April 14, 2024

UK media shouldn't be ‘impartial’ – but fearless and truthful

We need journalism that is committed to accurate and uncompromising investigation and not a spurious “impartiality” that hides brutal facts of occupation and genocide.

April 4, 2021

Sunday environmental round up, 4 April 2021

Colonialism and racism’s longstanding and ongoing links to climate change. Six principles for decarbonising industry, VW on Tesla’s tail, and a new, free, online course on climate change.

January 8, 2018

BRUCE LINDSAY. "Anti-corruption", water and the Basin plan. A repost from October 8, 2017

Water management and decision-making is vulnerable to lobbying by powerful commercial interests, as was illustrated recently by the ABC Four Corners investigation into NSW water management. Even where such conduct cannot be categorised as corrupt in the criminal sense, it can compromise the integrity of public governance of natural resources. Excessive private interest in the exercise of public power needs to be resisted, and may be overcome by reform that ensures stricter standards, accountability and public participation. In water governance, reform based on ‘anti-corruption’ principles, could include increased legal and policy mechanisms such as third party participation rights, administrative hearings and a more prominent role for the public trust doctrine.

September 23, 2024

Rebuilding public service from politicisation and externalisation

Restoring trust and integrity in the Australian Public Service requires tackling the corrosive effects of past politicisation (secretary contracts) and externalisation (professional consultants) that have undermined capacity and independence, as highlighted by the Royal Commission on Robodebt fiasco, and parliamentary committee revelations around the extensive engagement of major consulting firms.

July 31, 2024

US presidential races hide the criminality of the US empire

The thing I hate about western electoral politics in general and US presidential races in particular is that they take the focus off the depravity of the US-centralised empire itself, and run cover for its criminality.

July 16, 2024

The moral and strategic bankruptcy of US policy in Gaza and Ukraine

John Mearsheimer discusses Ukraine’s dire situation on the battlefield and its bleak political future; and Israel’s use of the “Hannibal Doctrine” on October 7.

July 15, 2024

Vassalise allies, destabilise the rest is now US strategy in Indo-Pacific

Divide and conquer, well-honed in Middle East and Latin America over decades, is being applied to only real growth engine of world economy.

May 30, 2024

US endgame in Ukraine - war without end

What happens when a powerful nation cannot afford to lose a war it has already lost?

May 23, 2024

The pattern of Bibi's desperate proposals

What a twenty-five-year-old memo by Daniel Ellsberg says about the past failures of Lyndon Johnson and the current horrors of Benjamin Netanyahu.

August 26, 2023

Evil, scary China refuses to passively let us encircle it: Notes From The Edge Of The Narrative Matrix

It’s not the big, glaring, obvious lies that get you. The New York Times is the world’s most destructive propaganda outlet not because it publishes giant ham-fisted whoppers, but because it appears trustworthy. Its reporting looks authoritative. Children are taught in school that it’s what credible news media looks like. This lets the well-crafted propaganda slide into people’s minds, undetected and without resistance.

August 7, 2023

If everybody’s going to join NATO, then why have the United Nations?

The North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) held its annual summit on 11–12 July in Vilnius, Lithuania. The communiqué released after the first day’s proceedings claimed that ‘NATO is a defensive alliance’, a statement that encapsulates why many struggle to grasp its true essence.

June 23, 2023

US strategists plan to destroy Taiwan’s largest chip manufacturer

Should the US go to war with China, Taiwan’s largest chip maker, TSMC will be the first target to be blown up, according to a strategist at the US Air Force’s Air War College. Not by China, but by the US military.

June 2, 2023

US, Australian military staff tour China’s Beijing garrison despite freeze on top brass talks

Military attaches from the United States and Australia were among the dozens invited to tour the People’s Liberation Army’s garrison in Beijing last week, the first event of its kind since the pandemic. The event signals willingness in China for exchanges with Western forces, observers say.

October 3, 2024

Is this how western media would report Netanyahu's killing by Hezbollah?

Western journalists claim to report the news objectively and fairly. If they really did, this is what coverage of Netanyahu’s assassination might look like…

October 2, 2024

Nasrallah is dead but Bibi hasn’t won

Many people now mourn Nasrallah’s death, in Lebanon and elsewhere, but Hezbollah’s existence is nowhere near in question.

June 15, 2024

The afterlives of lies

The hoax of “weaponised rape” in Gaza takes what seems a fatal hit.

July 8, 2023

US partly to blame for Taiwan Strait incident

A major purpose of US Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s visit to China was, in his words, to reestablish communications to reduce “ misunderstandings and miscommunications” to prevent or manage incidents between the two militaries. The 3 June near collision of China and US warships in the Taiwan Strait is a prime example.

