September 25, 2021

Distracted by the submarine bauble, Labor and the media miss the point

Australia is about to become home to American bases, and potentially a nuclear target, and this seems to have escaped the attention of the Opposition and the media.

August 29, 2021

White Man's Media: anxious and aggressive

It is useful to recall how so much Western media coverage, from Hong Kong, of the deeply intimidating, three-month shut-down of arterial roads in 2014 and the unremitting violence of the 2019 multi-month insurrection was, in each case, dominated, first, by a constant retelling of narratives supplied by the activists and secondly, by intense coverage of all perceived lapses in official and police reactions. Added to this was a steady degree of media support for the protestors - regularly spilling over into acclamation regardless, typically, of the unfolding disruption, chaos and destruction.

June 17, 2021

How to engage with China

The Chinese governments overriding goals are unity, stability, security, and prosperity. They arose from its century of humiliation (1839-1949) when it underwent invasion, addiction, civil war, and destitution. The Great Leap Forward campaign (1958-62) triggered famine and the Red Guard riots (1966-67) destroyed heritage and education. All post-Mao governments have brutally cracked down on internal dissent lest it leads again to fracturing and secession. To outsiders that is intolerable, but most Chinese accept a tightly policed state is preferable to a turbulent and broken one. Also, any visitor to China knows that its people are not dispirited. In failed states, street crime is endemic. In China it is non-existent.

December 20, 2020

Coalition's war on casual workers a harbinger for assault on permanent workers

_The workplace abuses of the 18th and 19th centuries have returned under the guise of the gig economy. The Morrison government has now proposed sweeping changes to labor laws that will cut wages, entrench precarious work, cripple unions and hand dictatorial power to bosses. But if the IR bill becomes law, permanent workers will also be affected.

December 10, 2020

Anyone laughing has not heard the news. Vale Mungo.

In 2001 I reviewed Mungo MacCallums memoir The Man Who Laughs (AQ 73(6), Nov-December). Although this entertaining writer appeared to have retired from political commentary, I, like so many readers, was thankful that he took up the pen for Pearls and Irritations. The review ran along the following lines.

December 1, 2020

An all-out trade war with China would cost Australia 6% of GDP

China accounts formore than a thirdof export dollars earned by Australia.

November 17, 2020

A mad King twitters from his fortress

When Gough Whitlam had his commission as prime minister withdrawn by Sir John Kerr 45 years ago last week, one of his many immediate tactical mistakes was to drive to the Lodge, rather than (old) parliament house. There he tucked into lunch with a number of his senior colleagues, though not, fatally, Ken Wreidt, the leader of the Labor Party in the senate. Another present was John Menadue, then secretary of the department of prime minister and cabinet.

October 3, 2024

Sheridan wrong on Wong

Greg Sheridan is doubtless now too long in the tooth to change his journalistic ways. But it really is time that he recognised the force of that immortal observation by Shakespeare’s contemporary, Francis Bacon, that ‘Speaking in perpetual hyperbole is comely in nothing but love’.

August 7, 2023

Vale sovereignty "Combined Intelligence Centre - Australia"

In his recent comprehensive P&I article ( Abandoned sovereignty: Australias intelligence function colonised by US__) Mike Scrafton has raised serious concerns about Defence Minister Marles announcement at the recent AUSMIN talks of the creation of Combined Intelligence Centre Australia within our Defence Intelligence Organisation (DIO) by 2024.

July 27, 2022

Will Speaker Milton Dick really control MPs' conduct?

Ministers will set the tone and it is unlikely that the new Speaker, Labors Milton Dick, will do much to impose himself on them.

January 18, 2021

Latest hits from His Masters Voice - Little Johnny and the Trumpettes

While our parliament houses will not be stormed any time soon, Sky News is still around, as is Rupert Murdoch, Trumps great backer, and The Australian. So, too, are George, Pauline and Craig.

December 16, 2020

The Hong Kong student bubble

This is a very humble response from a University lecturer of many years in HongKong.Its a response to various analyses to the Hong Kong protesters. Who are they and what motivates them to protest?

November 5, 2020

Australia-China relations: a downward spiral that can be reversed

Is the current state of Australia-China relations inevitable? Understanding why theres been a rapid deterioration over the last five years offers ideas for how tensions could be managed more effectively.

September 3, 2024

The Albanese Government has consistently ignored advice about the humanitarian disaster in Gaza

Since the onset of the Gaza War, many Australians have urged the Albanese Government to speak up in condemning the Netanyahu regime’s constant breaches of international law and to act urgently to protect innocent civilians in Gaza and the West Bank.

