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

RICHARD WOOLCOTT. The South China Sea, China, Philippines, Australia and the US.

I was surprised the Opposition did not differentiate itself from the Australian Coalition Government's strong support for the US and the Philippine position on the South China Sea issue. It can be argued that it was misleading to state in public that the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) judgment in favour of the Philippines was binding. This was a matter between the Philippines and China only. China had declared at the outset that the Court had no jurisdiction over the dispute, a position also taken by one of the other claimants, Taiwan, which argued that any such dispute should...

DALLY MESSENGER. A letter to Malcolm Turnbull and Bill Shorten concerning refugees.

There is some talk of cooperation so, living in hope, I am emboldened to write to both of you. Only by you both working together can this criminal behaviour cease. There are far better ways to stop people smuggling than imprisoning people in third world jails without charge or trial.

PETER YOUNG. Speaking of Freedom: Human rights and mental health in detention.

Peter Young is a member of Doctors for Refugees who have launched a High Court challenge against the Secrecy Provisions in the Border Force Act which states that an 'entrusted person' who discloses protected information can face up to two years in prison. I am reposting below an earlier article that Peter Young contributed to this blog. This article was based on a speech he gave at a public meeting organised by the Asylum Seekers Centre. John Menadue In 2011, after many years working in public hospitals and community mental health services I came to work for the Commonwealth...

JIM COOMBS. Circle Incarceration

After the revelations this week, it is trite to say that the criminal justice system is failing the Aboriginal people of Australia. One significant reason for this is the exclusion of the Aboriginal community from the process. One reform in the process over the last decade or so is circle sentencing which allows a small panel of community elders to assist magistrates in the process of sentencing, after the offender has pleaded guilty. Given that the incarceration of Aboriginals is 23 times the rate for white offenders (compared with 5-7 times for African-Americans in the USA), it is clear...

DEAN ASHENDEN. State aide, the ALP and the 'needs policy'.

When Labor decided to support public funding of non-government schools fifty years ago, it created a legacy that is still misunderstood.

ANN TULLOH. Terrorism in France and a sense of hopelessness by many young people.

I was brought up on the ABC news coming from the sitting room loud enough to cover the house as Dad got himself going every morning. This was in the 50s and any terrible overseas news was so far away that I didn't feel concerned. (I much preferred a programme around 8am when songs were played at our request and Charles Trenet's La Mer was sometimes heard. A nearby town, Salon, has a cultural centre named after him. A coincidence or part of a master plan?!)

LESLEY BARCLAY. Diagnosing rural health gaps in the election.

The Coalition represents most rural electorates in Australia. But we seldom hear of much concern about their constituents who have poor health and poor health services. this is a repost of an earlier article by Lesley Barclay about the problems of rural health. John Menadue. It is timely as the federal election approaches to consider whether all Australians are getting the healthcare they need. Approximately 30 per cent of Australians live in rural and remote areas. Arguably they do not get a fair go in relation to their healthcare compared to the rest of us. Rural and...

PETER DAY. The Lords Prayer: beyond lip service

Diego's phone rang, said the voice in Spanish 'I am Pope Francis'. Our Father in heaven; hallowed be your name How well we know these words - perhaps too well as they slip off our tongues like a perfunctory How are you going?

GREG WOOD. Only a fool Australia, Iraq, and other such wars.

The Chilcot report in the UK has renewed calls for an examination of Australias intelligence system in the lead up to the Iraq war. Far less subject to scrutiny, but arguably more important still than the accuracy of the intelligence, was the nature of the advice provided to the Howard government by policy departments on the implications and long term consequences of military action. Even if weapons of mass destruction had been there, its not an ipso facto case justifying invasion. However, without question, Iraq was in Paul Kellys word, a leadership driven war. Its the statements, judgements and actions...

CHRISTINE DUFFIELD & MARY CHIARELLA. The predicted nursing shortage: strategies and solutions

The nursing workforce The nursing workforce comprises 3 regulated groups: Nurse Practitioners (NPs), Registered Nurses (RNs) and Enrolled Nurses (ENs). Nurses recognise that other unregulated groups of healthcare workers (for example Assistants in Nursing (AINs)) perform nursing care, and the research is clear that they require support from registered nurses (Duffield et al, 2014). Other regulated health professions, including general practitioners (GPs) have also regularly performed various aspects of nursing care. In General Practice over the past twenty years, practice nurses have been increasingly employed to perform those nursing aspects of care (Merrick et al, 2011). The scope of...

