May 15, 2024

World War III and The Grand Chessboard

Imagine being Tony Blinken, and facing the arduous responsibility as US Secretary of State to rule the globe! This seems a daunting task, but fortunately, Blinken doesn’t have to strain his brain too much because he has a manual already written to instruct him.

May 14, 2024

Labor’s spending cloaked behind a veil of ‘security’

12½ years ago I wrote, in a column published in the Fairfax (now Nine) mastheads, that “the surest way to gain acceptance for policy proposals that former Treasury Secretary Ken Henry might have called ‘ frankly, bad’ is to wrap them in a ‘security’ blanket”.

September 2, 2023

Do we need an arms industry?

Australia needs an arms industry like it needs a hole in the head. It will only contribute to flooding the world with more weapons of destruction when we are already being killed by floods, fires and irresponsible politicians through human induced global warming.

August 11, 2023

Betrayal: The threat to life on Earth

It has been overlooked during Garma festival that, under current policies, global warming would render aboriginal lands in central and northern Australia unliveable and the top-end a nuclear target

July 11, 2023

Why is Australia so scared?

The world has just spent two decades paralysed by fear. Ever since 11 September 2001, the war on terror has changed the lives of most people for the worse. Millions have been killed, either by terrorists or by militarists fighting them. Fearing violence, many people have fled their homelands as refugees. Others have absorbed repeated warnings about Islamist terrorism, and fearfully accepted that the response to it has to be militarism.

July 14, 2022

Time to unleash the full potential of nurses

_If we want to improve the health of Australia, we cannot continue to under-use the largest workforce in primary health care.

September 30, 2021

US hostility towards Hong Kong exposed for all to see

In recent years, Chinas achievements have surpassed all expectations, and the United States has become increasingly paranoid.

September 1, 2021

Trading Covid freedoms in NSW

Among the wreckage caused by a near two-year pandemic, with far to go, is the idea and ideal of freedom.

June 1, 2021

Now or never: Remarks by John Warhurst at Book Launch of Wrestling with the Church Hierarchy

It is now or never for the Catholic Churchs Vatican Two generation. They must continue to wrestle with the church hierarchy if the forthcoming Plenary Council is to have any chance of achieving its potential.

September 8, 2024

UN expert says impunity for Israel must end as 'Genocidal Violence' spreads to West Bank

“Apartheid Israel is targeting Gaza and the West Bank simultaneously, as part of an overall process of elimination, replacement, and territorial expansion,” said United Nations special rapporteur Francesca Albanese.

August 6, 2024

The challenge of appointing the special envoy on Islamophobia

The appointment of a Special Envoy on Islamophobia by the Albanese Government comes amidst complex political times and strained community relations with Australia’s Muslim leadership.

July 29, 2024

Art and popular resistance: truth telling from ANU to Gaza to Sudan

Palestinian liberation movements on this continent are intertwined with Blak liberation and resistance movements for restorative land justice around the world. To organise for Palestinian liberation, to organise for First Nations liberation on this continent and globally, is to call for a drastic restructuring of settler identity and cultural awareness of the role of settler colonialism and genocide in the current world order.

September 17, 2023

Illiberalism rising: Will a post-liberal America threaten the international order?

The intellectual space for revolutionary new thoughts accompanies social change and inevitably the revolution is a surprise and incomprehensible to elites when it comes. Social, economic, and political disruption is accelerating because of climate change, new advanced technologies, economic stress, and geopolitics. The space for revolutionary thought is growing.

August 11, 2023

Heatwaves, drought, floods, disease across region Asian Media Report

In Asian media this week: Urban poor the worst climate victims. Plus: Pakistan goes to the polls, without Imran Khan; China blocks Philippine ships near Spratly shoal; _Alliance changing Asia-Pacific peace and stability; International currency changes on BRICS agenda; Barbenheimer memes not harmless fun.

August 7, 2023

White Australias moral backwardness

White Australians like to think of themselves as an egalitarian and frank people, despising pretentiousness, while basking in a reputation for larrikinism and mateship. But this is all a front, papering over a culture that is deeply racist, excessively masculinist, and incorrigibly populist. Indeed, from its very beginnings, white Australia has been a morally backward society. And there are no signs that this is abating. Its moral backwardness is disgustingly on show in the No campaign against the forthcoming referendum on an Indigenous Voice to Parliament.

