Letters to the Editor
Sainsbury said it all
May 12, 2025
Peter Sainsbury said it all. I share his scepticism that Labor will get the job done, not just on climate but on preservation of nature as well. The only hope are the 11 Greens' senators who may be able to hold Labor to account and force stronger action on both climate and environment. We should remember that Labor never was an environmental party. Yes, Bob Hawke saved the Franklin, but possibly only because he read the mood of the national electorate. Almost always, however, if there is conflict between saving jobs and saving environment, Labor will go with the...
Jenny Goldie from Cooma NSW
In response to: Environment: Will Labor now protect our environment? If not now, probably never
Dan Duggan's imprisonment is a great disgrace
May 12, 2025
Greg Barns' article of May 10th 2025 titled Dreyfus leaves little legacy is very much to the point. As he points out, Dreyfus took the relatively uncontroversial step of ending the persecution of Bernard Collaery while allowing other egregious injustices to continue. The most shameful of these would surely be the continued incarceration of Dan Duggan, a US-born Australian citizen and father of six, who has been held in maximum security since October 2022 despite having committed no offence under Australian law. Outrageously, Duggan now faces the threat of deportation to the US and the possibility of spending...
Andrew Fullarton from Naarm/Melbourne
In response to: Dreyfus leaves little legacy.
Can Anthony the unready change his spots?
May 12, 2025
Peter Sainsbury’s summing up of the Albanese Government’s number one, two and three priorities, to get re-elected and from the box seat, keep the horses calmed, is a strategy that, if pursued, promises Australia will be totally unready for the impact of the looming climate upheaval. A Labor hero after his bone-crushing, come-from-behind election win, inaction on climate will leave him reviled by future generations. Having spent a lifetime earning a living dependent on the seasons, I have seen changes over more than seven decades that, quite frankly, terrify me. Apart from the geo-physical science so clearly explained in...
John Mosig from Kew, Victoria
In response to: Environment: Will Labor now protect our environment? If not now, probably never
Dreyfus has let Australia down
May 12, 2025
Greg Barns is, perhaps, rather too gentle in his assessment of Mark Dreyfus. It is not often that I disagree with anything Paul Keating says, but on the Dreyfus affair, I feel he also has ascribed rather more honour to the man than he warrants. I fail to understand how an attorney-general — no matter what his heritage may be — can blatantly ignore the messages coming from the ICJ and the ICC and still allow his government to claim that it operates within the international rules-based order, that chimerical being that appears every day (if our government is...
Richard Llewellyn from Colo Vale
In response to: Dreyfus leaves little legacy
Judaism and Zionism
May 12, 2025
What an excellent article by Sara Dowse. It's about time someone differentiated between the two. The Zionists are the violent extremists who must be condemned for their actions and intentions. A Semite, per se, is your average peace-loving Jew who, for the most part, is appalled by Netanyahu's regime. The same can be said for Hamas who don't actually have a social licence with the average Palestinian that just want to live in peace. However the actions of Israel against the Palestinians must be called out for what they are: apartheid and genocide. The Israel Zionists...
Sidney Seiden from Exmouth
In response to: Judaism and Zionism are not the same
Very helpful interpretation of the steady-state economy
May 9, 2025
Thank you to Mark Diesendorf for this very helpful piece. It stands as a clarification of many of the misunderstandings and poor interpretations of SSE in Daniel Susskind's recent (2024) book advocating economic growth, Growth- A History and A Reckoning.
Len Puglisi from 1 Balmoral Court Burwood East
In response to: The steady-state economy: Why we need it
The leopard can’t change its spots
May 9, 2025
As Ross Gittens colourfully describes, the Coalition “is like that person driving a Holden Commodore”. Gender, age and the small matter of climate change should be crucial concerns for any party. Yet Liberal values remain the same: the party “limits its intrusion into people’s lives”, is for lower taxes and keeps the nation “secure and safe” (Christopher Pyne, The Age, 7 May). And therein lies a problem: faced with the existential crisis of climate change, governments need to be at the centre of both our energy transformation and the mitigation strategies when disasters inevitably arrive. Pyne suggested that “For...