MICHAEL WESLEY. The dangerous politics of national security. (Repost from Policy Series)

In January 2013, as she launched her governments National Security Strategy, then Prime Minister Julia Gillard proclaimed that Australias decade of terrorism was over. Her argument was that al Qaeda had failed to regenerate after being degraded in the aftermath of the September 11 attacks, and that there were other more conventional security issues, such as the rise of new Asian great powers, that would dominate the forward security agenda.

JOHN MENADUE. What our next Prime Minister should do on asylum seekers.

The following is a repost from 22 June 2016 - before the recent election. After the election, our new Prime Minister should arrange an urgent meeting with the leaders of the three other major parties to negotiate a sensible and humanitarian response on asylum issues that have been avoided in the election campaign. At that meeting the new Prime Minister should make it clear that compromise will be required and that at least metaphorically, no-one should leave the meeting until there is an agreed response.

LYNDON MEGARRITY. Rex Patterson and the Whitlam Government

Dr Rex Patterson entered politics in 1966 by winning a by-election for the seat of Dawson as an ALP candidate on the platform of Northern Development. During Whitlams time as Opposition leader (1967-72), Patterson and Whitlam worked closely together on Northern Australia policies; Patterson also developed a media and parliamentary profile as Labors spokesman for rural affairs and Northern Development. As a federal public servant in the 1950s and 1960s, Patterson had developed expertise in sugar, pastoralism and other primary industries and was therefore well qualified to be Labors spokesman for these issues.

WALTER HAMILTON. Abdication in Japan?

On July 13, just three days after Japans ruling coalition secured a critical two-thirds majority in parliament, a news report emerged that the countrys long-serving Emperor wishes to abdicate within the next few years. (According to some news media, the abdication story was held over until after the election at the governments insistence.) On the surface, the two events might appear unrelated; however, various intriguing possibilities are worth exploring.

JOHN CARMODY. More on Brexit

Dr John Carmody reflects on the historical journey of the European Union.

TONY KEVIN. South China Sea dispute: a furious China challenges the high priests of international law

One privilege of being retired that one can watch ABC News24 daytime television while others are hard at work. On Wednesday 13 July around midday, I was treated to a dramatic spectacle: a Chinese Deputy Foreign Minister in an hour-long international media conference in Beijing fiercely denouncing, as a scrap of waste-paper fit only for the rubbish bin, a Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) Award (ruling) made by the South China Sea Arbitration Tribunal the day before, 12 July.[1] I watched fascinated as the Minister criticised the ruling with great force, even challenging the legitimacy of the Tribunals selection and...

STUART HARRIS. What Australia's foreign policy should look like. (Repost from Policy Series)

The focus in Australias foreign policy has shifted back and forth between the global and the regional, and between multilateralism and bilateralism in economic and political relationships, due only in part to party political differences. While some policies, such as immigration, refugees and to a degree defence, are widely debated in Australia, many are not. Moreover, foreign policies are often not just linked to domestic interests but become part of domestic electoral politics whether as photo ops with foreign leaders, muscularly assertive security stances or support for influential domestic pressure groups. This often leads to opportunistic political decisions lacking...

JOHN MENADUE. It is becoming much easier to go to war.

In a post on 18 July 2016 I drew attention to the inter-twining of the Australian and US Defence and Intelligence establishments.The problem however goes much deeper than the current 'dangerous alliance' between Australia and the US. As Henry Reynolds has pointed out, we continually go off to fight wars in foreign lands in service of the imperial enterprises of the UK and the US. It is a deeply embedded problem that keeps us repeating the mistakes of the past. From John Dunmore Lang to Malcolm Fraser, we have been warned about the risks of going off to war for...

In the service of empires from Fromelles to the present day.

See link below to article by Paul Daley in the Guardian 'Australians didn't sacrifice themselves at Fromelles, the British sacrificed them'. John Menadue. https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/postcolonial-blog/2016/jul/19/australians-didnt-sacrifice-themselves-at-fromelles-the-british-sacrificed-them?utm_source=esp&utm_medium=Email&utm_campaign=GU+Today+AUS+v1+-+AUS+morning+mail+callout&utm_term=182252&subid=18184347&CMP=ema_632

PHILOMENA MURRAY. Nice attack brings a difficult question into sharp focus: why France?

If you live in France, you enjoy Bastille Day. There is a buzz in the air as you celebrate a day off in the middle of summer with your family and friends. You go to the fireworks. It is good to be in France and to remember the founding principles of the state liberty, equality and fraternity. There is little mention of a bloody history of revolution and wars, colonialism and empire.