August 26, 2024

Replacing Dutton’s bottom of the barrel ideas about leadership

Opposition Leader Peter Dutton seems bereft of the qualities required in a leader, so it’s worth pondering how he and those who support him could show leadership.

July 26, 2024

The insignificant seven

In a blow that will strike little fear into the hearts of the Israeli Government, Foreign Minister Wong has announced sanctions against seven West Bank settlers.

June 15, 2024

Labor appreciates Chinese-Australians’ contribution, but whose job is it to stop sinophobia?

The statement released by the Prime Minister’s office concerning the visit of Chinese Premier Li Qiang notes that there will be a ‘community event to recognise the significant contributions of the over one million members of the Chinese-Australian community to our nation’s multicultural success story’. But what Chinese-Australians truly desire is to be treated as equal, rights-bearing Australian citizens, free from mistrust and suspicion.

May 20, 2024

Papering over our pain in the time of genocide

Keeping silent, while a genocide is in full swing for all to see, is not good for social cohesion.

April 17, 2024

Australia’s leadership is destroying the very fabric of this country

Some days I wake up and don’t recognise the country we have become. It is not the country I grew up in. It is not a country I can be proud of. It is not a country that has a bright future under current leadership.

August 9, 2023

Israel and Australian law on sanctions. Will we act?

The imposition of sanctions on Israel by the Australian government is a logical step now that Foreign Minister Penny Wong has finally bowed to the inevitable in calling Israels West Bank settlements illegal. As Wong told the federal party caucus yesterday, it was time to “strengthen the government’s objection to settlements by affirming that they are illegal under international law and a significant obstacle to peace”.

June 29, 2022

Partner visas another Dutton scandal

_Under Dutton, the Department of Home Affairs just ignored the law.

September 7, 2021

In Afghanistan, even good news stories raise questions about government failure

Heart-warming stories of people escaping Afghanistan to Australia keep coming. But why are we issuing urgent visas to athletes with no connection to Australia?

February 18, 2021

Scandal spoils Gladys farewell party

Premier Gladys Berejiklian and NSW Opposition Leader Jodi McKay slugged it out in Parliament House this week as if their political futures depended on it.

January 26, 2021

Invasion Day: we didn't get the day or date right

Writing to the Sydney Morning Herald Letters Editor, John Carmody discusses how we haven’t chosen the right day to celebrate the colonisation of Australia. So much for not changing our history.

January 7, 2021

The dangerous intransigence of Gladys Berejiklian

Intransigence is too seldom called out. It should never be mistaken for strength. Nor is it an admirable quality in anyone who wishes to lead effectively. Yet is something felt by many of us daily; and may even dominate our own emotional repertoire.

October 25, 2020

Shenzhen is overtaking Hongkong

Hong Kong people, most of whom have only the barest acquaintance with the city only twenty miles away, look down on Shenzhen as a poor dirty cousin. Reality is rapidly running away from this perception…. A gradual realisation has crept upon the world in the past few years that the new Silicon Valley is Shenzhen.

February 27, 2020

LAURIE PATTON. Telstra bells the broadband cat and spays NBN Co.

Telstras decision this week to only offer a maximum 50Mbps plan to more than half its NBN customers is another setback in the quest for #BetterBroadband.

September 24, 2024

AUKUS and Australia, Asia, and the Anglosphere

Building the AUKUS nuclear-powered submarine is an Anglosphere quest for a military capability to serve Australia’s life in the Indo-Pacific. As an Anglosphere answer to an Asian future, AUKUS asks questions about Australian identity as well as strategic ambition.

September 6, 2024

Pearl or Irritation? The Kantian imperative and the case for dissent

The Pearls and Irritations platform, with its commitment to fact-driven critique, exemplifies dissent as a profound act of civic engagement. Immanuel Kant, the renowned Enlightenment philosopher, offered a powerful defence of this kind of loyal, evidence-based dissent.

June 19, 2023

Vale Dennis Argall

After enduring chronic illness for many decades, Dennis passed away peacefully at 11:10pm (AEST) on Tuesday the 13th of June.

September 13, 2022

The Defence Strategic Review and the received wisdom about the China threat and US support

_We cannot assume that other countries will do anything but put their own interests before those of others and we must do the same.

August 2, 2022

James Guthrie and Adam Lucas: It's time for a Royal Commission into the governance of Australias public universities

What is the core purpose of a university? Is it to share knowledge and engage in research? Or is it to make money? Our analysis of university management rhetoric versus financial reality for Australian public sector universities finds that they have drifted far away from their core mission to become property development and financial investment vehicles.