Fiona Colin from Melbourne
In response to: The climate won’t change for the Liberals without more women and fewer oldies
Essential clarity from Sara Dowse
May 9, 2025
Sara Dowse's article is to be treasured. Please read and absorb it (and the writer's courage as well as clarity). Don't stop there, though. If each of us makes it our business to send it on, either through social media or via email, to at least 10 other people, we will have contributed something toward pushing back the relentless propaganda that is suffocating debate, silencing dissent, and excusing the grotesque elimination of the Palestinian people. Zionism is not Judaism, nor vice versa. Refuting Zionism and its supremacist claims is not antisemitic. It is an assertion of...
Stephanie Dowrick from Darwin 0800, NT
In response to: Judaism and Zionism are not the same
Tim Beal's articles in need of corrections
May 8, 2025
Tim Beal has had a number of articles republished here, wherein he attempts to propagate pro-Kremlin disinformation regarding the North Korean troops who have been fighting alongside Russian forces against Ukraine. Given that Russia recently admitted the North Korean involvement is true, should Beal not be asked to issue an apology and should his articles not be corrected to reflect the fact that his rhetoric appears to not be guided by the facts? Valery Gerasimov, chief of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces, has said. I want to point out the participation of servicemen from...
Craig Thomas from North Sydney
In response to: A contrived myth? North Korean troops battling the Ukrainians in Kurskdid-north-
Will the election deliver good governance?
May 8, 2025
Two-thirds of Australians did not vote for Labor as their first preference. It’s clear that Australians want more from their leaders. Strong and healthy leadership protects the weakest, respects differences and importantly fosters an atmosphere of collaboration – in the hope of promoting innovation and inspiring the population. True leadership is guided by foundational collective principles that transcend ego and personal point-scoring. Anthony Albanese’s disparaging comments about the Independents and the Greens, post-election, are the opposite of these principles. Narrowing the collective voice in Parliament, strategising, through opaque election preference deals, to put power in the hands...
Alyssa Aleksanian from Hazelbrook
In response to: Will Labor live up to the values of Australians?
It’s not about sex, it’s about type
May 8, 2025
We all think we like a musician, movie star or sports star. We think we know them. Often, it’s their choice to represent themselves for their own advancement and we believe the good guy, bad guy image they portray. The same applies to our politicians and, like our influencers, we seldom know them at all. For example, if you believe his wife and what's sometimes written about Peter Dutton, he “is no monster“. But it turns out many Australians don’t like him and won’t vote for him as their front man. When it comes to our politicians, we...
Bob Pearce from Adelaide SA
In response to: the-coalition-is-killing-the-liberal-party
My enemy’s enemy is my enemy
May 7, 2025
There’s no doubt that the preference strategies of both Labor and the Coalition were to reinforce the two-party system that’s preventing Australia from facing the challenges of the 21st century: the economic and social disruption of climate change. The Greens are a progressive force neither major party wishes to face. After losing ground in 2022, both clawed back ground before the new political funding model designed to hobble independents and minor parties comes into play. The reality is that the Greens, and Teal and orange Independents, have taken electorates from Labor and the Coalition by winning the confidence...
John Mosig from Kew, Victoria
In response to: What just happened to theGreens?
The Greens: Neoliberalism or MMT?
May 7, 2025
I agree with Louis Devine. But the Greens have also lost ground due to another reason: they have not summoned up the political courage to educate the public on the economics of Modern Monetary Theory. The Greens have largely excellent policies. However, they have tried, regrettably, to embed those same policies within an economically flawed neoliberal lens, which renders them as ridiculously unaffordable to a very large percentage of the population. The policies, of course, are not ridiculously unaffordable. They sit perfectly comfortably within a superior MMT lens. I would encourage the Greens to spend the next three...
Terry Gibson from Canberra
In response to: What just happened to the Greens?
Can Labor defy the fossil fuel lobby?
