May 23, 2022

Is the Solomon Islands an Australian colony?

By the end of the 19th century, the Western Nations and Japan managed to carve up most of the world into colonies among themselves. While that was no longer possible after World War II, a new strategy for domination, euphemistically called spheres of influence, has replaced colonialism with largely similar but more subtle outcomes.

May 4, 2022

Election absentee: Who dares to mention socialism?

An election campaign in an apparently democratic society is affected by fear to mention the goals and benefits of socialism. Commentators censor themselves. The agenda offered to voters is controlled by a media obsessed with the image of two leaders. In addition, derision by a right wing press, bullying by shock jocks, basic ignorance of socialisms principles makes Labor feel that if they mention the s word, theyll ruin their election chances.

July 1, 2022

Environment: Enormous environmental consequences of the war in Ukraine

The conflict in Ukraine is destroying environments and not only in the war zone. Cartoon characters combat ecofascism and Global South nations outline their expectations of Novembers COP meeting in Egypt.

June 17, 2021

Witness K: was his guilty plea coerced?

After years of suffering oppression, delays and injustice from his employer the Federal Government, Witness K, finally pleaded guilty before a closed court for disclosing classified Commonwealth material to his lawyer about Australias dirty antics against East Timor. Two days of sentencing hearing are set down for Thursday and Friday. But was his guilt plea coerced?

May 20, 2021

Who had Covid first?

The Coronavirus might have been spreading quietly in humans for years, or even decades, without causing a detectable outbreak -Dr Francis Collins, Director, The National Institutes of Health.Governments treat epidemics as acts of a capricious God and have done so every flu season for centuries. ‘Herd immunity’ is the rule, not the exception.

June 26, 2021

The curse of coal and government health malfeasance

Policies which prolong the life of coal shorten the lives of many Australians and must be confronted - they are preventable deaths. It is distressing that ideology and ignorance have come to this.

November 29, 2017

ALLAN PATIENCE. Whose ruled-based international order?

There is much bleating in Australia about the obligation on states to comply with a rules-based international order. The bleating intensifies whenever the Foreign Minister reacts to Chinese territorial claims in the South China Sea or in relation to the Senkaku/Diaoyu Islands dispute between Tokyo and Beijing.

August 6, 2022

The Vatican and the German Synodal way

_The recent (21.7.22) unsigned Statement of the Roman Curia/Apostolic See should send shivers down the spine of those Catholics who are hoping that, under Pope Francis, there would be a more synodal approach to Church governance even among the Vatican bureaucracy.

March 15, 2018

TOYO KEIZAI. The Peace Train Leaves The Station.

Tokyo – In a flurry of developments that left experts stunned, the long-stalled Korean peace train has suddenly left the station. Sitting in the locomotive is the engineer of these events, North Korea’s young leader, Kim Jong Un. The conductor of the peace train, welcoming the passengers aboard, is South Korea’s President Moon Jae In. At the front of the passenger car, we find a jumpy U.S. President Donald J. Trump. A few rows back, wearing a quiet smile, sits Chinese President Xi Jinping. And in the last row of the car, a clearly unhappy Japanese Prime Minister Abe Shinzo tightly clutches the armrest of his seat.

September 23, 2022

The contrast between China and the US as the Covid debacle rolls on

“The U.S. represents 4% of the worlds population, 25% of global covid deaths, 23% of covid cases and 35% of all Monkeypox cases….The U.S. is a public health fiasco.

April 15, 2021

U.S. Foreign Policy Flow Chart

Here’s a handy U.S. foreign policy flow chart.

February 25, 2020

TONY BROE & ELLEN FINLAY. Aboriginal History, Dark Emu, Bruce Pascoe and the Culture Wars

_Bruce Pascoes book Dark Emu (2018) has given a recent jolt to the declining History Wars and has invigorated some conservative commentators and writers to disagree with his conclusions (Marks 2020; Morton 2019).

December 31, 2020

Assessing democratic governments from first principles

Australia regularly gets rated as one of the best performing representative democracies in the world. But anyone who regularly reads the posts by wise and experienced writers on the Pearls and Irritations site must surely wonder how that can be.

July 17, 2022

Thinking outside the age care trap

Too much of our thinking about aged care is based on outmoded assumptions. It is argued that ageing Baby Boomers will cost the economy dearly, when in fact it is the policy taken that has caused a crisis. Change is essential, for todays Millennials, facing a century-long life, will be an even larger aged cohort. There are many variations on the story but at the core is a fundamental problem. We have achieved the remarkable medical feat of prolonging life by two or three decades but have done practically nothing to restructure a 100-year life.

February 12, 2020

HENRY BATEMAN. The time to act is upon us.

To survive the impending climate catastrophe, we must speak to the big end of town in the only language they really understand.

November 4, 2020

Papua New Guineas Marape Government a new approach to foreign investment?

The Marape governments approach to foreign investment and to governance generally marks a significant, and welcome, shift away from the sometimes dubious deal-making that marked his predecessor’s approach.

