in a state of relative decline, but neither Russia nor China has the capacity to control global developments. How do the super-rich...

ISHAAN THAROOR. The lesson of Davos: - China has arrived (Washington Post 25 January 2019).

Can we live in a world where America is still a strong power but doesnt have the kind of primacy it had in the past? asked Mahbubani. Thats a reality an America First administration is staunchly trying to resist. In Davos, though, it is afait accompli.

IAN ROBINSON. The Myth of the Mandate.

If they win the next election, Labor will have a mandate to push through tax changes, claims Shadow Treasurer Chris Bowen (The Age 23/01 p. 1).

MARK PROOST. Millions of Americans flood into Mexico for health care - the human caravan you haven't heard about. (Truthout 23.1.2019)

The Trump administration is trying to convey panic that theres an immediate crisis on the southern border, pointing to caravans of desperate people who have traveled thousands of miles. Its true that Latin and Central Americans are coming to the US fleeing violence and poverty, much of it caused by destructive US trade policy over the course of decades. But theres another massive border crossing phenomenon afoot and Trump has not said a word about it. Were talking about thousands of US citizens crossing the border each day in search of affordable health care.

JACKSON LEARS. Imperial Exceptionalism -(The New York Review of Books February 7, 2019).

It is hard to give up something you claim you never had. That is the difficulty Americans face with respect to their countrys empire.

IAN ROBINSON. What has Captain Cook ever done for us?

The Prime Minister is intent on making a big fuss about James Cook. He is even promoting, at great expense, a circumnavigation of the continent by a replica of Cooks ship Endeavour. This is an insult to Matthew Flinders who actually did circumnavigate the continent, who made a much greater contribution to our nation than Cook, and who, moreover, gave us our name. Forget Cook. Lets give Flinders his due.

KISHORE MAHBUBANI. What China Threat? How the United States and China can avoid war. Harper Magazine 22 January 2019

Within about fifteen years, Chinas economy will surpass Americas and become the largest in the world. As this moment approaches, meanwhile, a consensus has formed in Washington that China poses a significant threat to American interests and well-being. General Joseph Dunford, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS), has said that China probably poses the greatest threat to our nation by about 2025. The summary of Americas 2018 National Defense Strategy claims that China and Russia are revisionist powers seeking to shape a world consistent with their authoritarian modelgaining veto authority over other nations economic, diplomatic, and security...

MATTHEW O'NEILL. How the media's fixation with Trump was exported. (The Interpreter 23.1.2019)

The Trump administration has hurtled into its third year and the media circus thats trailed the 45th president continues apace. Australians who didnt tune out of the news over the summer holidays were fed a diet of chaos and controversy out of Washington, with the ongoing partial government shutdown featured prominently in bulletins nationwide.

CRISPIN HULL. Solution to ABC budget cuts. (Canberra Times 19.1.2019)

Here is an idea for how the ABC might deal with the inevitable round of cuts next Budget. Clever bureaucrats when faced with funding cuts go for the jugular. They attack some popular vote-sensitive function and announce it will be cut. The backlash often results in a funding rethink.

JOHN MENADUE. Australia Day reminds us that we can overcome the fear of foreigners and 'boats'.

The Australia of today is vastly different to the Australia of my childhood with its widespread racism and sectarianism. It was socially suffocating. For those changes I am very grateful. There is a lot that we can be proud of. No country has integrated newcomers as well as we have. But there have been failures and remedial action must be taken. We are yet to be reconciled to our indigenous brothers and sisters who watched the European boat arrivals in 1788. We are yet to take our share of responsibility for the displaced and persecuted people of the...

JOHN FALZON. We need to redefine exclusion (Eureka Street).

Inequality is not an aberration that comes with neoliberalism. It is the foundation of neoliberalism, along with its partners in social crime: patriarchy and colonisation. As Sharan Burrow, the Australian General Secretary of the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC), puts it so poignantly: 'We live in a fragmented world.' The excluded form the majority across the globe.

TIM LINDSEY. Baasyirs bizarre on/off release disrupts Jokowis campaign.