May 7, 2025
Yes, “What an opportunity Australia has before it”. But many hearts and minds are yet to be won in an environment where cost of living and our energy transformation (as Jim Chalmers describes it) are disconnected. Labor must convince many Australians that our smallish contribution to global CO2 emissions is worth the effort. They must communicate the advantages to national security, productivity and the forward-looking idea of a renewables superpower. Deep-pocketed forces are ranged against our transformation. International climate change-denying groups like the Atlas Network, and its offshoot Advance, will, no doubt, double down on lobbying for fossil...
Fiona Colin from Melbourne
In response to: Australia lays out red carpet for rapid green energy transition
Useful information about China's role
May 7, 2025
Jocelyn, thank you for this useful addition to our collection of thoughts for understanding China's role in our area. Personally, I receive considerable information from the US site — Yale Forum on Religion and Ecology — especially items and talks by Professors Mary Evelyn Tucker and John Grim. These two make multiple trips to many cities in China, and speak to very enthusiastic audiences. Their talks include such topics as ecological civilisation – a perspective largely absent from our public forums, but a concept included since about 2018 in the Chinese Constitution.
Len Puglisi from 1 Balmoral Court Burwood East
In response to: Who's afraid of big, bad China?
Albo, how does it feel to be the best of a bad bunch?
May 7, 2025
What happened to the Greens? They maintained their primary vote, which is no reason to be pleased and slightly less reason to be pleased than Labor. But they had considerably more reason to be pleased than the Libs. After the big three/four have finished analysis of the results and decided that it was all someone else’s fault (Trump will do), collectively patted themselves on the back and shifted the Parliamentary furniture, they should have an independent Parliamentary inquiry. This inquiry should look into what’s so wrong with our democracy that the best of a bad bunch should win...
Bob Pearce from Adelaide SA
In response to: what-just-happened-to-the-greens
Dodgy election deals
May 7, 2025
More needs to be exposed about these three major election scandals that were, by design, allegedly targeted to deliberately unseat the Greens and Independents and narrow our collective voice to parliament: The redrawing of electoral boundaries and abolishing of an independent seat for MP Kylea Tink. The deceptive preference deals made between Labor and Liberals to pool their votes to unseat Independent and Green candidates. The doubling of election funding for major parties and virtually nothing for the other minor candidates. These were strategies deliberately and deployed to concentrate power in one of the two...
Alyssa Aleksanian from Hazelbrook
In response to: What just happened to the Greens?
The Greens vote
May 7, 2025
If you look at the raw numbers, the drop in the Greens vote was only marginal, although given the preferential system, it had an impact. I suspect part of the reason for the drop in the Green vote was, based on pre-election polling, the perceived closeness of the contest between Labor and the LNP. In such circumstances, it is not uncommon for voters to play it safe and opt for a major party. I suspect, given it is unlikely that Labor will lose the next election, there will be a surge in the Greens vote.
Brian Bycroft from Evans Head NSW
In response to: What just happened to the Greens?
An activist crossbench?
May 6, 2025
It was certainly an uninspiring campaign. But why has Jack Waterford not complained about that which will stop the crossbench being the activist crossbench [which] can supply the pressure to do more, better that he would like? I refer, of course, to the dishonesty that has been used by the Liberals and their associated entities to peg back Community Independents. Policies, you can discuss. But it's all too true that mud sticks. Nearly 40 Community Independents stood in 2025. As I write, some old Community Independents have been returned, others wait on a knife edge. We will have...
Margaret Callinan from Hawthorn
In response to: Dutton defeated in unexciting and uninspiring battlefield scrap
It's not war
May 6, 2025
Genocide is taking place in Palestine and Australia is showing moral cowardice. Calling for a ceasefire is water off a duck's back to Netanyahu. Recognising Palestine infuriates him to the extent we try to placate him. Treading gently in the name of community cohesion is to be complicit and allows the supporters of genocide to remain comfortably complicit also. The press is guilty. No protest at the targeted murders of their fellow journalists. Printing errors of fact in news, opinion and letters pages enables further killings. Australia must act. We actively supported BDS when South Africa was an...
Margaret Callinan from Hawthorn
In response to: P&I authors expose Israeli atrocities, but with what effect?