May 30, 2022

Whistleblowers beware

Individuals who come forward to report unethical and illegal behaviours in their professions and workplaces, face a fateful decision. While books, articles and movies are inspired by courageous truth tellers who do not stay silent, who refuse to turn a blind eye or acquiesce to corrupt forces, the personal and professional costs they will experience stay with them for the rest of their lives.

August 24, 2022

Questioning AUKUS. Opposition is growing

Criticism of AUKUS and serious questions about the wisdom of the agreement are coming from multiple sources. There have been many examples in P&I, some quite strident in their opposition.

April 1, 2020

US-India relations shape Japan's strategic environment (Japan Times 23.3.20)

Japan’s strategic environment is shaped by the intersection of three major geopolitical story lines: the rise of China as a comprehensive national power; the Trump administration’s reset of relations with China into full-spectrum strategic competition; and the expansion, consolidation and deepening of India-U.S. ties.

June 6, 2021

The politics of anti-Asian racism

The celebration of the Asian Heritage Month in May is marred by the fact that Asian communities around the world from theUnited States,Canada,EuropetoAustralia are experiencing a spike in anti-Asian racism and hate crimes. While theslaying of Asian womenin Atlanta in March was the most violent of these crimes, much of the racism directed at Asians takes everyday forms physical violence, overt and covert discrimination in workplaces, racial slurs, spitting andmicro-aggressions.

November 7, 2020

Bidens Most Daunting Adversary (NYBooks Oct 31, 2020)

If Joe Biden wins the presidency, he will be faced with a hundred pressing problems and a thousand things to repair from the Trump years. Nevertheless, he will have little choice but to concentrate on the climate crisis.

April 5, 2021

Deferring democracy: The Iraq War and the future of Australia's war powers. An interview with Judith Betts

Next month marks eighteen years since the US-led offensive descended on the Iraqi capital of Baghdad, with Australias involvement continuing to serve as a reminder of how centralised our war powers are. Then Prime Minister John Howard and a select group of ministers made that fateful decision without a parliamentary vote. The war power as exercised by the prime minister in the National Security Committee of Cabinet imposes no accountability on governments or on individual MPs or Senators.

January 7, 2019

DANIELLE WOOD. The case for an inheritance tax.

We all hope for an overflowing stocking on Christmas morning, but for most people, the biggest gift they will ever receive is an inheritance. Whether a house, a car, or a share portfolio, inheritances can change lives. And as wealth grows and inheritances get larger, these intergenerational transfers will also play more of a role in shaping Australian society.

August 23, 2022

Opaque matters in the Pacific: Fijis maritime essential services centre

With China constantly being accused of insufferable secrecy and a lack of openness about security and defence arrangements among partners in the Pacific, the shoe, when on the other foot, sits just as well. In the case of Australia, it is particularly snug.

November 7, 2020

Japan, Australia, and the Rejigging of Asia-Pacific Alliances

The frame of relationships that exist in East Asia today was set around 70-years ago. It needs review.

September 27, 2022

Britains opium era strategy to deal with China

THE DAOGUANG EMPEROR tasked Commissioner Lin Zexu with suppressing the opium trade bedeviling China in 1839.

Lin initially tried diplomacy.

April 28, 2021

Ramadan in Indonesia

Its Ramadan, the annual fasting month followed strictly, laxly or somewhere in-between by the worlds 1.8 billion Muslims. Living among the famished practising their traditions in Indonesia where 88 per cent of the 273 million citizens say they follow Islam can be physically challenging, intellectually confusing and socially engrossing.

August 8, 2022

Chinas response to Pelosis visit to Taiwan. Western journalists just don't understand

To those who love China, Nancy Pelosi must be the most hated person in their minds now.

May 4, 2022

I grieve for Russia, which is not the same as Putin

Russia got under my skin early.

June 15, 2022

Prince Charles and the battle for the Republic

As a republican, Im not sure whether to rejoice or rage at the latest display of idiocy by the presumptive future King of Australia, Prince Charles. One the one hand (hooray!) he has demonstrated once again his unfitness to succeed Queen Elizabeth, who, understandably, is beginning to show her considerable age and restrict her public engagements. On the other (shame!) the fact that he demonstrates his unfitness on a regular basis has done nothing to increase the prospect of Australia cutting our constitutional links with the British monarchy.

May 2, 2021

Warriors, war and Mike Pezzullo's ANZAC Day message

If Mike Pezzullo, Secretary of Home Affairs, were to move to the top Defence job his views on war become of crucial public interest. The governments reaction to his message to staff on ANZAC Day emphasises this point.

August 14, 2022

Eva Bartlett: The West is silent as Ukraine targets civilians in Donetsk using banned butterfly mines

_The use of PFM-1 explosives against civilians is prohibited by the Geneva Conventionsbut this evidently isnt stopping Ukraine.

February 18, 2018

NICK SEDDON. Democracy in danger. Or, how to get GetUp.

Proposed amendments to the Electoral Act if enacted will profoundly constrain or shut down political advocacy that is the lifeblood of a healthy democracy.

January 28, 2020

RICHARD WHITINGTON AND RICHARD BUTLER. Noam Chomsky's theory of "Manufactured Consent". Where "lies" the media? Part 3 of 4

In this series, Richard Whitington and Richard Butler discuss whats changed since philosopher and psychologist, Noam Chomsky, identified the relationship between business, the military, the intelligence community and the media, in manipulating public opinion.

