July 22, 2022

Environment: Prescribed burning makes bushfires worse

Prescribed burning does more harm than good, as do fossil fuel subsidies. How to protect wild species.

August 23, 2021

Morrison has the smell of political death about him.

It is the fate of the modern political leader that they die by their own hand. At least according to the obituarists and the historians.

July 19, 2021

Patriotism needs more active, more suspicious citizenship

Whose side are you on? prime minister Tony Abbott once publicly asked the ABC when he felt that it was not sufficiently representing Australian propaganda, not to mention his own point of view, in some dispute with other nations.

June 16, 2021

Moral bankruptcy and cruelty inthe treatment of the Biloela Family.

_The government is hiding behind legislation as a reason for not doing anything. This is truly a morally bankrupt position as anyone who understandsImmigration law knows.

January 13, 2021

A referendum on Irish unity is coming, whether we like it or not (Irish Times Jan 11, 2021)

Whoever favours keeping NorthernIrelandin union with Great Britain, or prefers a united Ireland, needs to prepare for a referendum in the North on that exact choice, followed by a matching referendum in the South if there is an affirmative vote for unity in the North.

January 13, 2021

Section 92 case decided but Courts reasons still awaited

_If national unity and the Federation were endangered in 2020 it was thanks to the Commonwealth government, the States, and the High Court, which bypassed a fundamental principle of the Constitution designed to secure the Federation and prevent discrimination among the States and their citizens.

November 22, 2020

Responsible Lending? Coalitions left hand not sure what its right hand is doing

_The Coalition government is pushing hard to get rid of responsible lending obligations, but it doesnt seem to realise that removing these obligations will pull the rug out from one of its signature pieces of legislation that Scott Morrison championed when he was treasurer mandatory comprehensive credit reporting.

October 14, 2020

Australian Values for new citizens

Last month the acting Minister for Immigration, Citizenship, Migrant Services and Multicultural Affairs, Alan Tudge announced that from November, there will be an updated Australian Citizenship Test which for the first time will include a section on Australian values.

June 8, 2024

Indian elections double victory for democracy – Asian Media Report

In Asian media this week: Voters teach Modi a lesson. Plus: Graham Allison on Thucydides’ Trap latest assessment; China, US switch off the megaphones; IMF, World Bank warn of system break-up; summit opens way for rules-based competitive order; tobacco companies control smoking-law narrative.

May 5, 2024

The years 1968 And 2024: Will history repeat itself?

“Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” – George Santayana, 1905.

May 2, 2024

The war on women

AUKUS and associated propaganda might make men feel safe but will do nothing for women. A recent Australian Institute of Criminology report showed an increase in the numbers of women being killed by partners, current or former.

April 21, 2024

Environment: Expert calls Australia’s carbon offset scheme a scam

Australia’s carbon offset scheme costs a lot and captures almost no carbon but provides a fig leaf for continuing emissions. Technology-based Carbon Dioxide Removal is still a distant dream. Distributed energy resources can be the Swiss Army knife of the electricity system.

September 2, 2023

Environment: Eat more plants to save the world

Vegans and vegetarians do less damage to the environment than meat-eaters. TotalEnergies and World Rugby team up in Paris to play a dirty game. Tips to become a better recycler.

August 31, 2023

The NACC and the economics of corruption

When corruption really gets into the bones of a society the damage it does to institutions can take generations to heal.

May 24, 2023

Americas wars and the US debt crisis

To surmount the debt crisis, America needs to stop feeding the Military-Industrial Complex, the most powerful lobby in Washington.

April 23, 2023

Japan on the path to becoming a Military Great(er) Power

Promising to double its defence expenditure over the coming five-year period and placing huge orders for US military equipment to help it to do so, the sometime peace state of Japan is moving into high gear on militarisation.

August 3, 2022

Pelosi visit-China wise not to attack plane

_Former US President Donald Trump, said the visit would make trouble and cause great friction.