We cannot be bystanders
May 6, 2025
Should we merely continue to do the same for another year, another year? asks Stuart Rees in his passionate, timely (past time) article, writing of the ethnic cleansing in Gaza and beyond. He then suggests, correctly in my view, An alternative is to push P&I towards being mainstream. In that way, a confident prime minister might feel obliged to display his much-vaunted Australian kindness to all the people of Palestine. This push self-evidently requires a renewed and consistent effort beyond the pool of P&I writers, however accomplished, and beyond those who bring us P&I day in and out....
Stephanie Dowrick from Darwin 0800
In response to: P&I authors expose Israeli atrocities, but with what effect?
Where are Australia's religious leaders?
May 6, 2025
I am deeply disturbed by an item I saw on SBS’s news service this week concerning the plight of the people in Gaza and the effects of the Israeli Government’s blockade of all relief to them, including food, water and medicines. The report showed several severely emaciated children with sunken eyes, matchstick-like limbs and clearly visible rib-cages, suffering from severe starvation and malnutrition. That such suffering by innocent children should be the result of the deliberate and illegal (under international law) actions and policies of the Israeli Government outraged me. The Netanyahu Government is clearly an immoral and...
John Annison from Victoria
In response to: The Israeli blockage of aid to Gaza
Dutton was considered unfit to be leader in 2018
May 6, 2025
In 2018, Peter Dutton engineered Malcolm Turnbull's exit as leader. He and his supporters went out for a long night of Chinese food, 12 hours before the vote. Next day Dutton was completely surprised by Scott Morrison. The reason is now well-known – most Liberal MPs did not consider Dutton as an electoral winner. He never changed! He was a divisive policy-free player in 2018 and nothing changed for the 2025 election, except that he chose to imitate some of the worst aspects of Trump, and then ran a shocker of a campaign, now being blamed on the...
Bill Brown from Holt, ACT
In response to: A Campaign with Only One Contender
Fewer from the entitled class will want to enter politics
May 5, 2025
As David Solomon writes, one of the main reasons for the “thumping” of the Liberal Party was its “negativity” and failure “to present and defend its policies in time.” On ABC radio, Liberal Senator Hollie Hughes criticised the party’s leadership and lack of policy development, noting that despite submitting draft proposals in October, “we never heard anything about anything back from anybody”. As Solomon notes, this echoes past failures. Major policy documents like Hewson’s Fightback! and Howard’s Future Directions also lacked internal consultation with the parliamentary party or even the party’s own policy committee. The role of...
Ray Peck from Hawthorn
In response to: Libs on life support after thumping
Kooyong shenanigans
May 4, 2025
As Sonia Randhawa writes, we need to re-imagine and strengthen our democracy. It is certainly needed in Kooyong. We’ve had legal battles between the Boroondara City Council and the Liberal Party over signage; neo-Nazis and Brethren trying to pass themselves off as Liberal Party volunteers; and one male Liberal voter taking a Monique Ryan handout from an elderly, female volunteer, tearing it up in front of her face, and throwing it on the ground. He refused to apologise. After taking the prized Liberal seat in 2022 from the previous Coalition Treasurer, Josh Frydenberg, the Libs have had Ryan in...
Ray Peck from Hawthorn
In response to: It's time for politics to grow up
A working vision for Australia
May 4, 2025
Gareth Evans has joined with other P&I contributors in lamenting a lack of vision for Australia. He concludes with an ambition for Australia to be seen as a good international citizen – as a decent country. I think this is too vague to be effective. I recommend Australia: a trusted, respected and independent middle power in a healthy and peaceful world”. This is a vision statement that Australia can be proud of. It's an open statement allowing a wide spectrum of political contest and community behaviour. It is a simple statement that provides a guide for evaluating political...
Robert Crewdson from Melbourne
In response to: Being a good international citizen in a Trumpian world
A balanced economy, not a balanced budget
May 4, 2025
Both the major parties (and even the Greens) embrace economic neoliberalism. This sees the federal government acting like a household, with household-like budget constraints. And on this view, budgets should therefore be balanced, or even in surplus. This, however, causes private debt to increase, which in turn causes the cost-of-living crisis, such as we have now. We need instead to change focus and to balance the economy, not the budget, with carefully targeted deficits, even deficits in perpetuity, if necessary. Despite neoliberal scaremongering, it is a fact that our currency-issuing federal government is not like a household. It...
