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

NCR EDITORIAL STAFF-Open letter to the US Catholic bishops: It's over (National Catholic Reporter).

Dear brothers in Christ, shepherds, fellow pilgrims, We address you as you approach this year's national meeting in Baltimore because we know there is nowhere left to hide. It's over.

MARGARET SIMONS. Good riddance to Guthrie and Milne. The ABC needs grown-ups in charge (the Guardian 12.11.18)

The most powerful message to emerge from Four Corners sad story about the tumult at the top of the ABC is that neither the former chairman Justin Milne nor the former managing director Michelle Guthrie appeared to be friends of the public broadcaster.

Saudis Close to Crown Prince Discussed Killing Other Enemies a Year Before Khashoggis Death (New York Times, 11.11.18)

WASHINGTON Top Saudi intelligence officials close to Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman asked a small group of businessmen last year about using private companies to assassinate Iranian enemies of the kingdom, according to three people familiar with the discussions.

PAUL O'CALLAGHAN. For Caritas Australia, bankrolling the Pacific misses the mark.

At Caritas Australia we have long been in the business of supporting the grassroots development of our Pacific neighbours.

RICHARD McGREGOR AND JONATHAN PRYKE. Australia must tread carefully in its Pacific contest with China. (SMH 9.11.2018)

If you want a glimpse into the future of Australia's relationship with China, with all the elements of competition and co-operation, and tensions and bridge-building, then this week is a good place to start.

AMANDA MEADE. 'It was magic': Kerry O'Brien on ABC bosses, battles and why it's no bed of lefties (The Guardian)

'It was magic': Kerry O'Brien on ABC bosses, battles and why it's no bed of lefties.

JONATHAN FREEDLAND. US democracy is in crisis. But Trump is only the symptom (the Guardian, 10.11.18)

The talk in the US is of constitutional crisis. Its been looming for a while, thanks to the Mueller investigation into suspected collusion between the Trump campaign and Kremlin efforts to swing the 2016 election. At some point perhaps when special counsel Robert Mueller issues a subpoena, demanding Donald Trump answers his questions a clash was bound to come. But it may already be upon us.

SAMANTHA MAIDEN. Youll find yourself in tears: PM empathises with young asylum seekers on Nauru (The New Daily)

Border protection hardliner Scott Morrison has told a Lifeline fundraiser that he cried on his knees over the plight of young asylum seekers held on Nauru. (Yet Scott Morrison has the power to end the suffering of the children on Nauru ,but does not do so.!!.John Menadue)

TONG ZHAO. Why China Is Worried About the End of the INF Treaty.

The U.S. withdrawal from the INF Treaty reflects Washingtons long-standing concern that the treaty constrained its ability to counter Chinas fast-growing missile forces in the Asia Pacific. This article was published by Carnegie Tsinghua Centre for Global Policy on the 7th of November 2018.

TONY STEPHENS. 1918

Ill go to the Armistice Day service at the Balmain war memorial this November 11 because it will mark the centenary of the end of the Great War and because it will be the end of nearly five years of almost continuous remembrance. While the youthful nation of only 18 years rejoiced with good reason 100 years ago, the end of all the remembrance will be a great relief to many Australians today.

BENEDICT COSGROVE. Kicking Charismatic to the Curb.

Smart people have long argued among themselves about what language does, and doesnt do. But pretty much everyone agrees that, if nothing else, language evolves. Words and phrases that were perfectly serviceable for decades, or even centuries, take on fresh meaning or vanish altogether. Fifty years ago, boss meant cool. A hundred years ago, fantastic referred to what existed solely in the imagination. Five hundred years ago, jumble-gut lane was slang for a bumpy stretch of road. This article was published by BLARB on the 7th of November 2018.

ISABELLE LANE. Misleading and disingenuous: Treasurers negative gearing claims slammed.

Expertshave rubbished Treasurer Josh Frydenbergs claims that a proposed rollback ofnegative gearing will decimate the property market and send rents soaring. This article was published by The New Daily on the 8th of November 2018.

ISHAN THAROOR. The party of Trump goes fully far-right (Washington Post, 08.11.18)

In the run-up to Tuesdays midterms, Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa) faced mounting condemnation over his openly white-supremacist politics. King has a long record of demonizing minorities, fulminating over the decline of white civilization and courting extremists who peddle racist conspiracy theories about the replacement of white Europeans by nonwhite immigrants.

ARTHUR CHESTERFIELD-EVANS. Lest We Remember.