June 17, 2021

Australian Media in the Asian Century

Scott Morrison calling. Its been another fortnight of triumph in world forums for Scott Morrison, if youve read the headlines and lead paragraphs in The Australian and the Australian Financial Review.

May 15, 2021

Is the tide turning against Israel?

The history of Palestinian nationalism is strewn with false dawns and bitter disappointments.

January 24, 2021

Let the JobKeeper rorts roll

Where do we start when considering the $100 billion JobKeeper scheme? Should we focus on the opaque nature of the scheme in which less than 3% of JobKeeper payments have been disclosed in public company accounts and there is no way of finding out who got what and how much?

December 23, 2020

Faith when matter really matters

Christmas is not about Santa Claus, consumerism, or even happy families. Its about Gods radical entry into humanity in the person of Jesus.

October 8, 2020

Media failure again on alleged chemical weapons attacks in Syria

Two new reports from the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons challenge claims that chemical weapons were used in two alleged attacks in Syria.

September 26, 2024

Does Trump want both mass deportation and remigration?

Donald Trump’s desire for a mass deportation program for about 11 million undocumented migrants in the US (he says the number is much bigger) is well known. According to some polling, around 54% of US citizens support such a program even if they have no idea how it would be implemented, how it may affect them or what it would cost. Less well known is Trump’s denaturalisation or “remigration” program.

September 21, 2024

Pager slaughter in Lebanon, humanity of no consequence

Thousands of Lebanese citizens, injured or murdered by apparent Israeli planted explosives in pagers and other communications devices, are referred to as Hezbollah operatives, even though victims have included small children.

September 13, 2024

How long can US lawmakers ignore these images of child carnage in Gaza?

“A healthy conscience can’t simply ignore the mutilated bodies of tens of thousands of dead Palestinian children,” said one human rights activist.

July 21, 2024

Environment: burning wood in power stations doesn’t help the climate

The living, not our forebears, have put most of the CO2 into the atmosphere. Substituting wood for coal in power stations doesn’t reduce CO2 emissions. A little warmth helps bell frogs fight chytrid fungus.

June 7, 2024

Down-payments on our own destruction

Australians used to be scared off voting Labor by Coalition predictions of debt, deficit, and disaster. Labor used to shame Liberals and Nationals with promises of spending to end child poverty, close the indigenous gap, and create a clever country. All that was before AUKUS.

June 6, 2024

The risks of world war III

I have been thinking about the unthinkable. Maybe you have too?

May 19, 2024

Students throw themselves bodily into the gears of the Western genocide machine

In December it will be 60 years since Mario Savio stood on the steps of Sproul Hall at the Berkeley campus of the University of California and delivered the most powerful speech in the history of student activism:

April 28, 2024

When words cease being words: and become weapons

We generally assume words carry the same meaning in the mind of speaker and listener. This enables meaningful communication and common understanding. Sometimes however words are given a specific meaning which completely changes their original intent. The words become weapons. This has happened with the word antisemitism and the word terrorist.

September 19, 2023

Singapore censors ANU's East Asia Forum website

Growing touchiness as scandals mount.

May 8, 2023

Very bad advice: $368b nuclear submarines and the Federal budget

At a time when the Reserve Banks interest rate rise is adding to cost of living pressures and increasing the chances of a recession, Albanese is finding it hard to justify the staggering $368 billion cost of AUKUS nuclear submarines.

April 10, 2023

The minefields that could sink AUKUS SSNs

The most consequential aspect of AUKUS is it embeds the UK and the US firmly into Australias Indo-Pacific strategy. But what if the secret US calculation behind AUKUS is to goad China into war before Chinas superiority outpaces US and allied capabilities? A war that China does not want and will likely lose?

September 18, 2022

Australia trashes the 'international rules based order' over AUKUS and nuclear proliferation

We have another entirely Australian own goal to China.