Indonesias announcement that it would release 80-year old Abu Bakar Baasyir, the spiritual leader of the terrorist group Jemaah Islamiyah (JI), after serving two-thirds of his 15-year sentence for supporting a terrorist training camp in Aceh, took many by surprise. Australians were shocked that Indonesia showed so little concern for Australian feelings about JIs 2002 bomb attack in Bali that claimed 202 lives, including 88 Australians.

MARILYN LAKE. Change the date to 1 January

Im with Jeff Kennett. I never thought I could say that, but I agree with him that Australia Day should be moved to 1 January - to commemorate the beginning of the Commonwealth of Australia, a new progressive nation, whose very name signified the ideals of collective commitment and communal wealth and a repudiation of old world aristocracies and inequalities. We didnt thereby become a republic, but the name, voted on by constitutional delegates in the 1890s had a distinctively republican ring as a number of disgruntled conservative constitutional delegates noted.

JOHN CARMODY. Rethinking the basis for the Australia Day holiday.

January 26 continues to be a nettlesome date for the official celebration of the Australian nation and as a commemoration of our colonial foundation. Apart from the significant nuisance that it falls so close to the end of the holiday season, when our minds and emotions are trying to deal with seemingly more pressing obligations, its continued existence really asks a serious philosophical and moral question about not just about the date but also whether it should be celebrated at all.

JOHN MENADUE. A Repost: What does it mean to be an Australian? Are we still the land of the second chance?

The Macquarie legacy is still with us. It underpins our best instincts togive all residents in this country, whether Australian born, migrants or refugees an equal opportunity in life, a second chance. That ethos of redemption is a core part of our history.

IAN AND TIM ROBINSON. A Sad Excuse for a National Day

A National Day should be the anniversary of a central event in the life of the nation, a day when we all come together and celebrate our nations shared values a celebration of the start of our nations journey, usually the attainment of independence, or some other significant national milestone.

JOHN MENADUE. Corporate failure in Australia. They just don't get it.

There is a growing and unfortunate litany of corporate failures in Australia and not just the banks and energy suppliers. There is wage theft on a large scale. Instead of addressing their own obvious failures the BCA accuses its critics of business bashing and waging class war. As Warren Buffett put it 'there is class war all right, but it is my class, the rich class,that is making war and we are winning it.' Senior business people will just not 'stick to their knitting' and properly and competently run their businesses.Instead they attack their critics and...

DEAN BAKER. The Green New Deal is happening in China.

One of the Trump administrations talking points about global warming is that were reducing greenhouse gas emissions, while the countries that remain in the Paris accord are not. Well, the first part of this story is clearly not true, as data for 2018show a large risein emissions for the United States. The second part is also not very accurate, as most other countries are taking large steps to reduce emissions.At the top of the list is China. The country has undertaken a massive push to convert to electric powered vehicles and clean energy sources.

PETER SMALL. A Royal Commission on the Murray-Darling.

In response to an excellent article by Michelle Pini Something stinks in the Coalition and its not dead fish Pearls and irritations 18/01, I posted a comment. Yes a Royal Commission with forensic capacity to peel away each layer of vested interest. Politician, scientist and industry. Sounds a bit rough on scientists but let me explain..

JANE GOODALL. A plague of political idiots.

Increasing awareness of distortion and deception in news media is accompanied by rising levels of anger about what amounts to an intelligence crisis in public communication. People with opposing views accuse each other of being useful idiots for the propaganda merchants, and failing to see the realities. Politicians are caricatured as idiots and clowns, glove puppets for oligarchs and corporate enterprises. This rhetorical trend may be a signal that we refuse to be taken for fools, but a growing obsession with the stupidity of others may itself be becoming a toxic influence.

LISA NANDY. Patriotism and the Left (New Statesman).

A speech on the Left, patriotism and solidarity.

MICHELLE ALEXANDER. Breaking the silence on Palestine (The New York Times International Edition).

Like Martin Luther King Jr. did, we must speak out about the grave injustices of our time.

CIARA MORRIS. Seeing China Through a Washington Lens

Balancing relations between China and the US is arguably Australia's greatest foreign policy challenge in the 21st century. But is Australia getting it right?

