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

TIM LINDSEY. Jakarta elections a very bad look for Indonesia

The decisive defeat of Basuki Tjahaja Purnama (known as Ahok) in Jakartas litmus-test gubernatorial election is a triumph for hardline Islamist mob agitators. It comes after years of pressure from the Muslim right and may flag a shift in Indonesian politics that will not help Indonesias fraying reputation for religious pluralism and tolerance.

PETER BROOKS. Specialists gaps and anaesthetists.

The article from David Scott and Peter Seal ('Medical specialists - maintaining a high standard and duty of care') is not an unexpected response from the organisation they represent the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Anaesthetists. However one is minded of those words of Adam Smith who said of craft groups People of the same trade seldom meet together, even for merriment and diversion, but the conversation ends a conspiracy against the public, or in some contrivance to raise prices.

JOHN MENADUE. 457 visas and our temporary residence system.

In light of government announcement on 457 visas, I have reposted below an article originally posted on 18 November 2016. See also at end, a link to an article by Joanna Howe in The Canberra Times yesterday. John Menadue. Oversight of the management of work rights of temporary entrants into Australia is broken and needs fixing.

DAVID M SCOTT and PETER SEAL. Medical specialists - maintaining a high standard and duty of care.

In recent times, several articles have appeared in the print and electronic media about the alleged high fees and poor accountability of medical specialists. A few weeks ago on his Pearls and Irritations blog, John Menadue posted one such piece titled Medical specialists high fees and poor accountability. The Australian Society of Anaesthetists (ASA) believes that some of John Menadues strongly asserted claims merit a measured response, and wishes to address some misconceptions that have arisen. There are almost 5000 specialist anaesthetists in Australia, and they comprise approximately 4.5% of the nations medical workforce. The ASA has been supporting,...

Our misguided wars of choice.

In this article in the Boston Globe of April 16, JEFFREY D SACHS speaks of the risks that the US and the world are running. He speaks of the US 'wanton addiction to war'. John Menadue. There is one foreign policy goal that matters above all the others and that is to keep the United States out of a new war, whether in Syria, North Korea or elsewhere. In recent days President Trump has struck Syria with Tomahawk missiles, bombed Afghanistan with the most powerful non-nuclear bomb in the US arsenal, and has sent an armada towards nuclear-armed North Korea....

Trump is Ignorant of History and So is His Chump Sean Spicer

This article by Middle East expert, ROBERT FISK, was first published in The Independent on 12 April 2017. Fisk comments 'Gas, cruise missiles, barrel bombs, Hitler and the American media. Mix them all up and I suppose you get Trump's new policy in the Middle East.'

ANDREW HAMILTON. Labor Party reform through Catholic Social Teaching

It can be disconcerting to hear our family history told by a sympathetic but unaligned outsider. We may recognise the partisanship that coloured some of our past judgments and be led to reconsider them.

KEITH JOINER. Negating the Impact of the Future Submarine at Next Election

Australias future submarine project has already been a factor in Australias political pulse, in both the fever of pre-elections and in the now omnipresent prime-ministerial instability between these all-too-frequent elections. South Australias Xenophon factor has become powerful, and appointments like the new Defence Industry Minister from South Australia are probably an attempt to mitigate that factor.

ROB BRIAN. Easter Reflections

This is not an easy time to be a believing/practising Catholic. Indeed, many good people have given up on the Church because of the horrendous revelations of widespread sexual abuse of children by priests and religious and by the possibly even more despicable covering-up by those who should have known better and who should have had a primary concern for the victims rather than for the good name of the Church.

MAUREEN BRIAN. Easter Radical Awareness

In a recent ABC interview with Richard Glover and her co-author Monsignor Tony Doherty about their recently published book Attachments, Ailsa Piper presents us with the challenge to become aware of the thing that comes at you. Two chance encounters over this fourth week of Lent have given me pause to reflect that to live a life of unpredictability is to become immersed deeply in the Paschal Mystery, and that the paradoxes inherent in that Mystery can be daily experiences.

RICHARD WOOLCOTT. The importance of better security and trade policies.

The relationship between the United States and China is now the most decisive bilateral relationship in the world. It works on two levels, one public and one private.

PETER BROOKS. Physicians outed on fees Time for Patients to take more control.

