Government
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Submarine sovereignty? The devil is in the detail…
Our Defence Minister said that Australia has not given any guarantees to the USA about what we would do with our submarines in the case of war but would take our own decisions at the time. This is welcome but what are the implications? Does it only apply to the submarines? As always, the devil Continue reading »
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To justify nuclear submarines as protecting trade routes is nonsense
We just need to look at the facts to see how foolish the assertion is that SSNs have the capacity to prevent disruption to our trade in the event of a war. Forty percent of our exports are to, and 20% of our imports are from, China. Throwing money at submarines weakens the national economy. Continue reading »
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Raising of Warragamba Dam ‘spun’ in New South Wales election campaign
An interesting comment was made this month about the New South Wales Coalition’s intention to raise Warragamba Dam in order to store floodwaters and thus mitigate the problem of flooding downstream. The comment as retailed by ABC Online came from the Liberal MP and candidate for the seat of Hawkesbury in the coming state election, Continue reading »
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Guaranteed protection of home and hearth for next to nothing?
There is a simple, relatively costless government move that should give about half a million Australians confidence in homeland security. Continue reading »
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Asylum cases in Australia for first time exceed 100,000
In February 2023, the number of asylum cases in Australia for the first time exceeded 100,000. Continue reading »
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Nuclear safety agency silent on disposal of AUKUS radioactive waste
At this stage there is little interest in how to dispose of the high level uranium waste from AUKUS SSNs, let alone put First Nations voices to the fore. This is unlikely to change while the nation’s most prominent journalists see it as their job to promote the dominant military doctrine and boost the demonisation Continue reading »
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Two decades on, history should condemn the real ‘butchers of Baghdad’
The warmongers in the Anglophone countries of Britain, the USA and Australia today cause great concern with their AUKUS treaty and the not very subtle stirring of frenzy against China. It was similar in 2003 except that Iraq was the country being demonised. Continue reading »
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Twenty years on, ‘coalition of the willing’ rebranded
20 years ago, on 20 March 2003, the US, the UK, Australia and Poland invaded Iraq in an illegal act of aggression. As with all wars, we were told this one would be quick. The pretext for the invasion was – despite authoritative doubts raised at the time – claims about the Iraqi leader Saddam Continue reading »
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Diplomacy in Beijing, war pact in San Diego – who’s the belligerent?
Under the Aukus military accord, Australia and Britain are committing serious self-harm to defend the American empire in the Indo-Pacific. Continue reading »
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“Billion-dollar coffins”: detection tech to render AUKUS submarines useless
Speaking at a summit in San Diego on Monday, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has announced a decades-long strategy to deliver the most costly defence project in Australia’s history. Continue reading »
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It’s good to be mean to war propagandists
Sydney Morning Herald editor Bevan Shields has published an article titled “We are not above criticism but these attacks go too far” tearfully rending his garments over criticisms his paper’s three-part war-with-China propaganda series “Red Alert” has received from former Prime Minister Paul Keating and from ABC’s Media Watch. Continue reading »
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War mongering and the peace rally
Lest we forget the consequences, today we recall the great lie of ‘Weapons of Mass Destruction’ in Iraq which led to the smashing of that country and the slaughter of hundreds of thousand of innocent men, women and children. Continue reading »
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Penny Wong’s faltering foreign policy
Little that was distinctive about Penny Wong’s foreign policy has survived the signing of the AUKUS agreement. Continue reading »
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The fiscal fallout of AUKUS
What are the budgetary implications of the AUKUS nuclear-powered submarine deal? Continue reading »
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Who stands for freedom?
I was recently sent an interesting article titled “Who Stands for Freedom” by the Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph E. Stiglitz. The article is a review of the book “The Big Myth” by Naomi Oreskes and Erik M. Conway. It raised a fundamental question: Does China have more true freedom than the United States? Continue reading »
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Paul Keating excoriates AUKUS as exercise in security policy stupidity
There are few who think as clearly, who are as articulate, and who are prepared to speak out in the face of incredible stupidity in Australian politics as Paul Keating. And, as he made clear in his address to the press club this week, AUKUS is nothing if not an exercise in security policy stupidity. Continue reading »
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Dear reader, are we unwelcome in this white man’s nation?
