May 24, 2023

Stella Assange in Australia

For those familiar with the ongoing prosecution of Julian Assange by the United States, a brutal carnivalesque endeavour that continues to blight that legal system, there is not much to be said. Assange is a political prisoner who must be freed. But the task remains for those like Stella Assange to convince politicians and journalists to embrace that course.

May 17, 2023

Richard Marles' 'seamless' transfer of Australian sovereignty

_Speaking at the American Chamber of Commerce on Wednesday, deputy prime minister and defence minister Richard Marles openedwith an anecdote praising a former PricewaterhouseCoopers partner. It was an interesting choice given the tax leaks scandal engulfing PwC, which is making headlines_globally, and last week forced the resignation of its Australian CEO.

April 20, 2023

Penny Wong and Paul Keating need to have this vital debate

Australia now has an adventurous and activist foreign policy again. But it has not answered the questions that the former prime minister raises.

September 6, 2022

Justice Kelly's speech on racism - a response

Northern Territory Supreme Court Justice Judith Kelly’s widely publicised speech on August 26th delivered to a Womens Lawyers function in Darwin and which covered racism and family violence in Indigenous communities, delivered to a Women Lawyers, needs a response.

May 23, 2022

Albanese - In at the deep end in Tokyo

On his very first day in office, Prime Minister Albanese has seized with alacrity the opportunity to travel to Tokyo for the Quad meeting to announce his presence on the international stage.

May 11, 2022

What Ministers in a new Government should do - climate change, China-US relations and our region

_Foreign policy must be one of the areas where any government can find itself most constrained by the circumstances it has to deal with—events, dear boy, events, as former British Prime Minister Harold McMillan once said. But given that, even in the most pressing state of affairs a government can choose where it directs its discretionary resources.

September 1, 2021

Blessed are the rich in securing vaccines

Australia is among the rich, western countries siding with Big Pharma to thwart the widespread manufacture of COVID-19 vaccines.

August 18, 2021

Another bright shining lie: the ADF and Afghanistan

_It was the celebrated American war correspondent Neil Sheehan who used the term “a bright shining lie” to characterise the profoundly corrupt nature moral, political, social, intellectual, strategic, military, religious of the US’s (and, by association, Australia’s) disastrous invasion of Vietnam.

June 3, 2021

Who just gives away billions? Is this what the Collaery case is all about?

Many of us have heard about the prosecution of Bernard Collaery on the say-so of Christian Porter. But very few know much more than that it is an almost secret trial against the former ACT Attorney-General. Unfortunately, John le Carr is no longer with us to tell this intriguing tale.

May 5, 2021

War with China despite their immense military capabilities?

Five years ago, I would’ve said that the possibility of a “kinetic war” in the Indo-Pacific was very unlikely, now it is more likely than it was then. This is something that you and I may well have to confront in the next 5 to 10 years, Christopher Pyne.

December 2, 2018

Media Ethics and Politics

As the political circus goes from bad to worse, it is important to not only demand that our politicians improve their behaviour, but the media has an equally important role to play. Journalists and the media already have a code of conduct setting ethical standards, but do they adhere to it?

July 30, 2024

Apartheid Israel

“(I)f pressed on legality … our position is that it is for competent judicial bodies to determine whether crimes against humanity have been committed” – (DFAT, 2022, FOI release). What then are DFAT and Australia’s obligations following the finding by the International Court of Justice that Israel has established an apartheid system in the Occupied Palestinian Territories?

June 3, 2024

Chips and geopolitics: the unexpected rise of Huawei in AI technology

In 2023, Nvidia held a 90% share of China’s AI chip market, with sales of $7 billion. Now, less than a year later, Nvidia is cutting prices to compete with Huawei in China and move its “Made for China” H20 AI chipset off the shelves. What went so wrong, so fast?

May 5, 2024

Israel’s war machine, Australian Universities, and why students are protesting

Australian university students are setting up encampments in universities across Australia. They are not only calling for an end to the war on Gaza and freedom for Palestinians, they are calling for key changes needed in Australian universities’ relationships with Israel, including divestments in weapons research and development and sales and the cessation of links to Israeli Universities involved in the Israeli military complex.

June 2, 2023

Even Henry Kissinger warns against war with China

Henry Kissinger, self-praised and adulated as a statesman of genius, foreign policy expert of prowess, recently warned the world that, to avoid world war three, America and China must learn to live together. They have less than ten years, he argues. He has also become a centurion.

May 2, 2023

Australia is being goaded into war with China

John Menadues article in Pearls and Irritation about Australia being goaded into war with China is a must read for those Australians who desire to live in harmony and leave a legacy for our descendants to live in this lucky country of ours, in peace and prosperity with our neighbours in the Asia Pacific region.