Lest We Remember traces the history of how Australia was drawn into wars by the British and the Americans, and looks at how poorly the strategies had been thought out and how poorly the troops themselves have been treated. The hype and hoopla of the centenary of the end of the First World War will be used by the arms manufacturers and the politicians to cover the folly and indeed to perpetuate it.

This warrants a John Clarke memorial award?--- ScoMo- the hop on hop off marketing man.

MRIDULA AMIN, ISABELLA KWAI. The Nauru Experience: Zero-Tolerance Immigration and Suicidal Children.

A recent visit to Nauru revealed the effects of Australias offshore detention policy and its impact on mental health. This article was published by The New York Times on the 5th of November 2018.

BRIAN COYNE. Reading the needs and wants of the ordinary punters.

The ABC's 7.30 program on Tuesday night had an interesting analysis program on Rupert Murdoch, his heir-apparent, Lachlan, and the future for their empire and the media. [See link below] While they've sold off much of their empire (for something in the order of 86 billion dollars [yes, you read that correctly: BILLION]) the Murdoch's still control Fox News. In the program, they claim it is because it is the only network in the U.S. which gives a voice to conservatives.

JOHN MENADUE. The Australian Strategic Policy Institute has become a go to organisation for anti Chinese commentary A repost

The important agents of influence in Australia are organisations linked 'hip to hip' to the US and its military/industrial complex. One of these is the Australian Strategic Policy Institute which is an enthusiastic supporter of almost all things American including its hostility to China. It pretends it is an independent think tank. It pretends it has China expertise.

ANDREW DEBLANCO. The long struggle for Americas soul.

Apparently, the selfevident truth that all people deserve life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness is far from settled. This article was published by The New York Times on the 7th of November 2018.

LINDY EDWARDS. Identity Politics is central to the current political crisis, but not for the reasons Paul Kelly argues.

Paul Kelly's recent article 'Could disruption be the ruin of western liberal democracy?' was a thoughtful account of the challenges facing western democracy, and I would agree with some of what he described. But in the spirit of the constructive engagement he laments as missing in current debate, I offer up a different line of causality.

DAVID HUTT. Timor-Leste developing closer ties with China.

Southeast Asia's newest and poorest nation needs funds that Beijing is poised to provide to fuel what some see as Dili's misguided oil and gas ambitions. This article was published by Asia Times on the 2nd of November 2018.

Refugees Donald Trumps help is accepted but Jacinda Ardens offer is rejected

Refugees and asylum seekers are being kept on Manus and Nauru for one purpose only to serve the governments party political purposes. We welcome US help but not offers of help from NZ. Keeping vulnerable people in offshore detention is not deterring boat arrivals. It is the turnback policy that is stopping the boats. The vulnerable people in Nauru and Manus are being punished for no useful policy purpose. They should all be brought to Australia where we have well established settlement services. In all this cruel mess, the ALP is silent. Where is its courage...

DEAN ASHENDEN. Dont mention the war (Inside Story, 05.11.18)

The Australian War Memorial and its embarrassing director Brendan Nelson are getting some of what they deserve, but only some. The AWMs (successful) bid for half a billion public dollars to house its tribute to those who have served and died in conflicts since the second world war has provoked hostile commentary, culminating in Jack Waterfords splendid takedown of Nelson, the AWM and its outrageous raid on the public purse in the Canberra Times. But with some exceptions (here, here, and here) this commentary, including Waterfords, has followed the AWM itself in missing the main point: the failure to recognise...

SOPHIE VORRATH. Surge in renewables delivering cheaper power, says TAI report.

As ScoMo sets off in his big blue autographed campaign bus to Drive Down Electricity Prices in Queensland, the good news is that most of the hard work looks to have been already done for him. This article was published by Renew Economy on the 5th of November 2018.

RICHARD ECKERSLEY. The ghosts of past political failures haunt environmental challenges.

We will not solve climate change and other pressing global threats until we admit, and learn from, the repeated failures of past proclamations and promises.

BRENDAN COATES, JOHN DALEY, TONY CHEN. Abolish stamp duty. The ACT shows the rest of us how to tax property.

This week were exploring the state of nine different policy areas across Australias states, as detailed in Grattan Institutes State Orange Book 2018. Read the other articles in the series here. This article was published by The Conversation on the 1st of Novemeber 2018.

MARYANNE DEMASI. Vindication : dietitians cut ties with the sugar lobby.

The Dietitians Association of Australia has pledged to cut financial ties with the sugar lobby following a series of investigations. The DAA initiative and the exoneration of surgeon and sugar critic Dr Gary Fettke are significant steps towards diet reform in Australia.