June 28, 2021

Enough with the hidden persuaders - we need a national integrity commission now

Australian politics smells and sanitation is long overdue. The establishment of a National Integrity Commission with teeth is long overdue.

June 21, 2021

Kalbars exotic minerals mine puts the nation's food supply at risk

A mineral sands mining proposal on rich Victorian farmland is putting the country’s food supply at risk. Will the Labor Government back big money over big farmers, and fail to protect heritage listed wetlands?

January 14, 2021

Letting US Asian allies get nukes is a bad idea

A recent article by the Cato Institutes Doug Bandow in prominent Washington DC-based journal Foreign Policy proposes that America should let its Asian allies acquire nuclear weapons!

August 29, 2024

Inquiry into anti-semitism a Trojan Horse for the Israel lobby

In June this year, Liberal MP Julian Leeser introduced a bill in Federal Parliament for a Commission of Inquiry into Anti-semitism at Australian Universities (2024).

May 2, 2024

US campus protests, establishment’s automatic suppression

From Columbia University in New York to the University of Texas at Austin, from Emory University in Atlanta to the University of California at Berkeley, American students are protesting the genocide in Gaza. They are scorning the moral bankruptcy of governments which supply arms to Israel which simultaneously pretend support for humanitarian aid.

July 14, 2023

Taiwan solution is diplomacy rather than nuclear hell

I have yet to meet an Australian voter willing to go to war over Taiwan. Further, I havent heard of any Australian military leader with a clear idea of Australias role in a showdown between China and the US.

May 23, 2023

While Sullivan and Wang build guardrails: where is Mr Blinken?

When US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan met face-to-face with Mr Antony Blinkens China counterpart Mr Wang Yi for eight hours in Vienna on May 10-11, a meeting both sides described as constructive, where was Americas top diplomat, Mr Blinken?

April 15, 2023

Environment: Rich people are melting Arctic sea ice

Rich countries and rich people have incredibly high greenhouse gas emissions. Arctic sea ice is shrinking. Tasmanian government plans to make fish farms more environmentally destructive.

September 6, 2022

Pitch Black. Not a benign military training exercise

The military exercise Pitch Black is currently underway in Northern Australia.

May 17, 2022

If I were the Minister for Health

_I would progressively wind back and eliminate the $14b pa taxpayer subsidy for Private Health Insurance and use that very large sum to fund the inclusion of dental care within Medicare and increase the funding to the states for expanded specialist services in outpatient clinics at public hospitals.

July 18, 2021

The harmful myths we live by about the US.

Defence Minister Dutton has upped the ante in some interesting comments on China and Afghanistan. He reinforces some myths we accept and states unequivocally our dependence on the US to protect us from evil for Thou art with us, Thy nukes and Thy military they comfort us.

February 3, 2021

Drama in Perth as Election 21 nears

West Australians on the afternoon of Sunday 31 January were preparing for Monday’s start of the school year when Premier Mark McGowan called an emergency media conference to announce the toughest lock-down rules the state has known.

December 29, 2020

Ireland and Brexit: the Good News

On Christmas eve the Brexit deal was done and the Irish breathed a sigh of relief. Even so, not all in Ireland would agree with Irish Times columnist David McWilliams assessment that the EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement (TCA) was the best news for Ireland in 100 years, couldnt have worked out better for us! especially those who make a living in the fishing and long-distance haulage industries.

December 15, 2020

What if Australias fertility rate keeps falling?

The ABS recently released births data for 2019 noting a very sharp fall in fertility to the lowest in our history. This was no surprise now that the Government had at last stopped forecasting a sharp rise in fertility.

October 6, 2020

The pandemic, unemployment, skills shortages and a forgotten group of students

Even low-skilled jobs are going to be hotly contested in the next few years. We can’t let a large group of school leavers drift into the labour market with no real chance of getting a job. But offering more of the same is not going to be the answer.

Pearls and Irritations

John Menadue's Public Policy Journal