July 23, 2022

David Pocock's a nice bloke, but ...

_Independent Senator David Pocock fronted his first “quarterly town hall” meeting at the grand old Albert Hall in Canberra with a welter of kindness and concern but there’s a bit more to his new job than being nice.

May 18, 2022

Peter Dutton urging war with China

Last week Defence Minister Peter Dutton announced that, what he called a Chinese spy ship, had been discovered off the Western Australian coast farther south than any similar vessel had ever previously been seen. He didnt inform his public that it had been observed 250 kilometres offshore and therefore 50 kilometres outside Australias Exclusive Economic Zone and in international waters.

February 18, 2021

What is the Japanese Embassy in Canberra up to?

Is it trying to stoke anti-China sentiment in Australia?

January 24, 2021

Fake news abounds in the misguided war on the digital media platforms

Opposition is growing both locally and globally to media laws introduced by the Coalition Government requiring tech giants Google and Facebook to pay for displaying original news content. Why should our domestic monopolists get preference?

December 27, 2020

The Murder of 2020

During the weeks and months of restrictions this year, I became addicted to the British TV crime series Vera. Vera is moody and temperamental, but she gets results, with no sex, no romance, no ghosts or extra-terrestrial influence, just terrific acting and good mystery. So lets ask the question of Vera, Who killed 2020?

October 22, 2020

The Un-Australian Activities Committee and Eric Abetz. Media in the Asian Century

Is Senator Eric Abetz working for the Chinese Communist Partys United Work Front Department?…Not one Australian newspaper has editorialised about his conduct.

October 12, 2020

The Beginning of the End?

Is Pope Francis running out of steam? Will we ever see an end to Vatican financial scandals? And where is George in all of this?

September 17, 2024

A solution in Ukraine?

There must be a negotiated end to the Ukraine War. The alternative is nuclear armageddon.

September 13, 2024

Antisemitism and our universities

In today’s papers the Education Minister Jason Clare announced the decision to appoint a new National Student Ombudsman who will combat anti-Semitism at Australia Universities. He explained that Jewish students “don’t feel safe at university” and that it was obvious that antisemitism was a serious problem at tertiary institutions.

August 24, 2024

Dutton, racism and electoral popularity

About 10 years ago, I found myself in the office of a Coalition Senator in my role as President of the Australia Palestine Advocacy Network. I and my delegation received a generous reception. At that stage the Senator did not hold an office on behalf of the Liberal Party which would now automatically prevent them from seeing us. The Senator recounted back-packing days though Egypt, Turkey and Israel following university, and assured us that the struggles facing Palestinian people did not need to be made any clearer.

September 19, 2023

Assimilation re-emerges

In her recent address to the National Press Club, Jacinta Price resuscitated the seventy years old policy of assimilation constructed by Minister for Territories Paul Hasluck.

June 18, 2023

To honour Daniel Ellsberg, we must reject a US war over Taiwan

Daniel Ellsberg of Pentagon Papers fame, died on June 16. Asked about his decision to dispute the Nixon White House claims about US progress in the Vietnam war, Ellsberg said he had one regret. I waited too long to release those papers. The bombs were already falling. From his death bed he stressed the value of warning against war before it is too late.

May 22, 2023

The debate about Independence for Taiwan

I participated in the drafting and negotiation of the document of recognition of the Peoples Republic of China (PRC) and was personally responsible for some of the practical aspects of dismantling the diplomatic representation of Republic of China (ROC - Taiwan) in Canberra. It might be helpful, therefore, if I offered some clarification regarding the One China Policy and the status of Taiwan.

May 10, 2023

This is the budget of a government that wants to be loved by everyone

The best word for this budget is complacent. Theres nothing wrong with it; its keeping us from getting further into trouble. But its doing little to deal with the many troubles we already have: the transition to renewable energy, declining home ownership, the rental crisis, and problems with Medicare and education.

May 9, 2023

In international politics, how the worm has turned for the United States

The historian of American foreign policy Gabriel Kolko would often say that those who seek to determine the destiny of humankind were in for surprises and, ultimately, disappointment.

May 25, 2022

The new climate challenge: toughening targets, avoiding new conflicts

_To stick rigidly to the 43% target will prove infeasible in the short term and politically self-harming in the longer term. Tougher targets are inevitable.

August 4, 2021

White privilege in sport runs deep, including the Olympics.

Racist abuse experienced by Black England players is the tip of the iceberg and our response must go deeper and wider and shine a light on white privilege, in the global sports industry.

Pearls and Irritations

John Menadue's Public Policy Journal