Exceptional leadership from John Menadue

April 30, 2025

Should “vested interests” alone decide what’s “newsworthy”?

We have John (and the late Susie) Menadue to thank for the very existence of P&I where not only public policies can be aired, or thoughtful opinions about them, but also critical global matters – and their consequences.

Could Susie and John possibly have anticipated how essential P&I would become to serious readers as we face the most devastating moral failure of our time (along with failing adequately to slow global warming)? A failure fully enabled and endorsed by Western powers and media?

The coverage that P&I has given to the dehumanising and near-total dispossession of Palestinians at the hands of Israel’s most extreme government ever exists in stark contrast to the ethically bankrupt defence of those actions in legacy media, including the ABC. When protestors of genocide are effectively silenced by cries of antisemitism, the accounts we can read in P&I ensure that we can and do “bear witness”.

John’s own contributions are profound. He writes (and publishes P&I) as a man of faith and passion who will not be intimidated. Readers are part of this story also, not as passive “bit players”, but fully alongside. Thank you, John. Thank you, P&I.