December 29, 2020

The Twerp Factory (IPA) wants to destroy the ABC

During the neoliberal boom of the 1970s and 1980s, it became fashionable to sell many valuable state-owned enterprises, often for a song, and usually to friends of the regime. Later on this would become something of a blueprint for the Russians, who created a whole class of thieving kleptocrats, who then went on to pillage Russias wealth, and waste it on buying fripperies, like English soccer clubs and Faberge eggs.

November 14, 2020

America is a foreign county for Australians

Scott Morrison: The great thing about the United States, it is a great democracy and it does have great institutions and we have a deep and wide relationship with the United States which is incredibly important to Australia. We are both like-minded and [a]like in so many ways our values, our partnerships, economics, security This is a myth.

July 22, 2024

Why Gaza is a global cause

In the West the claim is often made that Palestine is an issue that Arab or Muslim governments manipulate to stay in power by appealing to a populist cause. The deeper truth is that Palestine has become a subversive issue in the Middle East: the liberation of Palestinians through a South Africa-style dismantling of an inequitable system implies the dismantling of repressive regional systems that have managed to perfect Panopticon surveillance (with the help of Israeli technologies) and returning to the unfinished business of the Arab Spring.

June 28, 2024

Cartoon commentary

September 29, 2022

When facts are not necessarily facts. The Uyghurs and China

Repeat a supposed fact sufficient times and it will become assumed truth. That seems the case very much when it comes to claims about Chinas oppression of the Uyghurs in its western Xinjiang province. Supposedly one million or more Uyghurs have been imprisoned in vast re-education camps with the term genocide being frequently used. Even the charge of infanticide has been laid. Not all that is supposed however, is reality.

September 22, 2022

Morrison joins hard right IDUs embrace of Viktor Orban

Former Prime Minister Scott Morrison has joined the advisory board of the International Democrat Union. It is an organisation that is much more radical than its self-declared defence of the centre right spin suggests.

August 12, 2021

The Dragon has been awakened!

There is a common denominator in the demonisation of China-news media.

June 17, 2021

The Sri Lankan family just a case of bloody mindedness. A repost from 2019.

We await further operation of Federal Court processes before the future of the Sri Lankan family being held on Christmas Island is finally known. In the meantime, its worth reflecting on why the government has chosen to take such a hard line on this family.

January 18, 2021

Frydenberg knows nothing of Voltaire

Fydenbergs misuse of Voltaire is a complete travesty, a total misrepresentation of Voltaires beliefs and values. Voltaire fought against the kind of political power enabling the incarceration of people deemed to have no rights under the law, as in the imprisonment on Christmas Island of children by Frydenbergs government.

November 5, 2020

Pompeos Fruitless Final Foray in Asia

Last week, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo made his latest and probably his last trip in office to Asia. He was on a mission to persuade these countries to join it in an anti-China coalition under the cover of the US concept of a Free and Open Indo-Pacific (FOIP) .The trip appears to have been a failure based on fallacies.

October 18, 2020

Migration in reverse in September 2020

Net international movements in September 2020 were negative 33,270, a reduction on the August 2020 outcome of negative 45,610.

October 8, 2020

The US role in the world: a new normal

President Trump has pursued a different vision of the USs role in the world. This has had an undeniable impact on the USs relations with allies and competitors alike, and has reshaped the general perception of the US as a global actor.

February 3, 2020

MUNGO MACCALLUM. The Marketeer

Scott Morrison is nothing if not a marketeer. Or, to put it more precisely, he is nothing except a marketeer.

August 28, 2024

Inquiry raises deep concerns over Labor’s $1.5 billion cash splash for new NT gas hub

A Senate inquiry has failed to reach agreement on whether the Federal Government should spend A$1.5 billion on a major industrial hub in Darwin – spending critics say amounts to a huge fossil fuel subsidy.

July 10, 2024

Julian Assange's fifty-third birthday party

A week after Julian Assange’s release from Belmarsh prison, a boisterous gathering of 200 very happy Assange supporters packed the St Kilda Bowls Club in Melbourne to celebrate Julian Assange’s 53 birthday on July 3. Assange, who was in seclusion still recovering from his ordeal, did not attend.

April 9, 2024

China's economic success in face of growing U.S., EU protectionism

The Western press is filled with stories of foreboding about the Chinese economy. We are told regularly that China’s fast growth is over, that China’s data are manipulated, that a Chinese financial crisis looms, and that China will suffer the same stagnation as Japan during the past quarter century. This is U.S. propaganda, not reality. Yes, the Chinese economy faces headwinds - mainly created by the United States. Yet China can - and I believe will - overcome the U.S.-created headwinds and continue on its path of rapid economic development.