June 9, 2023

Aukus leaders prefer posturing and provocation over dialogue

Shangri-La Dialogue was a missed opportunity for talks as defence chiefs Austin and Marles insisted on belligerence and doublespeak.

June 4, 2024

Shaping the policy debate: how does the British media present China?

The almost total lack of any positive coverage of China in the British media further closes off the scope even for making arguments that policy should reflect opportunities from dealing with China.

June 18, 2023

Coexistence: The only realist path to peace

The United States and its Asian partners want to maintain a balance of power in the Indo-Pacific, ostensibly to prevent China from becoming a “regional hegemon” there. They worry that Beijing will gradually persuade its neighbours to distance themselves from the United States, accept Chinese primacy, and defer to Beijing’s wishes on key foreign policy issues.

October 22, 2020

Forgotten East Timor: Island, principles, people

Did Gough Whitlam greenlight Indonesia’s violent seizure of East Timor in 1975? The invasion and 24-year occupation took the lives of up to 300,000 people in a population of 650,000 living on a wretchedly poor leftover from European colonisation.

August 12, 2022

A “whole of process” approach could reduce Aboriginal incarceration

There are many points of entry into incarceration at which a decision NOT to detain can be made, from the first encounter with police through to sentence and even after sentence.

April 14, 2021

Is Ben Roberts-Smith the Biggest Anzac Story since Gallipoli?

When Brendan (“Biggles”) Nelson, AWM Director at the time, heard about the early allegations againt Robert-Smith and other soldiers, he fumed: “Where is the national interest in tearing down our heroes?” It’s my very strong view that the alleged controversies involving special forces, unless involving the most egregious breaches of the laws of armed combat, should be left alone. What these young, highly skilled and trained men have done repeatedly over the past 15 years in intense combat is something that is rightly the pride of our nation."

June 2, 2021

Wind and solar help Australia slash emissions, but no credit to Coalition

Strong investment in new wind and solar projects, the effects of Covid-19 and the ongoing decline of the coal sector helped to drive Australia’s greenhouse gas emissions lower in 2020 – but the early signs of a Covid-19 recovery bounce-back are already starting to show.

March 19, 2020

NOEL TURNBULL. Compulsive leadership posturing

_The PM seems not to understand, leaders don’t have to demonstrate they are leaders – they just are. True leadership doesn’t have a particular style or descriptor. It just is.

October 7, 2020

The numbers game: how Morrison is playing journalism off a break (Crikey Oct 5, 2020)

All politicians know that numbers create news. It’s simple maths: the bigger the number, the greater the news. And Scott Morrison knows this better than most. He knows how to use numbers as signs of action for the media — and he knows journalists can’t resist them. Just look back over the past week…

August 6, 2021

It's still three years away, but the candidates are already lining up to be the next President of Indonesia

The epicentre of the pandemic is now next door. When – and if – Covid is crushed or controlled, Indonesia will need a president with prodigious leadership qualities and technical smarts to restore hope and get the economy out of ICU. Vainglorious candidates will fail the tasks – but may still win the job.

July 22, 2021

Militarism or a civil revival: which will we choose?

In June 2021, John Menadue spoke for many concerned Australians in his Pearls and Irritations Public Policy Journal by saying “ we need a civil revival”.

July 19, 2020

The Rationale for the 2020 Force Structure Plan: A 2040 War with China?

There is a mismatch between the urgent need to respond to the supposed recent deterioration in Australia’s strategic circumstances and the 2020 Force Structure Plan (FSP).

May 18, 2021

Prosthesis pricing is a dead parrot

Hidden in the 2021-22 Budget papers was an announcement that the government had squibbed an opportunity to reduce private health insurance premiums by ending a protection racket involving private device manufacturers and importers, and private hospitals.

April 2, 2020

Monthly digest on housing affordability and homelessness – Feb/Mar 2020

The following is the latest instalment of a monthly digest of interesting articles, research reports, policy announcements and other material relevant to housing stress/affordability and homelessness – with hypertext links to the relevant source. Although housing affordability and homelessness have featured less in the news over the past month, due to our almost exclusive (and understandable) focus on the COVID-19 pandemic, there is little doubt that the already difficult plight of those suffering housing stress or homelessness has been made substantially worse by the virus and the public health and economic havoc it has caused.

June 16, 2021

Tiananmen Square “Massacre” is a difficult story to handle

The event, when it occurred on 4 June,1989, aroused deep emotions in Hong Kong. It led to a mass street demonstration in which tens of thousands participated; many office workers left their desks to join in the march from Central to Victoria Park. It was entirely spontaneous and peaceful. Since then it has been “commemorated” by a candle-lit vigil in Victoria Park each year, until last year when it was banned.