If all [of the above] fail to work perhaps a review of what Pierre Trudeau and his government did in 1984 when they took on a system not dissimilar to ours uncontrolled fee for service- and legislated that doctors could charge what they liked BUT unless they adhered to the fee negotiated between the Provincial Government and the profession (on an annual basis) the doctor lost all access to a Medicare reimbursement. This system still works today in Canada and few doctors opt out of it. Now there is a thought- and a significant game changer.

And Jesus said unto Paul of Ryan ...

Nicholas Kristof of the New York Times on March 16, 2017, writes about a 'discussion' between Jesus and Paul Ryan, the Republican Speaker of the US House of Representatives. Ryan claims that Catholicism has shaped his political views. Is Nicholas Kristof's account a parable or a parody. John Menadue.

RODNEY TUCKER. The Tragedy of Australias National Broadband Network.

A National Tragedy Australias National Broadband Network is heavily dependent on a soon-to-be-obsolete technology (FTTN) that most of the world has rejected. The FTTN-based network was sold to the Australian public based on an underestimate of Australias broadband needs (Tucker, 2014), and continues to be justified using incorrect estimates of the cost differentials between FTTN and FTTP. The FTTN network performs poorly compared to FTTP networks used elsewhere in the world. What is worse is that the NBN does not have a clear and affordable upgrade path. FTTN is of limited value to some users, such as high-end...

ROSS BURNS. After Khan Sheikhun

The 4 April attack on Khan Sheikhun using CW (chemical warfare) weapons was almost certainly the work of Bashar al-Assads regime. This is the only explanation which ticks off all the boxesmeans, motive and opportunity. The hastily assembled US retaliatory attack on the Syrian air base at Shayrat near Homs, however, might not have been particularly effective in addressing the problem of residual nerve agents in the hands of the Syrian regime.

PATTY FAWKNER. The pattern of all life.

For 13 billion years, since the Big Bang until now, death has been part of life. We know that, and as Christians we believe that death is the prelude to new life. We call it the Paschal Mystery. But what do these words, Paschal Mystery, mean, asks Good Samaritan Sister Patty Fawkner?

NICK BISLEY. Learning to live with a nuclear North Korea?

North Korea perceives it is isolated in a world that is hostile to its existence. However loathsome the regime may be and however badly it misallocates resources to bolster the ruling elite, the reason for acquiring nuclear weapons is entirely rational: they are a vital means for North Korea to protect itself.

ANNETTE BROWNLIE. Keeping Australia out of US wars

It is time we, the people, asserted our sovereignty, took control of our foreign policies and reviewed the presence of U.S. bases and troops in Australia. It is time we started promoting genuine peace and security, human rights, a sustainable environment and our independence.

WAYNE McMILLAN. David versus Goliath: reform and reinvention (Part 2 of 2)

What Sally McManuss is saying is correct, I agree with her conclusions about what has happened to workers over the last 30 years and what is becoming intolerable now in 2017. Across Australia in 2017, little or no wage growth, increased working hours, increases in casual jobs, a decrease in full time meaningful work, rising increases in household debt and rising inequalities in income and wealth is the bleak future facing Australian workers and their families. In the public sector, outsourcing and privatisation have meant an erosion of working conditions and rates of pay for workers. What can be done...

WAYNE McMILLAN. David and Goliath: One step forward, two steps back. (Part 1 of 2)

Malcom Turnbulls recent comment that he couldnt work with Sally McManus the recently elected Secretary of the Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) is just another excuse against strong union representation for ordinary waged workers.

DAVID PEETZ. How tax minimisation affects CEO pay

Firms whose executives behave unethically, as proxied by not paying any company tax, are also likely to pay their CEOs an average of around a fifth more than firms of similar size and circumstances who do pay company tax.

EDITORS, EAST ASIA FORUM. The consequences of the Trump-Xi meeting in Florida.

ANU East Asia Forum has posted a new item, 'The consequences of the TrumpXi meeting in Florida' All eyes will be on Florida this week, where US President Donald Trump will ANU host an inaugural summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping.

Building a regional refugee framework.

The Asia Dialogue on Forced Migration (ADFM) expanded its membership, deepened its policy contributions to the Bali Process on People Smuggling, Trafficking in Persons and Related Transnational Crime (Bali Process) and developed its connection to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) at its meeting in Jakarta from 5-7 March 2017.

BOB BIRRELL and DAVID McCLOSKEY. Sydney and Melbourne's housing affordability crisis: no end in sight.