NOAM CHOMSKY. Members of Migrant Caravan Are Fleeing from Misery & Horrors Created by the U.S.

As President Trump escalated his attacks and threats against the Central American migrant caravans making their way to the U.S.-Mexico border, the Trump administration unveiled new sanctions against Venezuela and Cuba on Thursday. National security adviser John Bolton declared Venezuela, Cuba and Nicaragua to be part of a troika of tyranny and a triangle of terror. We speak with world-renowned professor, linguist and dissident Noam Chomsky about U.S. foreign policy in Central America. He joins us in Tucson, Arizona, where he now teaches at the University of Arizona. Chomsky is also institute professor emeritus at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology,...

LATIKA BOURKE. Forget Barnaby Joyce's affair - this is why he should not return to the leadership

Although Barnaby Joyce's name is not mentioned, it is his legacy that informs Philip Moss' damning report into the Department of Agriculture's performance as the regulator of the live exports industry.

JOHN DALEY, BRENDAN COATES, TONY CHEN. To make housing more affordable this is what state governments need to do.

This week were exploring the state of nine different policy areas across Australias states, as detailed in Grattan Institutes State Orange Book 2018. Read the other articles in the series here. This article was published by The Conversation on the 31st of October 2018.

SIMON SCHAMA. On the battle for America (Financial Times 2.11.2018)

Ten days before the midterm elections in America, murder came to the Tree of Life. Shouting all Jews need to die, a neo-Nazi gunman with an animus against the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society slaughtered 11 Jews gathered at their synagogue in Squirrel Hill, Pittsburgh. Two days earlier, pipe bombs had been sent to 14 critics of Donald Trump by a man who had turned his van into a rust-bucket shrine to MAGA and its great apostle. One day previously, Gregory Bush, thwarted in his attempt to enter a black church in Louisville, Kentucky, had shot and killed two African-Americans at...

JESSICA IRVINE. Labor's housing tax changes will help cure our property addiction (SMH 1.11.2018)

It seems a requirement of modern political scare campaigns that they be not only breathless, but logically inconsistent.And so it is with the mounting fear campaign being waged against Labors policy to, if elected, reform the tax treatment of investment properties.Labors changes would, we hear, both accelerate price falls under way in Sydney and Melbourne AND also choke the supply of new homes. Come on, guys.

JOHN MENADUE. Detention on Manus and Nauru serves no useful policy purpose.

On 13 August 2016 Robert Manne, Frank Brennan, Tim Costello and I wrote the following article for The Melbourne Age. It was also posted on this blog. Since that time, we have consistently argued on many occasions , first, that all detainees on Manus and Nauru should be brought to Australia for processing and possible settlement, and second, that the policy of turnback of boats should be continued and if necessary strengthened to ensure that there were no more boat arrivals. I repost below that article from August 2016. We think the basic arguments that we made over two years...

MICHAEL MCGIRR. Christianity tells stories; Islam finds designs (Eureka Street, 30.10.18)

My year ten class studies Islam, one of the most formative influences in the world that my students will inhabit and hopefully improve. I have a profound respect for Islam. Westerners, and especially western Christians, often fail to acknowledge the debt they owe to Islam, a tradition that had a huge role in bringing Europe through the Dark Ages and into the Renaissance.

TIMOTHY SNYDER. Donald Trump borrows from the old tricks of fascism (The Guardian, 30.10.18)

The governing principle of the Trump administration is total irresponsibility, a claim of innocence from a position of power, something which happens to be an old fascist trick. As we see in the presidents reactions to American rightwing terrorism, he will always claim victimhood for himself and shift blame to the actual victims. As we see in the motivations of the terrorists themselves, and in the long history of fascism, this maneuver can lead to murder.

AARON PATRICK. Tweet victory: How Libs lost Wentworth. (AFR 1.11.2018)

Five days before the Wentworth byelection, when Liberal candidate Dave Sharma was starting to claw back support in the seatPrime Minister Scott Morrison was desperate to save, Facebook and Twitter lit up with a warning: if local doctor Kerryn Phelps doesn't come second, the Liberals win.

PAUL KRUGMAN. Hate is on the ballot next week (New York Times 31 October 2018)

In America 2018, whataboutism is the last refuge of scoundrels, and bothsidesism is the last refuge of cowards. In case you hadnt noticed, were in the midst of a wave of hate crimes.

JOE ROACH. Inequality-A case of wood and trees.