August 12, 2023

Their minds are not clear - the late Evan Whitton

In an era of mis and disinformation and downright propaganda, John Menadues Pearls and Irritations has gained exceptional traction in Australia and internationally as a forum for fact-based analysis, commentary and reportage.

July 13, 2023

NATO seeks stage props; EU seeks trade protection

The convergence of the NATO Summit in Lithuania, and trade talks with the European Union in Brussels, saw Prime Minister Albanese and Trade Minister Don Farrell head to Europe. The former should not have gone, and the latter should be prepared to walk away without agreement.

May 16, 2023

Thailands new party wins election but has not won power

The progressive Move Forward Party has crushed its pro-military rivals and beaten the party that has won most votes in every other election since 2001. But its anti-establishment policies mean institutional resistance is inevitable as it tries to form a government.

April 29, 2023

$368 billion on submarines: not a chance in hell!

This week the Federal ALP Government announced a significant cutback in the number of tanks to be stationed in the north to repel whatever is expected to land there to take our beautiful country away from us. Why because tanks just wont do the job in future.

April 22, 2023

Grotesque Dutton drums up another pedophilia crisis

Dutton is the right politician for the post-QAnon age: in fact the radical right zeitgeist caught up with him. His decision to drum up (another) pedophilia crisis to stain the referendum on the Voice to parliament is both grotesque and on trend.

April 16, 2023

Super tax concessions dont cost $45 billion a year and wont cost more than the pension

You may haveread this weekthat Australias super tax breaks are excessively generous (well beyond any plausible purpose) and that their costs unsustainable.

September 12, 2022

America the great? How the decline of the US will affect Australian policy

Courtesy of the_Financial Times_early last year, we ran what I regarded asthe graph of the first two decades of this century.

September 2, 2022

Its all political: Julian Assange appeals his extradition

Julian Assanges legal team has taken its next step along their Via Dolorosa, filing an appeal against the decision to extradite their client to the United States to face 18 charges, 17 based on the odious US Espionage Act of 1917.

July 1, 2021

The Chinese Communist Party: does it stay or does it go?

Contemporary China cannot be comprehended without understanding the role of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). With 85 million members it represents a tiny share of the total population (1.4 billion) but is the worlds largest political party. Its organisation, structure and internal discipline ensure it is the spinal cord of governance of the Peoples Republic of China (PRC), moving all the parts. Extraordinarily, it has remained one of the worlds most opaque and enigmatic political organisations in the world. We often know more about the inner workings of mafia families than we do about the CCP.

January 31, 2021

Google leaving Australia serves nobody, but it is not an empty threat

Google is threatening to withdraw its search functions; Facebook is threatening to remove news posts. Not idle threats but with its flawed media legislation, the federal government is using the wrong solution for a problem that requires regulation.

February 20, 2020

CHRIS BONNOR. SMH Schools Summit flies many kites

_If you want a headline or two, put on a big event. That has just worked for the SMH with its current Schools Summit.

September 24, 2024

Public Service Commission is an enemy of the public and the public interest

Irony does not seem to be the strong point of the Public Service Commissioner, Gordon de Brouwer. During the very moments while explaining why Kathryn Campbell had failed her public service ethics examinations, he was committing much the same sort of sin. This was when he was unconvincingly explaining why he could not, should not, disclose the names of all but one of the other dozen or so accused of failing the ethical code.

September 1, 2024

Thank you to the ANU Gaza Solidarity Encampment

After a record 111 days, students at the ANU Gaza Solidarity Encampment finally took down their tents on 17-18 August and began a new phase of activism.

August 5, 2024

Parliamentary prayers: are they legal?

The ritual reading of prayers at the start of every sitting day is offensive to many, and may even be a breach of the Constitution.

August 2, 2024

Under the spell of denial: the Khmer Rouge in New York and Netanyahu in Washington

Few alliance nations would ponder how the cadence of Netanyahu’s speech inside Congress put them under the spell of denial. This is akin to the Khmer Rouge (government in exile) that was invited to hold a seat in the United Nations until 1993.

May 30, 2024

Wealth inequality: it’s about age, but not all about age

The recent report from the ACOSS and UNSW Sydney-led Poverty and Inequality Partnership, Inequality in Australia 2024: Who is affected and how featured analysis of wealth inequality by age.

April 11, 2024

It is time to de-demonise Hamas

Who would not condemn the Hamas attack of 7 October 2023 when hundreds of Israeli civilians, as well as hundreds of military and security personnel were killed? Why then is Hamas so popular amongst Palestinians and in the wider Muslim world?

July 21, 2023

RBA lunacy rolls on

Increasing interest rates hasnt quite done the job; now we are told we need to increase unemployment to curtail inflation! Roll on the lunacy of conventional central banking and treasury inflation policy. Can some lessons never be learned?