JOHN HEWSON. She won't be right: the economic storm our leaders ignore. (SMH 18.1.2019)

Its the economy, stupid a slogan and a focus that largely won the US presidency for Bill Clinton in 1992. He then went on to reap the benefits of Bush seniors economic management, not yet evident at the time of the election. The issue of economic management is usually a significant issue at our federal elections, with polling consistently suggesting the LNP has an edge as better economic managers. Perceptions matter in politics, but realities are ultimately determinant. Even though both our major parties have warned recently of global storm clouds ahead for our economy this year, neither...

JOHN QUIGGIN. Socialist utopia 2050: what could life in Australia be like after the failure of capitalism?

From four-day weeks to unconditional basic income to free education, its possible to imagine a future where societys focus has moved from consumption to quality of life.

JOHN MENADUE. We are paying an enormous price to keep Christopher Pyne in Parliament

The Coalition Government ended our car manufacturing industry which had an Effective Rate of Protection of 8%. It employed 200,000 people. We are told by the Government that the void in SA will be filled by building the new French submarines in Adelaide. The won't. There will be only about 2000 new jobs in SA and the Effective Rate of Protection for the submarines will be 300% Our economy and defence would be far better off if we had kept our car manufacturing industry,imported new submarines 'off the shelf' and maintained them in SA Who said that conservatives...

VINCENT MAHON. Will the Greens learn from the Victorian election?

The Victorian Greens entered the State election with eight MPs. It ended with only four, losing fifty percent of its parliamentarians. The Greens prioritised lower house seats to the detriment of the five upper house seats it held where it exercised the balance of power. There was no net gain in the lower house retaining three seats (Brunswick gain offsetting Northcote loss) while it lost four of its five upper house seats.To say this was a poor campaign for the Greens is an understatement. Yet the spin from the Greens is that its vote basically held and fault lay with...

ALAN BOYD. Morrison misconnects across the South Pacific. (Asia Times 19.1.2019)

I urged your predecessor [Malcolm Turnbull] repeatedly to honor his commitment to clean energy. From where we are sitting, we cannot imagine how the interests of any single industry can be placed above the welfare of Pacific peoples and vulnerable people in the world over. Consensus from the scientific community is clear and the existential threat posed to Pacific island countries is certain, Bainimarama said. Pacific island nations are on a precarious front-line of the climate change debate as rising sea levels sink portions of their land masses and wreak havoc on their coastlines.

JOHN MENADUE. Private Health Insurance is a con job. Is Labor being conned again?

The ALP does not seem to understand its own creation- Medicare- and that the $11 b taxpayer subsidy to PHI is like a Damocles sword that hangs over Medicare. Ian McAuley in Medicare under threat from Labor points out that Labor in its''consultation document' on a proposed reference of PHI to the Productivity Commission suggests not only retaining PHI but strengthening it. This may only be a stratagem to get the PHI lobby of Labor's back in the run up to the next election. But Labor's record on PHI is not at all reassuring. Has there been a deal...

PATSY MCGARRY. Church response to modern abuse scandals 'same as 30 years ago.'

Marie Collins claims lessons of abuse in Ireland not being used to change policy elsewhere The church reaction is a mirror image of what we were hearing here in Ireland 30 years ago.

MICHELLE PINI. Something stinks in the Coalition and it's not just dead fish (Independent Australia 17.01.2019)

The sight of close to a million dead fish in one of Australias most important waterways may heraldthe end for the Morrison Government. For this is hardly the first time this Coalition Government, under its various iterations, has spat in the face of Australias precious resources. For now, however, let's look at the Murray-Darling disaster and how we got here.

MICHAEL NIMAN. Five Forces Driving the Rise of Fascism in 2019 (Truthout).

Immigration has become a weapon in the arsenal of fascists who work to sow fear of the other in populations they wish to control.There are four other forces behind the rise of fascism

ANTONY GREEN. Why independents won't matter so much at the next election (ABC News).

Despite predictions that independents will be an important factor in the result of the coming federal election, two important factors suggest otherwise.

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