STEVE GEORGAKIS. Sport is only sport if you participate; otherwise it is a spectacle

The highpoint of sport occurred more than 2,000 years ago when the ancient Greeks established an education system which placed a significant emphasis on the playing of sport and in particular the educational value of participation in sport. The central role of sport in the education system coincided with the flourishing of Greek culture which included democracy, philosophy, architecture and law. That is the Greeks had developed a sports system from the grassroots to the elite level and what characterised this system was the emphasis placed on participation. Subsequently the Greek world was overrun by the Romans who dismantled this...

FRANCIS SULLIVAN. Economic Inequality is a Wound on our Nation: Can It be Healed?

The wash up from the Federal election echoes that from after the Brexit vote in the UK - voter disenchantment and protest. Commentators suggest this comes from electorates where the old economy still holds sway. Where jobs are tenuous and basic concerns on health and education are front of mind. Others say that the two major parties are too similar and appear unresponsive to the concerns of those who are struggling to keep up with the demands of a globalised economy or who have completely missed out on its benefits.

PETER GIBILISCO. Five years in retrospect: Life without control

I look back on the last five years and come to a sad conclusion. For some considerable time, I have been losing control of my movements. But from July 2011 there has occurred a progressive loss of control that is potentially more fundamental than the biological loss of muscular power. It has not been physiological so much as social and personal. What am I referring to? July 2011, five years ago, was when I move into a group-home for people with high support needs.

JOHN MENADUE. The Philippines President Duterte, the crack down on crime and the dispute with China over the South China Sea.

I asked a colleague with years of experience dealing with and observing the Philippines about the new President and the maritime dispute with China. He said that President Duterte revels in the unpredictable and is determined to try to root out crime and corruption in the country as he did so well in winning the slums of Davao 25 years ago against the communist insurgents the NPA - by vicious vigilante squads. He is already bragging about how many drug dealers have been killed. He has also invited the NPA to hunt down drug dealers and criminals! ...

JOHN MENADUE. How Graham Freudenberg lost to Eddie Obeid.

On Monday night at Parramatta, I attended Gough Whitlam's 100th birthday celebration. It was organised by the Whitlam Institute and attended by Gough Whitlam's family and old friends. Bob Hawke was there. John Faulkner spoke. There was a memorable speech by Graham Freudenberg who spoke eloquently as usual. I don't know anyone who has the ability to plumb the heart and soul of the Labor movement like Graham Freudenberg. He is one of the most noble and proper people it has been my pleasure to know.

KATHY CHAPMAN & BRIDGET KELLY. Unhealthy sport sponsorship continues to target kids.

In the final month of the countdown to the Olympic Games, our sports stars are probably not eating and drinking the Games sponsors foods. Again, as in previous Olympics, the Olympic Games sponsors are Coca-Cola, McDonalds and Cadburys, whose foods and drinks are not good choices for athletes due to their lack of nutrition and high levels of salt, sugar and saturated fats.Unhealthy sponsorship of sport filters all the way down through sport from the elite level to Saturday morning kids clubs.

JOHN MENADUE. Road funding - what is going on.

Road funding is becoming a mess with quite serious misunderstandings of what is being spent and how much is being wasted. The benefits are of increasing doubt. In this blog I carried a post by John Austen 'Road spending incurs billion dollar new debts annually'. He pointed out that in 2013-14, we spent $5 billion more on roads than was raised in road revenue. He described how the Australian Automobile Association keeps adding into 'road revenue' other vehicle related taxation that is really general tax revenue - GST from motorists, fringe benefits tax, luxury car tax and passenger motor...

WALTER HAMILTON. Japan's drift towards constitutional change.

Last weekends Upper House election result has armed the ruling Liberal Democratic Party with the parliamentary numbers needed to bring about controversial changes to the Japanese constitution. It does not mean the dropping of the constitutions war-renouncing Article 9 is imminent or inevitable, but in parliamentary terms for the first time it has become possible.

GRAHAM FREUDENBERG. On Gough Whitlam's 100th birthday, 11 July 2016.

This tribute is being published as a foreword to the book 'Not just for this life'. Wendy Guest has put together all the tributes paid to Gough Whitlam in the House and the Senate in October 2014. This tribute to Gough Whitlam will be published by the UNSW Press. Something very special and wonderful happened in Parliament House, Canberra, in the last week of October 2014. It began as a conventional condolence motion for a former Prime Minister Gough Whitlam, who had died on 21 October, aged 98. It became a celebration of the political life of the...