June 8, 2023

Israeli Defence Force shoots and kills a 3-year-old

Most people can focus to see if theyre looking at a bird, a car or a person. Throw in a military scope and the sharp eyes of youth and ask yourself if you would spot the difference before you pulled the trigger.

May 26, 2021

Daniel Ellsberg's nuclear disclosures over Taiwan

Working on Canberra’s China desk, some time after the 1958 Taiwan Straits crisis, we knew already from various sources what Pentagon Papers whistleblower Daniel Ellsberg has now formally disclosed - that at the height of the crisis the US was prepared to use nuclear weapons to defend Quemoy, a Taiwan-held island close to Chinas coast and under heavy Chinese attack.

February 4, 2021

Corporate activism: CEO silence on public issues can be deafening

Taking a stand on an issue needs to be thoughtful, meaningful and strategic, not opportunistic. CEO activism is most effective when there is a strong connection between the issue and the brand. Authenticity is critical.

January 9, 2021

Drug policy reform series - a repost

Attached is a collection of articles on drug policy reform, which were published as a series on Pearls and Irritations between 6 and 11 August 2018. This series is designed to draw attention to this important issue, and to the failure of our current policies.

August 18, 2024

Data-driven, theory-averse research is fuelled by the rankings hamster wheel

Big data has contributed to a cultural shift towards evidence-based decision-making in academia, industry, and government, which prioritises empirical evidence over theory-based inquiry. It has also been associated with the boom in the publication of shorter journal articles and the decline in the publication of scholarly books, fuelled by the publish-or-perish academic rankings hamster wheel, writes John Howard.

June 15, 2024

Is it time for Australia to pass a national Human Rights Act?

Parliament has the power to enshrine human rights protections in federal law. Proposals are on the table.

June 7, 2024

Big argument: three key takeaways from latest Taiwan Strait military drills

How should we interpret the significance of the drills? Did China overreact to Lai Ching-te’s inaugural speech?

May 14, 2024

Albo muddies the waters

Labor’s Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has a strange attraction to muddying the political waters in areas that are going well, such as its commitment to reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Serious gains are already occurring in the efficiency of battery storage of electricity from solar, wind and pumped hydro sources. Bigger gains seem likely as breakthroughs in battery components reduce the need to rely on expensive lithium-ion for storage.

April 28, 2024

The age of eco-anxiety

Back in 1947 the W.H. Auden poem, The Age of Anxiety, was published a year after he renounced his British citizenship for US citizenship.

September 24, 2023

On carrots and sticks and the unemployed

Australias main Active Labor Market Program, the Duttonesque sounding Workforce Australia, is the latest iteration of a long line of models for Employment Services inflicted on the unemployed since the demise of the CES 25 years ago. Its yet another Morrison government turd that the Albanese government should have flushed away the minute the ink was dry at Yarralumla.

April 15, 2023

The dangerous one is the U.S.

The implication of AUKUS is that China constitutes a danger to Australian security. It borders on official Australian policy that China is an aggressive power bent on domination. But the history of the Peoples Republic suggests its military is for defence, not aggression and that the cases where it has used external military force are very few. Under Xi Jinping it may be assertive and keen to extend influence, especially economic, but it shows no signs of political/military aggression. On the contrary, it is the U.S. that constantly uses external military force and is bent on maintaining domination at all costs.

May 4, 2022

Monthly digest on housing stress, affordability and homelessness

This is the latest monthly digest of articles, research reports, policy announcements and other material about housing stress/affordability and homelessness.

November 3, 2020

Abetz committee shuts down critics

A top Chinese community leader Dr Tony Pun, who was highly critical of Eric Abetz was silenced by the Senate committee looking into diaspora communities, while a pro-Trump Chinese media outlet was welcomed to make public comment.

Editor’s note: After publication of this article on the APAC.News websiteyesterday, the Senate released a transcript of evidence provided by Dr Pun. Following his testimony on 2 November 2020, the Committee Secretariat indicated evidence was taken in camera and there was no decision as to whether it would be released. Senator Abetz excused himself from the meeting and did not participate in proceedings during that time; he returned to the committee immediately after Dr Puns departure. The transcript can be accessed here.

October 28, 2020

Underlying tension between mission and money in our universities

The corporatisation of the Higher Education System is complete. It is no longer driven by the community of science but by money. Public higher education institutions are run as businesses in a higher education industry where revenues account for approximately 2% of GDP.

May 20, 2023

The Isaac coal mine approval is a betrayal of our future

The decision to approve the Isaac coal mine is a betrayal of Australians and indeed people worldwide and as a medical doctor I am justifiably angry.

Pearls and Irritations

John Menadue's Public Policy Journal