July 29, 2022

Weekly roundup Saturday 30 July

Weekly roundup of links to articles, reports, podcasts and other media on current political and economic issues in public policy.

May 24, 2021

The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade is done and dusted

There was a time in the sixties through to the 1980s when the Department of Foreign Affairs, (Trade was subsumed into it in 1987) was a powerful department within the Federal bureaucracy. It had Branches that mirrored every major department in Canberra and when it felt necessary it would intervene in policies being developed by other departments; some acquiesced, others contested and often enough DFAT prevailed.

May 19, 2021

Being driven to war with China by government folly. How to change course?

Essays by Max Suich on 16, 17,18 and 19 May 2021 in the Australian Financial Review have unearthed the dreadful path of mismanagement of Australias relations with China since 2017, entrapping us foolishly in a path to war. We have to end this folly. Machinery of government is bung, leadership is out of control. Change is almost certainly dependent on the election of a different government, a government fearless and clear-minded and persuasive. I am not hopeful, but we have to work on it.

April 19, 2021

America's place in the world under Biden: the omens betide no good

_The only way to manage the emerging pluralist world order at all safely is to cultivate international institutions and mindsets that are genuinely inclusive and conducive to a respectful and sustained dialogue. Are the United States and its allies, Australia included, open to this sobering thought?

February 3, 2021

Eddie McGuire: words matter, because words and actions are indivisible

Which bit was the object of the apology? The misinterpretation, the original sins or the reaction?

January 21, 2021

America's silo society has to face its racial demons

In past upheavals, Americans at least all shared the same news. Now there is an apartheid of the national spirit that is creating deeper divisions than ever…If people were given the choice between democracy and whiteness, how many would choose whiteness?

January 18, 2021

Trump, and Trumpism, at no disadvantage in the senate trial

No one should stress about whether Donald Trump has received or will receive all of his legal rights, or whether the triumph of his opponents is unfairly depriving him of the bully pulpit that his office has given him. Nor should they be concerned about the freedom of his speech. But they should be concerned about the effect of what he says, even when it involves lying, dissembling, or just plain hokum.

December 16, 2020

Australia, China and the weaponising of trade

The conflict between Australia and China worsens with each passing day. The latest piece of news, Chinas indefinite pause in coal imports from Australia shows just how dangerous is the game that Australia is playing.

September 19, 2024

Pearls and Irritations awarded an Ink & Impact award

At a lavish ceremony at the Highline Venue in Bankstown, NSW on Sunday, 15 September, the independent Australian Muslim Times newspaper celebrated its 10th anniversary.

September 5, 2021

The shame of Kabul

Australias messy exit from Kabul is likely to be recorded in history as a moment of national ignominy.

August 17, 2021

Afghanistan debacle exposes the limits to Empire

The chaotic scenes at Kabul airport are symbolic of a military intervention that has brought the people of Afghanistan nothing but loss and destruction. The United States and its allies, not least Australia, have a great deal to answer for. This twenty-year war has been an unmitigated disaster from beginning to end. And what an ignominious end it is, especially for the United States.

August 12, 2021

Australia - a lucky country run by second rate people

Australia is a lucky country run mainly by second rate people who share its luck. It lives on other peoples ideas, and, although its ordinary people are adaptable, most of its leaders (in all fields) so lack curiosity about the events that surround them that they are often taken by surprise.

That is a quote taken directly from Donald Hornes The Lucky Country. It was published in 1964.

August 12, 2021

Political and media failure on climate in Australia

The technology roadmap sketched by Morrison and Taylor is a con. It is in fact a statement of support for the fossil fuel industry which is heavily subsidised by and a significant donor to the Liberal and National Parties.**

July 20, 2021

Mandela Courage for a Dangerous World

_Not for Mandela the contemporary, pragmatic tactic of polling by sticking a finger in the air to test in which direction voters interests are blowing.

July 4, 2021

Independent candidates are on the rise - and that may not be all bad

The reinstatement of Barnaby Joyce combined with demographic changes raises the possibility that more independents will be elected at the next federal election. A run-down of the most likely electorates.

June 20, 2021

Biden's strategy exposed - tempestuous times ahead

_It is safe to conclude that neither China nor Russia will be intimidated by shows of US strength or alliance solidarity. They will keep on strengthening their military capabilities and continue to use every bit of soft and hard power to advance their vision of a multi-centric world.

February 13, 2021

Foreign ownership hits hopes of national independence

Foreign ownership and control is continuing to devastate the Australian economy to the detriment of all Australians. It undermines the economic base for national independence.