Our projections show that, on these demographic assumptions, new migrants will add about 64 per cent to the need for extra dwellings in Sydney over the decade 2012 to 2022 and 54 per cent in Melbourne.

TOM BURTON. Data rights for all.

A proposed new legal right for consumers and businesses to control and access the data created about them is set to be one of the major reforms of this decade. Not everyone is supportive.

TIM COLEBATCH. Old coal, no new gas: how to generate an electricity crisis.

We need to set a timetable to reduce emissions from electricity generation, which now contributes a third of Australias greenhouse gases and, by and large, the third that will be easiest and cheapest to reduce. We need price mechanisms to drive it. And we need the federal government to step into the gas market and stop domestic supplies being sent overseas. It has the power to put a moratorium on sales to overseas spot markets until the domestic crisis is fixed and to tell Santos and its partners that if they dont produce...

JOHN MENADUE. Alexey Navalny has roused a democratic Russia. Turnbull and Bishop are too busy sleeping to care.

In Australia we conjure Russia through the basest of filters: take your pick of Pauline Hanson expressing her admiration for Russias autocrat Vladimir Putin, or of the sometime boxer-sometime- Prime Minister Tony Abbotts vows to shirtfront said autocrat.

MICHAEL D. BREEN. Bullying Documentary on ABC Television March 14 & 21

Bullying is an epidemic. Bullying is a complex social matter. Systemic problems need systemic remedies. There is a wealth of international research available. Good will and enthusiasm are insufficient treatment qualifications; even if the presenter is a national good guy. Is it acceptable to test drive a dubious procedural treatment on T.V.? Would it be acceptable for an unproven surgical procedure? If the ABC is to ask vulnerable individuals to be interviewed about personal and family sufferings, producers need to be able to justify that the repeated pain is worth it. Otherwise suffering is increased and informed viewers...

The Australian does it again, and again, and again.

Media Watch on 27 March 2017 described the unprofessional behaviour of the Australian and journalist Graham Lloyd over the reporting of the bleaching of the Great Barrier Reef. The Media Watch story follows.

KELLIE TRANTER. Unreasonable silence

So what are we left with?The burial of truth. A closed bloc hunkered down in Canberra who conceal information and who fail to condemn the loss of life of innocents at the hands of either our country or our allies, and who are cut off from the consequences of their own cruelty, stupidity and collaboration. Defence personnel who no longer fight for a better future for Australians.

PAT POWER. Nuclear disarmament.

I find it incredible that Australia is refusing to be part of the UN negotiations on a new treaty to outlaw nuclear weapons.

PETER WHITEFORD. 'Them' and 'us': the enduring power of welfare myths.

Despite the evidence that deliberate fraud is a tiny fraction of social security spending, it remains a mainstay of much reporting of welfare in the Australian media. The Daily Telegraph is a repeat offender.

JOHN MENADUE. The terrorism threat here is because our troops are over there.

Compared to other risks, we have little to fear from terrorism. In the last two decades only three people in Australia have died from terrorism. But there is a vividness bias in terrorism because it stands out in our minds. Importantly, a lot of politicians, businesses, stand to gain from exaggerating the terrorist threat. It is also easy news for our failing and lazy media. This is a repost from 14 February 2017.

JOHN DALEY and BRENDAN COATES. The latest ideas to use super to buy homes are still bad ideas.

Treasurer Scott Morrison wants to use the May budget to ease growing community anxiety about housing affordability. Lots of ideas are being thrown about: the test for the Treasurer is to sort the good from the bad. Reports that the government was again considering using superannuation to help first homebuyers wont inspire confidence.

JOHN MENADUE. Pauline Hanson sides with the powerful while pretending to speak for the weak.

Pauline Hanson talks a great deal about battlers and people who are left behind and are fed up with the major parties . But she invariably sides with the wealthy and powerful.

CAMERON MURRAY. Affordable housing reform.

While the decline of our economic diversity, has failed the average worker, it has been a boon for the landlord class. Those who already own land and housing benefit at the expense of those who want access to housing for their own household security. Those who own the banks benefit too. And we have seen the enormous lengths to which government will go to support the way things are. Every affordable housing policy, ... is designed not to let housing prices fall, and housing become genuinely more affordable.