KEN HILLMAN. Ageing and end of life issues.

It is well known that our population is living longer. But has our health system adapted to this ageing population? Do the elderly fit into the construct of a single diagnosis? Can we identify those who are coming to the end of their life? Do we ask them if they would prefer to spend the last few months of life in hospitals? What is the impact of the increasing number of medications that they are taking? What is the impact of modern medicine on age related deterioration?

PETER DAY. The Parable of the Good Muslim

Some right leaning Christian politicians and commentators were not satisfied when a wise man told them you should love your neighbour as yourself. And who is my neighbour, they asked. The wise man replied: A conservative Member of Parliament was walking back home from church and fell into the hands of brigands; they took all he had, and then began beating him to within an inch of his life. Now it happened that a fellow conservative was travelling nearby, but when he saw the man and the brigands he pretended as if not to see and drove straight by....

ROBERT MANNE. Murdoch's war.

In July 2005, Robert Manne in The Monthly Essays, outlined Rupert Murdoch's role and that of some of his senior journalists in support of the invasion of Iraq. Robert Manne notes that 'of the 175 Murdoch owned newspapers worldwide, all supported the invasion'. The opponents of the war were described in Murdoch's newspapers as 'the coalition of the whining'. See transcript below of Robert's Manne's revelations about how monopoly press power is abused. John Menadue https://www.themonthly.com.au/monthly-essays-robert-manne-murdochs-war-how-lovestruck-teenager-angry-man-and-ambitious-baron-made-

GARRY WOODARD. Chilcot and Australia

Tony Blair is the most flamboyant and contentious of the trio who took the coalition of the willing into war in Iraq. Attention focuses on what the Chilcot enquiry has concluded about his role, and equally importantly on what are the lessons, which it promised from the outset it would draw. The British enquiry naturally wished to protect the confidences of Blair's co-conspirators, who have managed, unlike Blair, to preserve an image of dignified statesmanship and confident resignation that they did, properly, what had to be done.

The election campaign's other big lie: the Coalition hasn't delivered 'export agreements'.

Pearls and Irritations has carried many articles about the exaggerated claims for free trade agreements. That exaggeration continued during the election campaign. One of the five pillars of Malcolm Turnbull's 'plan for jobs and growth' was the alleged benefits of recently negotiated FTAs. An increasing feature of the most recently negotiated FTAs is that Australia's hard-won labour standards are being negotiated away through 457 visas in return for access to overseas markets and particularly China. Peter Martin in the SMH of July 7 highlights how little has been delivered through FTAs. See link below. http://www.smh.com.au/comment/the-election-campaigns-other-big-lie-the-coalition-hasnt-delivered-export-agreements-20160706-gpzcx3.html

Chilcot Report and the 'patsy from Down Under'.

The Chilcot Report on the UK involvement in the invasion of Iraq has just been released. In a commentary on the report, Paul McGeough in the SMH refers to John Howard as the 'patsy from Down Under'. The Chilcot Report concurs with the widespread view that the invasion of Iraq set in hand the awful devastation and death that we now see continuing in the Middle East. the rise of ISIS can be attributed to the dreadful mistakes of Bush, Blair and Howard. For Paul McGeough's commentary on the Chilcot Report, see link below. http://www.smh.com.au/world/chilcot-report-the-mindboggling-incompetence-of-bush-blair-and-howard-laid-bare-20160707-gq06hy.html In...

MARK TRIFFITT & TRAVERS McCLEOD. Stability will only be found through ideas and democratic renewal

On Saturday, Australias political system crossed a line. From the normal messiness of democracy into fragmented incoherence. From voter unrest to potential revolt. The implications are clear for anyone who wants to see. Instability is no longer a one-off in Australian politics but a pattern. Out-of-touch political leadership is no longer an individual failing but systemic. The enemies of the major parties may no longer be each other. Their principal enemy is fast becoming the ballot box.

JOHN MENADUE. What the major parties ignored in the election?

The election seemed more about avoiding some key issues than a contest of values and ideas. Because so many key issues such as refugees were avoided, it is not surprising that so many voters, about one third, turned their backs on the major parties. Some issues like the NBN were widely canvassed in social media but largely ignored in the public campaign.

JOHN MENADUE. How about a spill of the Canberra Press Gallery?

