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
17 June 2022
KEITH MITCHELSON: Media advocacy for tax-avoiding, transnational behemoths the international fossil-fuel companies
The web of international trade has been lauded for a century as a positive binding force connecting nations, making the world a safer place. Who would think it could also do the opposite.
16 June 2022
Will the Greens be smarter this time
The Greens will have more seats in both houses of Parliament. That is welcome. But in the past they have not used their power wisely. The perfect became the enemy of the good.
15 June 2022
Geraldine Doogue: Engaging young Australians with their ABC
Another highly engaging Classic 100 music countdown came to a close at 4pm on Sunday, enthralling many thousands of Australians, linking them like maybe nothing else, to their ABC. Crucially, younger Australians engaged like never before with the Classic 100, according to the networks website. Altogether, 215,486 listeners took action and voted---a record, with an increase in younger voters. Translate that via the multiplier effect to listeners and you scoop up huge numbers of Australians, clearly many converts for the first time, judging by the wonderful recorded feedback.
14 June 2022
Storms at the Summit of the Americas
June 7 was a bad day forLuis Almagro, secretary-general of the Organisation of American States (OAS). During the ninth Summit of the Americas, a young man declaredto him what he is: an assassin and puppet of the White House, instigator of the coup in Bolivia. He said that Almagro cannot come to give lessons on democracy when his hands are stained with blood. In another room at the summit in Los Angeles, Secretary of State Antony Blinken seemed to be doing no better: several journalists rebuked him for using freedom of the press to provide cover for the murderers of...
14 June 2022
ROBIN CAVALIER: Age distinctions increasingly influencing political outcomes
Thanks to the Australian Electoral Commissions age profile for each electorate it is possible to analyse how younger and older voters across the nation appear to have taken different paths.
14 June 2022
The immoral army
One of the regular refrains from the Israeli government is that they have the most moral army on Earth.
13 June 2022
Charalambous: Israels occupation of the West Bank and Gaza is a fundamental barrier to peace
When it comes to the question of achieving peace in the Middle East, Labour is clear: in government, we would immediately recognise the state of Palestine. We want to see a two-state solution, with a sovereign and secure Palestine and Israel existing in peace alongside one another. But we must acknowledge how far away that goal is.
12 June 2022
DAVEY HELLER - The Australian election: the working class moves leftward under conditions of crisis
The Federal election showed that despite appearances, including the anti-vax rallies and the best efforts of the press, the working class has shifted to the left rather than the right during the last two years of crisis. The election delivered a severe blow to the project of consolidating far right politics through electoral processes. The Liberal Party is hopelessly split due to the ruling class divisions over climate change. It has effectively lost its base in the upper middle classes of the cities. The far-right minor party vote largely did not eventuate.
11 June 2022
HUGH SMITH: Justice - the first casualty of peace?
A 21-year old Russian tank commander, Sergeant Vadim Shysimarin, has been tried and sentenced to life imprisonment in the Ukraine for the murder of a civilian. This is the first war crimes trial arising out of Russias special military operation a label which does not exempt any of the combatants from the law of armed conflict'.
11 June 2022
Hannon: A Tribute to Father Eric Hodgens friend, pastor, priest
In my distant memory, when in 1960, I was a grade 2 student at St Jamess Primary School in Gardenvale, I have a vague recollection of a newly ordained priest coming to visit the school and talk to us. I also have a similar recollection from 1959, in Grade 2, when Michael Parer likewise had come back to his old parish. The first mentioned must have been Eric Hodgens, although I couldnt remember his name that far back. At the time, Paul Willy, of YCW fame, was the parish curate, and much later Brighton postman! I certainly can remember his...
9 June 2022
KEITH MITCHELSON. Satisfying Expectations
Winning a climate election where neither major party presented nor discussed their policy details with electors has generated a blank screen of individual expectations. Can Anthony Albaneses government satisfy their diverse hopes.
8 June 2022
Mann and Lindsey: It's great Albanese visited Indonesia, but Australia needs to do a lot more to reset relations. Here are 5 ways to start
A new Australian prime minister flying to Indonesia to reset relations is now so routine it would probably raise hackles in Jakarta if it didnt happen.
8 June 2022
Richard Drake: The American cause in Ukraine: Advancing freedom or the course of empire?
The disasters of war in Ukraine have not yet found their Francisco Goya, but the reporting of journalists conveys a graphic picture of the death and destruction there. This war, like all its predecessors, is hell. Writing about the putatively good war of 1939-1945, Nicholson Baker inHuman Smokedescribed its beginnings as the advent of civilisations end with the records of both sides marred by the most horrific war crimes. The reporting of Nicholas Turse in Shoot Anything that Movesabout the war in Vietnam and of Vincent Bevins inThe Jakarta Methodabout Washington-backed massacres worldwide in the Cold War showed Americans in...