November 6, 2019

JOHN CARLIN. Aliens Out There

We humans have never been so determined as now to make contact with life somewhere else in the Universe. Most people surveyed support such contact. It may not be such a good idea.

August 26, 2022

Suzanne Davey: General Practice: A bleak future for quality and quantity

As a retired GP, I would like to fully endorse the excellent suggestions of Dr Katrina Watson, expressed in her recent article in Pearls and Irritations, to improve the current parlous state of General Practice in Australia.

September 23, 2022

What drives the Chinese Party of China to success?

Editor’s note: Since its founding more than 100 years ago, the Communist Party of China has led the country in making remarkable achievements at home as well as contributing to global development and peace. Combining political theory and practice to make those remarkable achievements, the CPC has set a great example for the world. Three experts share their views on the CPC’s governance philosophy with China Daily.

June 8, 2021

Letter regarding Afghan staff who have worked for the Australian Government in Afghanistan

Dear Prime Minister and Minister for Immigration,

The undersigned are a group of Australians who have worked in the Indo Pacific in government, business and the media from the sixties until the present day.

September 18, 2021

Sunday environmental round up.

China could close all its coal-fired power stations by 2045. North Atlantic right whales facing climate change threats quicker than humans are moving to protect them. More than 200 environmental activists murdered in 2020.

June 26, 2021

Kishore Mahbubani and George Yeo discuss US-China competition in Asia/Pacific

The most dangerous thing that is happening in the world is a sharp divide in the perceptions of what is really happening in China. The dominant view in the west is that the Chinese people are clearly suffering under the ruthless Communist Party leadership of China.

September 26, 2022

The dangerous civilian-military chasm in America

Several weeks ago, the mainstream media carried a statement from eight former secretaries of defence and five retired four-star generals that stated the obvious: military officers have a duty to support and defend the Constitution. The statement credited the civil-military system with the ability to respond quickly to defend the nation in times of crisis. On January 6, 2021, however, the civil-military system deliberated for hours while a seditious mob attacked the Capitol, the citadel of freedom in the United States. We still do not know who was responsible for this failure to act. Nor do we know who was responsible for deleting messages from the cell phones of high-ranking officials at the Secret Service, the Department of Defence, and the Department of Homeland Security.

June 2, 2022

Opportunity for Albanese intervention to free Julian Assange. Its time.

Across Australia, a hopeful Australian public are praising the Albanese government for showing a sense of justice in permitting the persecuted yet dignified Murugappan family to return to Biloela albeit only on bridging visas. It is rumoured that deliberations are underway to end the mind-boggling prosecution of Bernard Collaery. If thats the case, Prime Minister Albanese could achieve a moral trifecta by asking his British counterpart to cease the incarceration of Julian Assange and allow this worthy, significant Australian citizen to walk free. Its time.

September 21, 2022

Shocked by London, bored by Singapore, expats return to Hong Kong

_This is bad news for all the Hong Kong/China critics.

June 14, 2022

Storms at the Summit of the Americas

June 7 was a bad day forLuis Almagro, secretary-general of the Organisation of American States (OAS). During the ninth Summit of the Americas, a young man declaredto him what he is: an assassin and puppet of the White House, instigator of the coup in Bolivia. He said that Almagro cannot come to give lessons on democracy when his hands are stained with blood. In another room at the summit in Los Angeles, Secretary of State Antony Blinken seemed to be doing no better: several journalists rebuked him for using freedom of the press to provide cover for the murderers of journalists and for sanctioning and excluding certain countries from this meeting. Democracy or hypocrisy? could beheardover the loudspeaker that day.

September 25, 2022

Wests divide and rule culture a great threat to development

The latest 2021/22 Human Development Report was recently released. Titled Uncertain Times, Unsettled Lives: Shaping our Future in a Transforming World, it paints a picture of a global society lurching from crisis to crisis, and which risks heading towards increasing deprivation and injustice. This is a big shock to those of us who aspire for a world of shared prosperity.

February 6, 2020

RICHARD WHITINGTON. Dies, mensis, annus....for the superstitious numerologists.

With Valentines Day, 14 February, not far off, I was starting to think about.then it struck me!

September 22, 2022

Fostering trade beats making war every time

It is over a month since Nancy Pelosis vexing visit to Taipei and Chinas disapproving response, which included large scale air and naval exercises around Taiwan. This ill-omened stopover by the third-ranking person in the US political hierarchy ineptly created, amongst other things, further acute doubt about Washingtons continuing commitment to the one-China principle.

May 3, 2021

The future of Australian coal: an Australia-China relations perspective

Despite rising tension, both Australia and China are having success looking further afield for buyers and sellers of key resources, but their resilience faces some stumbling blocks.

September 20, 2022

UN report on Xinjiang is depressing in more ways than one

May is such a wonderful word in the English language. It can support perhaps the deadliest of accusations but can simply be justified by Hey! I said may, didnt I?

Pearls and Irritations

John Menadue's Public Policy Journal