December 10, 2020

Many Australians with a Chinese background feel caught between a rock and a hard place

I was invitedto give the annual 2020 Henry Chan lectureat a time when Chinese-Australians had well and truly become objects of suspicion and distrust. I have been doing research onChinese-language media inthe Chinese diaspora for two decades.

November 30, 2020

Morrison's selective attitude to human rights

Article 1 of the UN Charter declares objectives to promote and encourage respect for human rights and for fundamental freedoms for all without distinction as to race, sex, language, or religion. But the Morrison government ignores the abuses of its friends, does not care about the without distinction principle, and thereby undermines claims to champion human rights.

April 22, 2023

Australias China illiteracy has dangerous consequences

The deficiency of Australias Asia literacy and as a subset, China literacy has been recognised for decades by successive federal governments. Despite government investments to boost Asia literacy, the result has been dismal.

August 13, 2022

Indonesias unfinished business

Acknowledgements of Aboriginal land as preludes to formal events are now rarely contested, a belated acceptance that Australia has a bloody history that needs to be publicly discussed as a move towards reconciliation. Indonesia also has a grim past, but still shies from recognition and healing.

April 14, 2022

Our democracy is decaying from within. A repost from 16 September 2021

We need a summit of community leaders to help chart democratic renewal.

September 12, 2021

Will the Afghanistan withdrawal be 9/11 revisited for Hazaras?

Reflecting on the aftermath of September 11, 2001, former ABC political correspondent Jim Middleton asks what will happen to the vulnerable Afghans who, like those caught up in the Tampa crisis 20 years ago, are in search of a better life.

August 30, 2021

Wilcannia and Covid, a disastrous, discriminatory, failure by Australian and NSW Governments.

The small town of Wilcannia, on the Darling River in outer western New South Wales, has a predominantly Indigenouspopulationof 549, more than 60 of whom now have Covid. At 11%, this is the highest rate of Covid transmission per capita in the state,three times higher than the Sydney hotspot LGAs. Wilcannia has one of the lowest vaccination rates, with around 15% of its Indigenous population fully vaccinated compared to the state average of 35%, while across western NSW less than 7% of the Indigenous population over 16 years is fully vaccinated.

August 26, 2021

Heres how many people are really leaving Hong Kong

The world is told one thing, the data says another

August 22, 2021

Morrison shows selfishness and cruelty towards Afghans.

At press conferences about the Afghan tragedy, Prime Minister Morrison boasts that Australia is rescuing Afghans, and to resettle refugees will implement humanitarian programmes. Each claim displays selfishness and cruelty, as in policy statements which are cover for cowardice and devoid of generosity.

August 2, 2021

What does Labor offer? Part 2

Part 1 of this article discussed the implications for equity and inequality resulting from Labors recanting its previous opposition to the Governments Stage 3 income tax cuts, as well as dropping its policies to reform the taxation provisions covering capital gains and negative gearing. Part 2 discusses the other major concern; the ability of a future Labor Government to now pay for the services that we need and want.

July 25, 2021

Public service or politics?

Senior public servants are only as good as the leadership provided by politicians working in the national interest. With appropriate checks, balances and protections in place, senior public servants should be able to give the frank and fearless advice required of their position and as set out in law.

July 15, 2021

Boris sends naval fleet to revive British colonialism on the Chinese coast

Double standards: In the shipping war games its Freedom of Navigation for one side and an unwelcome intrusion into our waters for the other.

October 27, 2020

Our ignorance of China is a disgrace

Its a disgrace that after half a century or so of multiculturalism, it is still possible that Australian Chinese can be made to feel disloyal merely on the basis of their ethnic background. Thats exactly what happened when right-wing Senator Eric Abetz asked three Chinese-heritage Australians before a Senate committee whether they were willing unconditionally to condemn the Chinese Communist Party.

March 31, 2020

MICHAEL KEATING.- The Third Economic Response to the Coronavirus

The latest economic response to the coronavirus is the third economic package announced in less than three weeks. Clearly more should have been done earlier, but the structure and scale of the Governments overall economic response now seems more commensurate with the size and impact of the economic shock.

July 4, 2024

Does China matter any more?

China Matters has gone, and that is a tragedy. Australia lost a valuable think tank that could provide policy advice at a critical juncture of Australia-China relations. The implementation of the government hatchet job is set out in detail in Margaret Simon’s extended article, Red Flags, in the latest _Monthly_, and in Hamish McDonald’s article in _Inside Story_ on 22 April.

September 26, 2023

Did Penny Wong really just suggest China is an existential threat?

The Australian Government has a big problem with its security narrative. Preparing for a putative war with China is the nations top security priority, while the governments knowledge of the growing existential threat of climate disruption and their security consequences remains a closely-guarded secret.

Pearls and Irritations

John Menadue's Public Policy Journal