Terry Gibson from Canberra
In response to: Who will better manage the economy? Neither.
Civil courage
May 4, 2025
A significant Australian who attended the funeral of Pope Francis was Julian Assange. Francis wrote to him and offered him asylum in the Vatican. Gutsy.
Michael Breen from Robertson NSW
In response to: John Menadue's article on Pope Francis
A new display of courage for the Labor Government
May 4, 2025
The YouGov poll prediction has been right, with a stunning majority for Labor. The party must not squander the opportunity to do some of the hard things while they have the political capital: recognise Palestine and stop aiding the murders in Palestine, phase in property tax changes, go for a step change in efficiently produced prefab housing, work on an ATSI treaty, move from a monarch, ensure an ombudsman who properly balances their access to expensive legal advice against the legal deficit of most appellants, a more effective and open NACC, end remaining multinational tax avoidance, and inadequate resource royalties....
Geoff Taylor from Perth
In response to: Major YouGov poll has Labor easily winning a majority of seats in election
Palestine, Israel and truth
May 1, 2025
I applaud Pearls and Irritations and John Menadue for the forthright bravery of the piece 'Never again' not only for Jews, but for Palestinians and all humanity. Yes, it will stir outrage, and accusations of antisemitism. But whatever our loyalties or religious and political affiliations, we desperately need journalism that probes, does not cower in the face powerful interests, and tells complex and tragic truths directly and uncompromisingly.
Morag Fraser from Melbourne, Victoria
In response to: Never again-not-only-for-jews-but-for-Palestinians and all humanity
A timely wake-up call
May 1, 2025
What a pleasure to read editor-in-chief John Menadue’s 27 April ANU lecture on the question of Palestine and Israel’s criminal (genocidal) measures against it, Such is the dominance exercised over global media by pro-Israel forces that it must call for courage on Menadue’s part to be so forthright in insisting on the attribution of major criminal responsibility. Appropriate to the title “Pearls and Irritations”, Menadue offers a pearl. That in doing so he has irritated many is plain from the response to date. Furthermore, however shocking, Menadue is on the side of international law. The International Criminal...
Gavan McCormack from Canberra, ACT
In response to: 'Never again' not only for Jews, but for Palestinians and all humanity
The indestructible pillars of bipartisanship
May 1, 2025
That will never change because at different times it suits both (all) of them. Whenever we talk (only talk) of reform, this one never even gets a mention.
Bob Pearce from Adelaide SA
In response to: Neoliberalism causes cost-of-living crisis
Bravo, John Menadue
May 1, 2025
I just want to join with many others in congratulating John Menadue on his fine speech in support of Palestine and humanity at the ANU. John's clear principled stand makes me proud to be associated with P&I. As for the response of The Australian newspaper, I wonder whether there is anyone on their staff with a grasp of such a fundamental (and conservative) tenet as respect for one's wise elders.
Richard Barnes from Melbourne
In response to: 'Never again' not only for Jews, but for Palestinians and all humanity
Time to end colonialism and for our govt to assert itself
May 1, 2025
After 40 years of working in the South Australian public service, I have no doubt that neoliberalism has been a failed experiment. The major indicator is that the roles of the public and private sector have become so entwined that it is hard to tell them apart. In very basic terms, the role of the private sector is to make a profit and the role of governments is to regulate for the good of Australia and Australians. Australia, for all its multiculturalism, remains a colony of the UK and, more recently, of the US, as demonstrated by AUKUS...
Bob Pearce from Adelaide SA
In response to: the-us-has-never-been-a-reliable-ally-of-au
P&I speaks the truth about the genocide in Gaza
May 1, 2025
Pearls & Irritations has become indispensable for penetrating the misinformation of the mainstream media. It confirms Noam Chomsky’s analysis of the “necessary illusions” and thought control in our “free” press. With the genocide in Gaza, the importance of Pearls & Irritations was aptly described by George Orwell: We have now sunk to a depth at which restatement of the obvious is the first duty ... If liberty means anything at all, it means the right to tell people what they do not want to hear. In times of universal deceit, telling the truth will be a revolutionary act.