After the election the media is telling us how Malcolm Turnbulls authority has been shattered; Turnbull faces big Senate hurdle; numbers dont stack up in the Senate for a joint sitting on union crackdown; Turnbull faces angry back bench; double dissolution throws up wild mix in Senate; Turnbull is now a lame duck of his own making and how Malcolm Turnbull spent eight weeks trying to be boring in the election campaign. But what a contrast this is to what our mainstream media was telling us in March about what a genius Malcolm Turnbull was in calling a double...

KLAAS & AAFKE WOLDRING. Has Australia now become ungovernable?

While the final outcome of the 2016 election will have to wait for a few days, a Hung Parliament or a Government with a narrow majority seems likely. The outcome for the Senate will take longer but will be even more remarkable with approx. 19 Senators not representing the major parties: nine Greens and 10 others. Probably 30 Senatorial seats will go to the Coalition and 27 to the ALP. The purpose of the Double Dissolution was to reform the Senate voting system and then pass legislation that was blocked by the Cross Benches. Not only will this be unlikely...

JOHN MENADUE. Privatisation of Medicare has been underway for years.

In this blog before the election, I highlighted the risks to Medicare in many posts. See links below: John Menadue. Privatisation and the hollowing out of Medicare. David Pope. Medicare - Eaten out from within. Ian McAuley. Bill Shorten is right: Malcolm Turnbull is a major threat to Medicare. Lesley Russell. It is disingenuous of the Coalition to claim it has no intention of privatising Medicare. John Menadue. Facts on the $11 b p.a. private health insurance industry subsidy. In addition to the case set out in the above posts, we should consider some important and related background....

KAITLIN WALSH. Come on down Malcolm! Because YOU are The Biggest Loser

If revenge is a dish best served cold then surely schadenfreude is best when tasted hot and fresh. As when viewing the tattered remnants of the Turnbull camp following Saturdays election.

JOHN MENADUE. Conservatives have set the gold standard in scare campaigns.

After following politics and elections for over 60 years, it is quite extraordinary to see the Liberal party complaining about the Medicare scare campaign. In a downcast and confusing speech on election night Malcolm Turnbull spoke of the well funded lie campaign on Medicare. In fact, I think the ALP is right on the threat to Medicare, although I would have used different arguments.

JOHN MENADUE. A hung parliament could be a good thing.

We have been warned time and time again about hung parliaments and the chaos that follows. The media which is so often more concerned about politics and personalities than good governance, joins in the chorus about the risks of hung parliaments. The claims that minority governments are disastrous are nonsense.

JOHN MENADUE: 'Plan for a strong new economy'

As a voter in the prime ministers electorate of Wentworth, I have received two letterbox drops from Malcolm Turnbull on a 5-point plan for economic growth and jobs. This 5 point plan is the centre piece of Malcolm Turnbulls national campaign. It is a very flimsy plan which the media has not seriously examined.

JOHN MENADUE. Saving Medicare.

In an earlier article in this blog, I outlined how Medicare is under threat but not for the reasons outlined by Bill Shorten. The threat is the erosion of Medicare from within by the power of vested interests and in this case, private health insurance. This vested interests wants to bend Medicare to its own ends and take us down the disastrous US private health insurance path. That would destroy Medicare.

KAITLIN WALSH. Dont trust anyone over 30. The division that transcends race, gender and religion and why a #SSM plebiscite could become our #Brexit

The increasing vitriol between the Boomers and (mostly) Gen Y has singed more than a few nose hairs in recent years. Youd be well advised to approach any discussion between active combatants with full hazmat gear. And now the #Brexit has brought matters to a head.

GREIG CRAFT. Drinking and Driving: a global problem.

Global Problem Alcohol, drugs and driving simply do not go together. Driving requires a persons attentiveness and the ability to make quick decisions on the road, to react to changes in the environment and execute specific, often difficult maneuvers behind the wheel.When drinking alcohol, using drugs, or being distracted for any reason, driving becomes dangerous and potentially lethal![1]

MARTIN WOLF. Brexit is probably the most disastrous single event in British history since WWII.

In the Financial Times, Martin Wolf says that the fearmongering and outright lies of Boris Johnson, Michael Gove, Nigel Farage, The Sun and the Daily Mail have won.

RAY MOYNIHAN. Drug companies are buying doctors - for as little as a $16 meal.

An important new study in the United States has found doctors who receive just one cheap meal from a drug company tend to prescribe a lot more of that companys products. The damming findings demonstrate the value of new transparency laws in the US, and remind Australians were still very much in the dark about what our doctors get up to behind closed doors. Just published in the leading Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) Internal Medicine, this study is well worth a look for anyone interested in the hidden influences on how doctors prescribe. Together with...

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