I am an Australian-born person of Chinese ancestry and have been disturbed by the alarmist fearmongering and drive to war with China from the media and the government. While I have been a faithful public servant and model citizen for many years, once again I am sadly returned to my childhood traumas and anxieties about Continue reading »
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International Best Practice? Australia could do better
A couple of decades ago the phrase international best practice seemed to be on the lips of just about every business leader, business and economics journalists and the odd politician. Continue reading »
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What does a “good” employment service look like?
This week, the House Select Committee on Workforce Australia Employment Services held one of its public hearings. During the opening remarks, the Committee chair, Julian Hill remarked that he had asked the Department of Employment what a good service model looks like, and they couldn’t answer. He said they looked like a bunch of “well-paid, Continue reading »
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Judicial coup threatens Israeli democracy
Israel is facing the most significant challenge to its existence since the establishment of the State in 1949. Continue reading »
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Keating exposes ministerial incompetence in Albanese Government
Speaking out strongly against AUKUS at the Press Club yesterday, Paul Keating’s concern is that Australia’s security has been laid limp upon the altar of small target politics by the two key Ministers – Foreign Minister Penny Wong and Defence Minister Richard Marles. Continue reading »
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Taiwan to the rescue
Regular readers of this journal will be dismayed at the breakneck speed at which Australia is party to the goading of a potentially catastrophic war in our region. With Western mainstream media in anti-China mad dog mode, both sides of the aisle in Canberra sleepwalking, and with nothing at all to win and everything to Continue reading »
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Canberra has a revenue problem – with no obvious solutions
Before the election I wrote our leaders were dancing on the edge of calamity shutting their eyes to the obvious gap between the Commonwealth’s revenue stream and its growing spending commitments. Decades of giving long term tax reductions funded by short term spurts of revenue, usually from mining, had come home to roost. Albanese, spooked Continue reading »
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Opportunities foregone in AUKUS submarine decision
Rex Patrick’s analysis of the government’s AUKUS nuclear-powered submarine decision (Michael West Media 14 March 2023) illustrates the one-sidedness of this insane deal. Patrick also sets out a rational and cost-effective alternative to the expensive and inappropriate nuclear subs which serves to highlight some of the significant opportunities lost by the wasteful and ill-considered over-spend. Continue reading »
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AUKUS and the drive to war with China: Special Issue
A Labor government has puts guns before butter… how extraordinary! Today, Pearls and Irritations has taken the unusual step of devoting our issue line up entirely to articles on the drive to war with China and the disastrous commitment of $368 billion dollars of Australia’s public funding to nuclear submarines. Continue reading »
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Red Alert: news media ‘Sleep-Walking’ into US war propaganda
One of the best-known writers on public opinion, Walter Lippmann, tells us that every conflict is fought on two fronts: the battlefield and the minds of people via propaganda. ‘We must remember that in time of war what is said on the enemy’s side of the front is always propaganda, and what is said on Continue reading »
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We don’t need subs or war with China
The pussies in Labor are reluctant to differ by a millimetre from the coalition on defence, foreign affairs and national security lest they be accused of treason. Continue reading »
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Environment and the South Seas Bubble: “nature will demand payment”
Three hundred years ago, Britain narrowly escaped a disaster. Trapped inside a bubble, they needed radical changes to escape. There are parallels to our world today, where the logic of failure is woven into the very fabric of civilisation. We too, are trapped inside a bubble, but one is of far greater significance. The question Continue reading »
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Postwar Ukraine will pose the hardest problems
Hopefully, behind the scenes, policymakers are well into postwar preparations for Ukraine. The conduct of the fighting naturally absorbs most attention in a war, but conflicts come to an end one way or another and often that’s when the hard issues emerge. Another Afghanistan or Iraq debacle must be avoided. Continue reading »
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Lock up your resources, the Aussies are coming
Ignorance and fear can be effective weapons in a manipulative politician’s arsenal. They’re guaranteed to pierce the armour of those least protected by doubt and most susceptible to flannel. Continue reading »
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