Peter Slezak from Sydney, NSW
In response to: 'Never again' not only for Jews, but for Palestinians and all humanity
Will there be people available to do the caring?
May 1, 2025
Thank you Professor Kathy Eager for outlining the issues facing older people and the incoming government which will implement aged care reform. One issue facing older recipients of aged care packages is finding people to carry out the care. Here is an example from one older person. This 89-year-old woman has been informed she can have someone to clean the home she shares with her older and ailing husband. Big sigh of relief you might imagine. However, there are no cleaners available in her area. Why? She has learned that the cleaners have all gone to NDIS, which...
Janet Grevillea from Lake Macquarie
In response to: Aged care reform in 2025:An agenda for the next Australian Government
Very well said
May 1, 2025
Let’s welcome John Menadue’s angry words about the Murdoch press and others who have been able to treat the genocidal turpitude of Israel’s atrocities in Gaza with Nelsonic blind eyes. Although these people may now be getting off lightly, the time will surely come when ignominy will pay them a terrible visit, and the sooner the better.
Paddy Gourley from Canberra, ACT
In response to: Message from the editor-in-chief: Genocide is not newsworthy in The Australian
Truth about Australia finally revealed
May 1, 2025
The Indonesian media garners and recycles news on its southern neighbour, largely from the Oz legacy press. Till now, few readers across the archipelago would have known of our lively independent journalism, so it was generous of The Australian to give Pearls and Irritations a free plug. John Menadue's powerful commentary might have gone unnoticed, but for the pro-Israel Murdoch media making a meal out of his ANU speech. In doing so, the paper has revealed to the secular Republic, with more Muslims than any other state, a truth about our nation. A writer of John's...
Duncan Graham from Perth, WA
In response to: Message from the editor-in-chief: Genocide is not newsworthy in The Australian
Neoliberalism causes cost-of-living crisis
May 1, 2025
Both the major parties (and even the Greens) embrace economic neoliberalism. This sees the federal government acting like a household, with household-like budget constraints. And on this view, budgets should therefore be balanced, or even in surplus. This, however, causes private debt to increase, which in turn causes the cost-of-living crisis, such as we have now. We need instead to change focus and to balance the economy, not the budget, with carefully targeted deficits, even deficits in perpetuity, if necessary. Despite neoliberal scaremongering, it is a fact that our currency-issuing federal government is not like a household. It...
Terry Gibson from Canberra
In response to: Who will better manage the economy: Labor or the Coalition?
At last, some honesty on Gaza
May 1, 2025
John Menadue’s lecture to an ANU audience on 27 April is the best statement I have yet seen on the appalling genocide unfolding in Gaza and the West Bank. The personal historical perspective gives it added weight, history which most commentators have been determined to ignore. John’s honesty stands in stark contrast to the Israeli Government/Zionist propaganda which the bulk of Australia’s mainstream media have almost exclusively fed to the community since the Hamas attack on 7 October 2023. Bias for which the MSM should hang their heads in shame. And then there is the utter hypocrisy of...
Ian Dunlop from Gordon, NSW
In response to: Never Again” not only for Jews but for Palestinians and all humanity.
Taking aim at Israel's hypocrisy
April 30, 2025
Thank you, thank you, thank you, John Menadue for the text of your speech delivered at the Palestinian rally at the ANU on 27 April – “Never Again” not only for Jews,Israel's awful hypocrisy but for Palestinians and all of humanity. Disappointing, but not surprising, that it didn’t find its way in the mainstream media. Like most of our politicians, they are cowering under pressure from Israel and its enablers, here and abroad. Your piece says it all, and is arguably the finest ever delivered on the awful hypocrisy and complicity on the part of Western governments when...
Sara Dowse from Canberra, ACT
In response to: 'Never again' not only for Jews, but for Palestinians and all humanity
Truth telling
April 30, 2025
Thank you for the journal, your frank and fearless reporting, and your leadership.