June 13, 2023

War or peace? Immanuel Kant turns in his grave

In 1795, in his Treatise on Perpetual Peace, philosopher Immanuel Kant advocated rationality about peace by repudiating any plans for military domination, by respect for non-violence and by aiming to abolish standing armies.

May 13, 2023

A reflection in federal budget week that is cost-neutral!

It is a big week for but and however, delivered with some vehemence in responses to the Federal Budget. It is also a timely reminder that simple things matter, like our tone of voice in private and public conversations.

May 6, 2023

Doubts about AUKUS

Eighteen months ago, when Australians first learned of the AUKUS proposal for their country to build nuclear-powered submarines, it came as a stunning shock. So great was the shock, in fact, that for a time it eclipsed any serious debate about this revolutionary and quite unprecedented idea. An initiative of such scale and audacity seemed almost to defy critique and analysis.

April 7, 2023

Remove the blinkers - it's the "USA THREAT"!!!

The Trump Administration created and marketed the CHINA THREAT to the world. We, in the West fell for it hook, line and sinker.

April 1, 2023

Playbook for AUKUS campaign wins coveted award

Britains Oxford Dictionary and Americas Websters have moved quickly to shut down further nominations for the 2023 Word of the Year. Theyve declared aukustrate the unbeatable winner. Unsurprisingly, Australias Macquarie Dictionary found no reason to disagree, and fell into line.

July 9, 2022

An open letter to Boris Johnson about his ignorance of Hong Kong

On the 25th Anniversary of the establishment of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region and in the British national interest, there should be a correct understanding of the situation in Hong Kong. It is important for there to be a healthier relationship with China.

September 6, 2021

Climate change and politics as usual: A government missing in action

Successive governments’ failure to act on climate change means it is now the greatest threat to Australian and global human security.

September 3, 2021

Lessons for Australia from an extreme storm season in the US

Social vulnerability and the lack of coordination in disaster planning have been exposed by extreme storm events in the USA. There are lessons for those preparing to mitigate increasing intensity of similar events in Australia.

August 1, 2021

Australia and Korea's underdeveloped strategic relationship needs substance

Despite periodic claims by political leaders in both Australia and Korea, neither government has capitalised on commonalities and shared interests to build a deeper and more strategic partnership.

July 26, 2021

Analysing Morrison is not enough. He must be challenged.

Scott Morrison is seldom called exceptional. Yet the current PM will stand out in history in any number of ways. None of them are attractive. All need not just analysis but persistent, tough-minded challenging if we are to be left with any semblance of public integrity.

July 4, 2021

Coalition protects wealthy retirees investments under cover of Covid-19 pandemic

The Coalition moved to protect the superannuation of Australias wealthiest retirees at the same time it was encouraging the nations poorest to raid their retirement accounts. And they continue to protect the wealthiest even though the Australian share market is back at record highs.

January 19, 2021

State of emergency: London, Washington DC fail basic duty to protect citizens

Donald Trump and Boris Johnson stand condemned as incompetent, bloody-minded buffoons, but they didn’t get there all by themselves. They were aided and abetted by craven ministers and dangerously partisan media companies.

August 29, 2024

What Albert Camus might think about Palestinian suffering and the West’s responsibility for it

Zionism has followed the twisted logic of a long line of modern ideologies that ended up committing mass murder.

July 4, 2024

Let's not forget our obligations to future generations

New modern coal and gas generation might be the best options if the main aim of policy was containing the cost of energy. However, even an expensive means of reducing greenhouse gas (GhG) emissions should be acceptable if we have an obligation to benefit future generations.

April 23, 2024

Towards an effective lobbying regulatory scheme

Although lobbying is integral to democratic representation, there are concerns regarding the secrecy and unfair influence of professional lobbyists, which may ultimately lead to corrupt conduct by lobbyists and/or officials.

April 10, 2024

End of peak China?

It is easy these days to grab a headline about the end of peak China. China’s imminent economic stagnation is becoming conventional wisdom, unless of course one happens to be in the resources, energy, green industry, or automobile sectors, just to name a few. There, China’s demand continues to surge or, alternatively, depending on the sector, China’s capacity threatens extinction of foreign competitors.

September 25, 2023

Pezzullo story points to serious systemic problems in the APS

The revelations in the Nine newspapers that Mike Pezzullo, secretary of the powerful Home Affairs department, shared with Liberal Party powerbroker Scott Briggs are certainly extraordinary. But, just like the revelations about Robodebt from the royal commission, they must not be treated as an isolated case but as evidence of serious systemic problems in the Australian Public Service (APS).