April 1, 2020

DUNCAN GRAHAM For sale: Bat viruses in Indonesia

Indonesia’s 8.9 per cent death rate for COVID-19 infections is the second highest in the world, just behind Italy nudging ten per cent. The apparent inaction of the Government is particularly concerning with Indonesian meat market practices being quite similar to in Wuhan where it all started.

March 27, 2020

DAVID SOLOMON. The Government could do better

There’s a simple way for Prime Minister Scott Morrison to assert some real leadership and focus the attention of the nation on how the corona virus pandemic should be confronted: he should sack the two Ministers who have demonstrated most publicly their incompetence in dealing with it.

July 21, 2022

The propaganda war in Ukraine

_Freedom of press critics have complained how the Russian government news program, RT, has been blocked by many Western outlets during the Ukrainian fighting.

August 29, 2024

Advocates for nuclear power should heed the lessons from Kursk

On 22 August, Rafael Grossi, director-general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, warned of the deadly effect a military attack on Russia’s nuclear power complex at Kursk would have on civilian communities in Russia, Ukraine and potentially across Europe. He had previously warned of the consequences of such attacks on Ukraine’s nuclear reactors at Zaporizhzhia.

July 7, 2024

Pro-Gaza candidates in UK squeeze Labour vote in some constituencies

Overall it was a spectacular night for Labour, with the party winning a landslide victory.However, in areas with a high proportion of Muslim voters the party performed badly.

April 12, 2023

Macron urges Europe to reduce dependence on US

French President Emmanuel Macron has urged Europe to reduce its dependence on the United States and avoid getting caught up in confrontation between the US and China.

December 13, 2020

Australia needs a national approach to combat the health effects of climate change (The Conversation Dec 6, 2020)

Australia has just recorded its hottest November on record, only months after the devastating bushfires of last summer that ruined the lives and livelihoods of thousands.

December 22, 2018

JOHN MENADUE. The Best of 2018: Scott Morrison did not stop the boats.

With the appointment of Scott Morrison as Prime Minister we will witness again the repetition of the myth that the Coalition and Operation Sovereign Borders stopped the boats. They did not.

I expect that many in the media will also climb aboard again to continue the myth about the stopping of the boats. Perhaps being careless in the first place the media finds it embarrassing to admit error.

March 4, 2020

DUNCAN GRAHAM The Washington watcher on UWA’s cast-iron balcony

Why is the Perth-based USAsia Centre backed by Australian taxpayers? If this foreign influencer was run by the Chinese or Russians it would be forensically examined. As a US show it slips past scrutineers.

February 3, 2020

TOM GREENWELL. Less choice, less affordability: the private school subsidy paradox

It’s become an annual ritual: the media reports on private school fee rises, then the various school spokespeople dig out last year’s talking points and it’s on again…until next year. But there is more – and it goes back a long way. The biggest news of all is that the decades-long expansion of public funding to private schools has done the opposite of what its proponents claim.

May 21, 2021

AGL needs to quit coal for Australia to get to net-zero

This week conservative energy body, the International Energy Agency (IEA) outlined a global pathway towards net-zero by 2050. A growing number of businesses are joining every Australian state and territory in committing to net-zero emissions. In the face of this seismic shift, even certified coal-carrier Scott Morrison’s resistance is starting to waver.

December 11, 2020

The great Mungo MacCallum is gone, and half a century goes with him

Crikey pays tribute to the veteran political commentator, wit and brilliant writer.

April 3, 2020

DUNCAN GRAHAM It’s looking real bad next door

Doomsayers are society’s detestables yet needed as truth-tellers. So here goes: The omens are awful. Thousands of Indonesians are threatened by the Covid-19 pandemic through denial and indecision. Responses have been too few, too late and too uncoordinated.

July 4, 2024

As Assange walks free, multifaceted threats to journalism and the truth are bigger than ever

Julian Assange’s case shows the danger of journalists being ensnared in legal entanglements when they do not play the power game.

August 20, 2022

The Ukraine war prequel

Americans will not support those who seek independence in order to replace a far-off tyranny with a local despotism. They will not aid those who promote a suicidal nationalism based upon ethnic hatred.

President George H W Bush to the Ukraine parliament, August 1991. Quoted in Lawrence Freedman, Ukraine and the Art of Strategy, Oxford 2019, p53

August 10, 2022

Uluru Statement and Makaratta message redefine sovereignty

There is a huge contrast between the notion sovereignty depicted in the Uluru Statement from the Heart and political leaders’ perception of this concept as a weapon. Uluru’s message forecasts hope through reciprocity and healing.

March 12, 2020

JOHN DWYER. Understanding the public health imperatives required to minimise infection with the Corona virus. (Part Two).

Providing communities with accurate, timely and logical information about the control measures required to minimise harms associated with infectious diseases is essential to avoid both complacency and panic.

Pearls and Irritations

John Menadue's Public Policy Journal