Bob Beadman from Darwin
In response to: Message from the editor-in-chief: Genocide is not newsworthy in The Australian
Timely reminder of mainstream media's propaganda
April 30, 2025
John Menadue’s article on 30 April, in response to The Australian’s disgraceful excuse for journalism on the matter of Israel’s destruction of Palestine, is a timely reminder of just how much propaganda masquerading as news Australians are exposed to. In its distorted and inflammatory coverage of a “Vote for Humanity” event at ANU on 27 April at which Menadue spoke, The Australian has helped perpetuate the carnage in Gaza and the oppression of Palestinian people. Just as the practice of medicine itself (and much, much more) is under direct attack in Gaza, with more than 1000 healthcare workers...
Sue Wareham from Cook, ACT
In response to: Message from the editor-in-chief: Genocide is not newsworthy in The Australian
Hitting the right spot
April 30, 2025
John Menadue should be commended for displaying the sort of courage, outspokenness and commitment to international law and human rights that is so conspicuously absent in the mainstream media and among our political representatives. His many articles in Pearls and Irritations, and his recent speech at the ANU, are reminders of what political courage looks like in an era of political cowardice and complicity in cruelty. He calls out the endless atrocities perpetrated against the Palestinian people for what they are – a genocide. He is unequivocal about the complicity of silence that surrounds Australia’s response to what...
Dr Richard Hill from Gold Coast, Queensland
In response to: 'Never again' not only for Jews, but for Palestinians and all humanity
Intellectual and moral clarity
April 30, 2025
Words cannot express my gratitude to John Menadue for his indefatigable and invaluable work against the genocide of Palestinians. At a time when the compliant media has reacted with either deafening silence or lies, John has continued to speak up, with exceptional intellectual and moral clarity. When dealing with the so-called Israel/Hamas war, mainstream media is replete with distorted framing and deceitful reporting. The so-called journalists have dehumanised Palestinians and manufactured consent for the genocide. We are fortunate to have Pearls and Irritations and other sources of independent journalism.
Sawsan Madina from Sydney, NSW
In response to: Message from the editor-in-chief: Genocide is not newsworthy in The Australian
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...
Stephanie Dowrick from Darwin CBD, NT
In response to: Message from the editor-in-chief: Genocide is not newsworthy in The Australian
Will 2025 be the canary in the climate coalmine?
April 30, 2025
Our planet is heating more rapidly than expected, with 2024 proving, contrary to most expectations, warmer than the El Nino-powered 2023. There will be many reasons why this is happening, including ever-increasing carbon pollution, reduced sulphate cooling and the shrinking global icecaps. If, as David Spratt predicts, 2025 is warmer again, then this will portend a dangerous trend accelerating our environmental deterioration. Urgent action would be required on a global scale. In that case, COP31, in 2026, will hold critical significance. Should Australia, with the Pacific Islands, win the right to host this event we will have the...
Chris Young from Surrey Hills, Vic
In response to: 2025 is the crunch year in the scientific contest about accelerated warming
Woe is me
April 30, 2025
I am a very ordinary man aged 83 and for the life of me I cannot understand the savagery evident in this world, not only Israel against the Palestinians, but also in the Sudan, Russia and Ukraine. Humanity has been weighed in the balance and found wanting. We forget that if a man gaisn the whole world but loses his soul, he is a loser. I weep for the parents whose children have been murdered in the name of a God who doesn’t seem too concerned. Israel has just celebrated the Passover which, at its core, is a...
Brian Robertson from Maleny QLD 4552
In response to: Message from the editor in chief
If I were mentor to Albanese or Dutton...
April 29, 2025
Alison Broinowski succintly offered a heartfelt picture of clarity and courage related to Australia's alternative posture in the world. Meanwhile the voters, more or less resigned to reactive mediocrity from our leaders, will munch on their democracy sausages on Saturday and vote indifferently for Tweedledum and Tweedledee. Where has the Australian vision gone Albo and Dutto? Can you pick a single onshore item related to climate, generational inequality and student debt, long-term power generation, real housing solutions or future disaster management goals that anyone will remember you for after you cash in your super? After the speeches...
Donald Clayton from Bittern Victoria 3918
In response to: If I were Foreign Minister...