DAVID JAMES. Penalty rate cuts are the result of thinking small

Australia is showing signs of contracting the American disease of rising inequality, which will ultimately spill over into low growth, especially when the effect of high household indebtedness has its inevitable dampening effect.In the last quarter of 2016 GDP growth was strong and corporate profits jumped 20.1 per cent. But wages and salaries actually went down 0.5 per cent on a seasonally adjusted basis.

ALBERT MISPEL. 1938-2017

Pearls & Irritations advises the sad news that Albert Mispel, who was instrumental in getting this blog started (and indeed, suggested its name) has passed away. Albert had an exciting life during which he taught school in New Guinea, was a core member of the Glebe Society fighting expressways during the 1970s and, later in life, became a computer programmer/web designer. He was enthusiastic about all progressive causes. He provided the technical know-how to get this blog up and running five years ago, and supported it thereafter. He believed in the cause. The first blog password was November 1975. With...

JOHN MENADUE. How the gaming of land rezoning by vested interests keeps housing unaffordable.

After Easter, we will be posting a ten-part series on making housing more affordable for all. One of the problems in housing affordability is the political muscle of some developers in gaming rezoning and reaping substantial capital gains from property. The politics of property is a major issue. Property-owning interests have a particular interest in inflating property prices. In the repost below, Paul Frijters and Cameron Murray describe the corruption of land rezoning in Brisbane. When this report was first posted, Michael Pascoe in the SMH on 29 September 2015, said 'This paper should have brought down state and local...

JOHN NIEUWENHUYSEN. Dark Days for Immigration Policy. Nation building or border protection.

The concept of Australias Immigration Department being a minor part of a version of the United States department of homeland security is a frightening one. What will have happened to the Welcome to Australia banners of years past?

TIM COLEBATCH. Why gas prices went sky-high, and what governments need to do about it

There is anoverwhelming consensusthat the centrepiece should be an emissions intensity scheme, as proposed by the draft Finkel report, by the governments handpicked Climate Change Authority, and by electricity generators and big users alike. This would give the energy industry a clear, bipartisan timetable to reduce emissions, enabling it to plan and invest with confidence.

PETER BROOKS and JOHN WILLOUGHBY. A call for doctors to take a stand on the Adani Carmichael coal mine

The comprehensive investigation, published as The Adani Files (adanifiles.com.au), provides a litany of stories of pollution, failed clean-ups of damaged environments, and allegations of corruption and of abuse of workers.

HANS J OHFF. A Future Submarine bonanza for France

Seen through the eyes of an engineering contractor and shipbuilder I suggest that the French have hit the jackpot. They will be falling over themselves to sign the proposed Framework Agreement between the Government of Australia and the Government of the French Republic concerning cooperation on the future Submarine Program.

PHIL ROBERTSON. A new wave of atrocities is being committed against Muslims in Burmas Rakhine state

The burned-out mosques in Sittwe, the capital of the Rakhine state in western Burma, loom as silent reminders of an atrocity, hiding behind overgrown bushes and cement walls amid the daily port city bustle.

JONATHAN PAGE. Who Pays The Ferryman? Befriending Death.

The human experience is haunted by mortality. It is important to encourage deep discussion of the reality of our own individual death from an early age. The potential psycho-spiritual and behavioural benefits of this discussion are immense.

FRANCIS SULLIVAN. Where to from here?

I dont think anyone was prepared for the extent of the abuse and the appalling rate across male religious orders and within the priesthood. The posturing and spin of years past has been seen for what is was an avoidance of the truth and a failed attempt to divert the public from the scale of the abuse and the depths to which Church officials had sunk as they tried to keep it hidden.

ALAN PEARS. The solution to Australia's gas crisis is not more gas.

Eastern Australia has plenty of gas. The problem is that most of it is being exported at prices lower than some Australians are paying. And the price volatility resulting from the present shambles is making life difficult for some Australian industries.

JOHN MENADUE. Making miners pay their fair share.

The victorious Labor Party in Western Australia has got off on the wrong foot in its timidity towards the mining sector. Its leader, Mark McGowan, has said that a Labor Government will not support a mining royalty proposed by the WA Nationals because it would drive investment away from WA. This is a very hackneyed line about frightening foreign investment and sovereign risk.

ALAN KOHLER. Hello, Elon? It's Malcolm.

Cannon-Brookes! That mans an absolute nuisance. Hes been causing Arthur problems with our457 visa plans, and now hes trying to mess up the nice little wedge weve got going with Shorten and Weatherill over renewables and blackouts in Adelaide.

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