August 9, 2023

Mirror, mirror on the walla better and fairer school system

In the words of Nelson Mandela, there can be no keener revelation of a societys soul than the way in which it treats its children. The Review set up by the Albanese government to inform a better and fairer education system is an occasion for some serious soul-searching by Australians.

May 18, 2022

A comparison of Labor and the Coalitions policies to assist first home buyers

Australia has a problem of housing affordability, but it is mainly concentrated among the poorest young families. Labors housing policies are better directed to improving their equality of access, but neither of the major political parties policies are adequate to the task.

December 23, 2020

Our harmful obsession with growth

Ten months after the World Health Organisation declared the Coronavirus outbreak a global pandemic, heart disease remains humanitys biggest killer, claiming an estimated 17.9 million victims annually. By comparison, the Coronavirus death toll has not yet reached 2 million.

October 3, 2024

Who's next on Israel's destruction list?

If Israel invades and destroys Lebanon, which is already on its knees, what’s to stop it from moving into Syria or Jordan or any other country that does not bend to its will? Apparently nothing.

September 23, 2024

Delusion and defeat in Ukraine

As the war in Ukraine heads into its third winter, Western leaders appear to be sinking further every day into a delusional belief in the success of their hydra-headed attempts to first defenestrate Russia before moving on to do the same to China.

September 15, 2024

Giving Medicare teeth is a chance to fix its flaws

Doctors tried to stop it at first, but half a century later Medicare is an untouchable brand in Australian healthcare and politics. While we’re lucky to have it, Medicare isn’t perfect. Expanding it to cover dental care is long overdue, but that shouldn’t mean repeating Medicare’s mistakes.

August 15, 2024

The geopolitics of cyber espionage

In March 2024, the United States government and its Five Eyes allies issued dire warnings about a Chinese state-sponsored hacking group known as “Volt Typhoon.” They alleged a shadowy entity had compromised thousands of devices worldwide to target critical infrastructure in Western nations.

July 11, 2024

Cartoon Commentary

May 25, 2024

Cartoon commentary

September 4, 2023

Ceding more territory to the US military? Will Cocos Islands be Australias Diego Garcia

The Australian government has reneged on its 1984 commitment to the UN that it had no intention of making the Cocos (Keeling) Islands into a strategic military base or of using the Territory for that purpose. Will the Labor government ignore the warnings of the late Richard Woolcott and make the Cocos Islands a militarised version of the US Diego Garcia?

August 18, 2023

What the Voice means for Australia’s reputation

The outcome of the Voice referendum will affect Australia’s reputation – a fact voters should consider, writes John McCarthy.

May 25, 2023

Paths to global prosperity

Two major international conferences concluded in the past week. They demonstrated very different approaches to international relations. The China-Central Asia Summit considered new paths to genuine economic co-operation and development. The G7 reaffirmed its support for the status quo in the face of a changing global environment.

August 31, 2021

The gas-led recovery repudiates AustraliasIPCC commitments

In promoting gas, the government is rejecting our IPCC commitments to achieve carbon neutrality and inviting others to follow suit. It is looney and dangerous stuff.

August 2, 2021

Foreign sanctions: Beijing counters Biden's bullying of Hong Kong

Although Chinas anti-foreign-sanctions law is novel, it is a vivid demonstration that the days when the US could bully others with impunity are gone.

July 18, 2021

The Afghanistan failure is history repeating itself but there may be profound consequences.

Afghanistans fall to the Taliban will do much to change the balance of power in Heartland central Asia.

February 3, 2021

Beware false idols of education excellence: take PISA test results with a grain of salt

Research shows that a large majority of students do not fully try on low-stakes tests such as PISA. There is little incentive for students to perform because there are no personal consequences. This could help explain the stark contradiction between Australias falling PISA results and its improving Year 12 results.

May 23, 2020

PETER SAINSBURY. Sunday environmental round up, 24 May 2020

A guide to the Australian governments plans for the post-COVID recovery and bureaucrats and scientists talk with feeling about Australias Climate Wars. Cyclone Amphan hits India and Bangladesh, providing a current example of the increasing frequency of strong tropical storms. Worldwide, animals big and small are going extinct, and Australia is working hard to fuel the trend.

Pearls and Irritations

John Menadue's Public Policy Journal