7 June 2022
JAKE LYNCH: Anti-Zionism is not anti-Semitism
The murder by an Israeli sniper of the Palestinian Al Jazeera journalist Shirin Abu Akleh, and the police attack on mourners at her funeral, are not incidental to Zionism, but integral to it. The Green Line that bounds the territory the rest of the world regards as belonging to Israel is purely provisional, with no formal border ever having been announced or acknowledged.
7 June 2022
KEITH MITCHELSON: Becoming a rooftop superpower
Our household rooftop solar panel network helps fulfil international commitments of the Australian government, yet it also represents a hidden taxation that citizens do not seem to recognise. Can the new Labor government rectify this and other larger taxation anomalies?
7 June 2022
How Australias new leaders really see Israel and the Palestinians
In the recent election, aided by a febrile Murdoch press, the right-wing campaign to smear Australia's opposition as 'antisemitic' and 'anti-Israel' reached fever pitch. With Labor now in power, it's time to set the record straight.
5 June 2022
Andrew Stewart - Wages and women top Albaneses IR agenda: the big question is how Labor keeps its promises
Industrial relations issues were front and centre when federal Labor last won office from opposition in 2007. The backlash against John Howards Work Choices reforms cost both his government and his own seat. Kevin Rudd and Julia Gillards detailed Forward with Fairness policy provided a blueprint for the Fair Work Act that is still in force today.
5 June 2022
JOHN LANGMORE and ERIKA FELLER - Planning UN revitalisation
Reinvigorating multilateralism has been a growing concern of the United Nations (UN) for many years. The maintenance of international peace and enhancing the global rules-based order are core responsibilities under the UN Charter. A major problem is that many Member States are no longer, if they ever fully were, practicing what they say they believe. Multilateral cooperation through the UN institutions has been eroded.
4 June 2022
Beth Doherty-Recovering the True Church - Book Review
One of the great chants of Latin American protest marches, is the phrase: El pueblo unido jamas ser vencido, meaning: a united people will never be overcome.
2 June 2022
Neil Westbury: The Albanese Labor Government needs to act urgently to protect women and children in remote NT communities
The Panel recognises that the negative impacts that arise from the over consumption of liquor in the NT, laid out in detail in this report, are off the scale, not just by Australian but by international standards. The resulting costs in terms of human suffering and social and economic costs cut right across the NT community and are not confined to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Territorians. They cannot be ignored. Gilbert Review into the proposed Dan Murphy Store in Darwin, (2021).
1 June 2022
Mike Gilligan: AUKUS is not about defending Australia but a possible US attack on China
The hidden legacy of AUKUS is that Australia is on a path to attract thermonuclear attack from China, against which it is defenceless. In April I could only wonder about the illogicality of AUKUS, that peculiar agreement struck in September last year with the US and Britain, for Australia to build nuclear submarines to save the Indo-Pacific. (AUKUS and submarines a slippery slope, P&I, 27 April 2022). AUKUS and its emblematic eight budget-crippling nuclear submarines make no sense against Australias defence policies, or economic sanity. AUKUS has to be opened intellectually, its innards exposed, to find the risks its...
1 June 2022
Michael Edwards-The unfortunate irrelevance of the arts in Australia
Objective and anecdotal evidence shows that activity in the Australian arts sector declined significantly during the pandemic. Performances closed, venues shut, exhibitions were cancelled and many artists were forced to abandon their artistic careers hopefully temporarily. The sectors demise produced the occasional news item, but otherwise it has aroused little reaction from the public or public policy makers.
25 May 2022
David Goodman and others - An Open letter to the New Government on relations with China
To Prime Minister Albanese and Foreign Minister Wong,
25 May 2022
Peter Fry - Marginal voters in a few marginal seats decide our political outcome. NZ does it better.
In this second article on the problems of our voting system I argue that the current election results may give the impression that our democracy is working well. But that ignores the enormous effort needed by community groups and volunteer organisations simply to achieve a parliament which only begins to approximate the needs and wishes of the bulk of the population.
24 May 2022
Media Watch and the Election 2022
After what has been described as a turbulent campaign, often devoid of vision, ABC's Media Watch dissected the coverage and behaviour, and whether it swayed the final result.
23 May 2022
Australia election: Why is Australia's parliament so white?
Australia is one of the most multicultural nations in the world, but it's a different story in the country's politics, where 96% of federal lawmakers are white. With this year's election, political parties did have a window to slightly improve this. But they chose not to in most cases, critics say.
22 May 2022
Peter Fry - NZ style voting for Australia?
Many Australians see New Zealands MMP voting system as a complex German-based foreign contraption which has little to offer us. Pete Fry argues that for its users it is a simple responsive transparent process which could help to improve our trust in politics by making our Parliament more representative of the majority of Australians.
22 May 2022
Alan Pears - Election May 2022 A new beginning for climate and energy policy?
Im writing this the day after the 2022 federal election, when it is clear that Australia will not have a Coalition government, but it is not yet clear whether Labor will govern in its own right, or how the composition of the Senate will influence energy and climate policy.
21 May 2022
How Anthony Albanese as Prime Minister could rewrite the script
Below is a repost of articles which we posted earlier on guidance for a new government on important policies.