Economists love data. For some it is a case of the more the merrier.or, at the least, the more data the more articles than can be published. Whether this contributes much to the overall good is doubtful. When it misleads it needs to be called out.

RICHARD HOLDEN. The best way to boost the economy is to improve the lives of deprived students. (The Conversation 25.10.2018)

What if we had an opportunity to double the size of the tourism industry, or to quadruple the size of the beef industry, or to boost the economy by more than any of the presently proposed tax switches?What if we could do it while permanently improving the lives of disadvantaged young people?We surely wouldnt let it slip away.Yet we do every day while we fail to address the gap in school achievement between between rural, regional and remote children and their city counterparts.

NICK DEANE. Armistice Day

On 'Remembrance Day' we should not forget that the majority of war's casualties are actually non-combatant civilians. We should also remember that the original day was a day of great joy, as warring came to an end. Peace is the 'default position'; war an aberration. However, current commemorations still focus on the 'warrior hero'.

JAMES ONEILL. Australia and its Israel Embassy: What are they thinking?

According to recent media reports, the Liberal candidate in the Wentworth (Sydney) by-election, former diplomat David Sharma said he was open to the idea that Australias embassy in Israel could be shifted from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. In a separate tweet he went further and said Australia should consider recognising Jerusalem as Israels capital. The ostensible reason is that it would be following the lead of the United States.

CARMEN LAWRENCE. Waste in the Commonwealth/State divide in education

In the seemingly never ending debate about the best way to fund our schools, relatively little consideration is given to the effects of the declining influence of state governments and the increasing exercise of power by the Commonwealth. However, in our discussions in the panel which reviewed school funding in Australia the so-called Gonski review - state-commonwealth relations were, inevitably and necessarily, pivotal to our deliberations. It may come as no surprise that the recommendations that flowed from that analysis have been largely overlooked and relegated to the too hard basket.

MOHAMAD BAZZI. How Saudi Arabia wins friends (New York Times, 29.10.18)

After the Khashoggi murder, the kingdom has fallen back on the tactic of wielding its oil wealth to buy loyalty.

IAN TRESISE. A View on the Need for Systemic Change in Health & Wellbeing Education

There is a very strong need in our community for a refreshing whole-of-government approach to confronting the major health issues of our day. This starts with the recognition that many of our political institutions were developed for an Industrial Age era, where a silo approach to delivering policy, exacerbated by a federated service delivery model, is no longer capable of dealing with the most pressing health issues of our time. These include the unconstrained tragedy of preventable non-communicable disease proliferation; which, according to a PwC study commissioned by Australian Unity, will be unsustainable in Australia as early as 2025. ...

VICTOR MERRICK. Anwar Ibrahim is he for real?

Malaysia's prime minister-in-waiting shows signs of irritability as reformist mask starts to slip. This article was published by UCA News on the 23rd of October 2018.

AUSTRALIAN ASSOCIATED PRESS. Turnbull warns Morrison over Israel embassy move after Indonesia meeting (the Guardian 30 October 2018)

The former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull has warned his successor against moving the Australian embassy in Israel to Jerusalem after meeting with the Indonesian president on Monday.

BERNIE FRASER- Neoliberal failure, putting the economy ahead of society -A repost

At The Australian Institute's Revenue Summit in Canberra on 17 October 2018 Bernie Fraser raised an important question as to why with Australia's 27 years of successive economic growth there is so mush social disquiet and sense of unfairness in the community. Bernie Fraser was formerly Secretary of Treasury and Governor of the Reserve Bank of Australia. He asked ...'How do we explain (the) disconnect between Australia's impressive economic growth story and its failure on so many markers to show progress towards a better,fairer society? In my view a large part of the answer lies in the influence...

KIM RICHARD NOSSAL. Canada and Huawei: Letting politics slip in.

Canada has decided not to join Australia and the United States in barring Huawei Technologies Ltd of Shenzen from participating in the development of Canadas 5G mobile networks. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau argued that his governments decision on Huawei is based on evidence and data, and in particular on recommendations from the Communications Security Establishment (CSE), the federal agency that collects foreign signals intelligence and protects telecommunications networks.

ROMAIN FATHI World War 1: The blood-bath in vain (the Conversation, 03.09.18)

But politicians and military leaders had to justify the dead and the enormous sacrifices they had demanded from their people. Thinking back, the most chilling part of the vain bloodbath is that the citizens of the belligerent nations did support the war and its sacrifices for years, some until the breaking point of revolt.

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