Carolyn Blacklock
Carolyn Blacklock is the former managing director of PNG Power Ltd and former representative for the World Bank in PNG
Pearls and Irritations guest Josh Pallas
Josh Pallas is President of the NSW Council for Civil Liberties. He is completing a PhD in criminal law at the University of Sydney and previously practiced criminal and administrative law in government and private practice.
Chow Chung-yan
Chow Chung-yan began his journalistic career at the South China Morning Post and rose to become Executive Editor in 2015, following stints at the City, China and Business desks. As the SCMP’s second-in-command, he is in charge of the China and US bureaus as well as the political economy, culture, print and digital teams. He has been running the SCMP’s day-to-day operations since 2011. He led the newsroom’s organisational restructuring, streamlined its production workflows and set up dedicated teams for both the print and digital products to facilitate the newspaper’s digital transformation. He also assembled an award-winning infographics desk and spearheaded the redesign of the newspaper.
Mohamed Ainullah
Mohamed Ainullah is an AMUST subeditor responsible for the Mediascan section of AMUST
Marwan Bishara
Marwan Bishara is an author who writes extensively on global politics and is widely regarded as a leading authority on US foreign policy, the Middle East and international strategic affairs. He was previously a professor of International Relations at the American University of Paris.
Guest author Alexander Titov
Alexander Titov Lecturer in Modern European History, Queen’s University Belfast
Alexander Titov does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.
Sonia Randhawa
Sonia is a former journalist, who has worked in Australia, Malaysia and the United Kingdom and once won an award for a piece on how to become a spy. She co-founded the Centre for Independent Journalism in Malaysia and currently works for the Sortition Foundation in Melbourne. With a PhD in feminist media studies from the University of Melbourne, she has published on women and media, freedom of expression, freedom of information and access to environmental information, mainly in a Malaysian context. In her current role, she is an active member of the international Democracy Research and Development network, and has been involved in recruiting for democratic lotteries across the UK, Europe and Australia.
Li Qing
Li Qing is a professor and executive president of the Guangdong Institute for International Strategies. The authors contributed this article to China Watch, a think tank powered by China Daily.
Guest author Erwin Chlanda
Erwin Chlanda Journalist. TV photojournalist and producer Minyerri, Northern Territory, Australia
Laura Tingle
Laura Tingle is the chief political correspondent for nightly current affairs program 7.30. One of Australia’s best journalists and top political analysts, she’s spent most of her 35-year career in journalism reporting on Australian federal politics, and the country’s major policy debates. A journalist, author and essayist, she was formerly the political editor of The Australian Financial Review.
Christopher Tang
Christopher Tang is a distinguished professor at the UCLA Anderson School of Management
Peter Briggs
Rear Admiral Peter D Briggs AO(Mil) OAM CSC RAN Rtd Peter had a 40 year career in the Navy specialising as a submariner, including two submarine commands. He is a past President of the Submarine Institute of Australia and led the Silent Anzac project to protect, preserve and tell the story of HMAS AE 2. More recently he led the successful search to find and examine HMAS AE1.
Justine Bell-James
Justine Bell-James Professor, TC Beirne School of Law, The University of Queensland
Hannah Dickinson
Hannah Dickinson is the principal solicitor at the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre in Melbourne.
Edward Hurcombe
Edward Hurcombe is a Senior Lecturer and ARC DECRA Fellow in the School of Media and Communication, RMIT. Edward researches how news and journalistic practice are transforming in relation to the technologies, economies, and user cultures of social media platforms. He is interested in both the challenges and possibilities emerging from these transformations: from tackling malicious actors on platforms, to locating new kinds of socially-positive digital journalism.
KJ Noh
K.J. Noh is a political analyst, educator and journalist focusing on the geopolitics and political economy of the Asia-Pacific. He has written for Dissident Voice, Black Agenda Report, Asia Times, Counterpunch, LA Progressive, MR Online, and People’s Daily. He also does frequent commentary and analysis on various news programs, including The Critical Hour, The Backstory, By Any Means Necessary and Breakthrough News. He recently co-authored a study on the military transmission of infectious diseases and its implications for Covid transmission.
Anthea Hancocks
Anthea is the CEO of the Scanlon Foundation Research Institute. The Institute is an independent, research organisation dedicated to social cohesion. They publish the Mapping Social Cohesion Report which is acknowledged as the foremost survey into social cohesion anywhere in the world. Anthea is also a PhD candidate with Monash University.
Adrian Lipscomb
Adrian Lipscomb is a retired lawyer, travel-writer, academic and political observer. During the 1980s he worked in policy areas with the Department of Defence in Canberra and with the Joint Intelligence Organisation (JIO now called the Defence Intelligence Organisation). In the mid-1990s he volunteered in the Solomon Islands, and was the co-ordinating author of the 1998 edition of the Lonely Planet Guide to PNG. In 2015 he was awarded the OAM. He currently lives in Urunga, NSW.
Jiang Jiang
Jiang Jiang (JJ) is a journalist with Xinhua News Agency based in Beijing. He has served as a Xinhua correspondent in Islamabad, Pakistan, from 2022 to 2023. Jiang Jiang is the founder of “Ginger River Review” (GRR), a personal newsletter that focuses on China’s policies. He also hosts “Inside the China Room”, a podcast about China. Jiang Jiang holds an MBA from the University of Virginia Darden School of Business.
Bashar Lakkis
Bashar Lakkis is a Lebanese writer who writes in several Lebanese newspapers and is the author of the book ‘Critique of Islamic Knowledge’ ( ).
Fiona McGaughey
Fiona McGaugheyis an Associate Professor of international human rights law at the University of Western Australia and a Fellow of the UWA Public Policy Institute.
Jepke Goudsmit
Jepke Goudsmit is a theatre maker. Since 1985 she has been co-director of Kinetic Energy Theatre Company. Since 2004 the company has focused on social justice and human rights issues through theatre-in-education.
Stefan Moore
Stefan Moore is an award-winning American-Australian documentary filmmaker. In New York, he was a series producer for WNET and a producer for the prime-time CBS News magazine program_48 HOURS_. In the U.K. he worked as a series producer at the BBC, and in Australia he was an executive producer for Film Australia and the national broadcaster ABC-TV. His articles have appeared in Consortium News, Counterpunch and Pearls and Irritations.
Eleanor Buckley
EleanorBuckley is a media and communications professional, specialising in environmental research. Previously she has worked in communications roles at the University of New South Wales in climate justice research and the University of Oxford in energy research. Currently, she works with Community Power Agency, working towards improving outcomes for communities in the shift to clean energy.
Graham Pitts
Graham Pitts is a researcher and playwright whose best known plays are “Emma— Celebrazione!” And “Tour of Duty”.
Fred Gao
CGTN reporter in Beijing and worked for Guancha Net in Shanghai. My view doesn’t represent the CGTN standpoint. Feel free to contact me by email: gaoyingshi@gmail.com
Li Xing
Li Xing is a distinguished professor at the Guangdong Institute for International Strategies and a professor at the Department of Politics and Society of Aalborg University. The authors contributed this article to China Watch, a think tank powered by China Daily.