20 May 2022
Keith Mitchelson: Just go away and die
For over three years the world has grappled with Covid-19. Australia was well served by doctors who convinced governments to listen to medical science. But the politicians have resumed control and science, all science, is being silenced.And not just on Covid but more importantly in climate change
18 May 2022
Sue Barrett - A Teal test of character in Goldstein
There is nothing like leading and working on a political campaign to test ones character.
17 May 2022
If I were the Minister for Health
I would progressively wind back and eliminate the $14b pa taxpayer subsidy for Private Health Insurance and use that very large sum to fund the inclusion of dental care within Medicare and increase the funding to the states for expanded specialist services in outpatient clinics at public hospitals.
16 May 2022
Melvin A. Goodman - U.S. Intelligence boasting intensifies Russian-American proxy war
The New York Timess international affairs columnist Thomas Friedman is arguably the most influential editorial writer in the country. Last week, his editorial aptly warned the Biden administration of the huge unintended consequences of its unplanned and impromptu remarks regarding Russian President Vladimir Putin and the savagery of his tactics in Ukraine.
15 May 2022
David Morawetz-A hung parliament is chaotic"... or is it?
Have you received recently in your mailbox a card headed Voting Independent risks a chaotic hung parliament with weak leadership? I have. And its just plain wrong.
10 May 2022
The Murdoch media has gone rogue again in the 2022 election (Updated repost from 27 Oct, 2017)
Denis Muller puts it this way in The Conversation
4 May 2022
Alan Pears-Energy productivity and efficiency improvement: Australias forgotten fuels
Whether you focus on climate policy, energy market transition, social justice, health or business competitiveness and innovation, improving energy productivity and efficiency is a winner.
30 April 2022
Peter Tait: Vote Independent? If that doesn't work, then what?
Voting independent needs careful preferencing. If your independent doesnt get up (or you dont have that option), you can try Active Democracy
29 April 2022
Daryl Guppy: Remembrance of peace past
ANZAC day is a day to remember why peace is preferable to war. This year it was besmirched by the beating of the drums of war.
28 April 2022
Jose Ramos-Horta wins presidential ballot in Timor-Leste but no congratulations from Scott Morrison
Jos Ramos-Horta will be the new President of Timor-Leste from May 20, 2022, following his decisive second round win on April 19.
28 April 2022
Keith Mitchelson: Climate change and International security - Why defence is Morrison's greatest policy failure
Scott Morrison claims to be Australias best defender. In reality he is its worst. His governments subservience to local and international oligarchs has seen it neglect real interest in Australias long-term security and wellbeing.
27 April 2022
Jessica Corbett: Chomsky on Biden calling Putin a war criminal: 'Takes one to know one'
The dissident says that while outraged by Russia's war on Ukraine, much of the rest of the world is reacting to U.S. condemnation by asking, Why should we get involved in your hypocrisy?
26 April 2022
Mike Gilligan: AUKUS and submarines - a slippery slope
Not much of AUKUS adds up - at once there is too little and too much information. It looks like the bedrock of Australias security policy since the war is being swept aside.
25 April 2022
Labor! Tell the story of us
The story of us: theres a great tale Labor could tell about how it would govern - it just needs to start telling it.
20 April 2022
The repeated lie that Morrison stopped the boats. An updated repost from March 11, 2021
Our corporate media will not acknowledge that Tony Abbott and Scott Morrison didnotstop the boats. Despite clear evidence, the Canberra Press Gallery fell for the spin. With a tame media and cooperation by the military, the big lie was repeated time and time again and became accepted as fact. This was all before Donald Trump and his big lies.
20 April 2022
Jacob Hornberger: Why not joint war crimes trials?
The U.S. mainstream media is calling for the criminal prosecution of Russian president Vladimir Putin, as well as Russian military personnel, for war crimes committed as part of Russias invasion of Ukraine.
19 April 2022
Privatisation and the hollowing out of Medicare by the Morrison Government
The Coalition has for years been undermining Medicare. Bob Hawke was correct at the last election when he said that the Coalition was aiming to privatise Medicare. It was not a scare tactic as some unthinking journalists keep saying. The Coalition has been privatising by stealth for years our universal health care system.
19 April 2022
Kenny Stancil: Copycat Cruelty - The Australian solution - Britain to send refugees to Rwanda
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson's move to deport asylum-seekers to another country thousands of miles away will only lead to more human suffering, chaos, and at huge expense to the U.K., said one refugee advocate
18 April 2022
Derek Woolner & David Glynne Jones - From AUKUS to the Solomon Islands: Australias urgent need for a cohesive strategic policy
The major issue for Australia's program to acquire nuclear propelled submarines has little to do with the vessels.
18 April 2022
Tim Battin: Waiting for the result of the small-target tactic with baseball bats
If the ALP cannot secure victory in the coming election, the result will expose the fallacies on which the small-target approach is based, and we should be ready for it with baseball bats.