December 8, 2024

Environment: Australia opposes nations’ legal obligations to tackle climate change

International Court of Justice to provide advice on nations’ climate change obligations. SE Australia and WA to experience more heat waves than predicted but NT and FNQ will have fewer. Mixed evidence of countries working together to progress sustainability.

November 29, 2024

Will Joe Biden pardon Julian Assange?

Julian Assange may no longer be behind bars, but his conviction casts a shadow over press freedom and the safety of journalists everywhere—a wrong Assange and his supporters world-wide are determined to set right by overturning his wrongful conviction via a presidential pardon from Joe Biden.

December 16, 2023

Could Pope Francis provide some hope for peace in the Middle East?

I really didnt want to write this article; Id rather be saying something about the theological meaning of Christmas. Much safer.

December 7, 2023

Climate change terror: Dubais COP-out denial conference

The issue, betrayed, is nothing more and nothing less than the future of a multitude of species on Earth, including Homo sapiens.

December 30, 2022

Australia and Asia in 2022: knowing who we are

In the eighties, we took hold of the rudder and set about an essential economic transformation which left us able to hold our own in Asia. The key to our success then rested with ourselves. What was needed was cultural reform, reform of our outlook. Success at home depended on that change. Success in Asia depended on it too. It depended on establishing beyond doubt, that Asia is where our future lies; that we can and must go there; and that this course we are on is irreversible.

December 28, 2022

"I learned that powerful people trample on institutions and conventions" when it suits: Podcast ABC The Eleventh, February/March 2020

After November 11 1975, I came to the conclusion that even a Governor General, some High Court Judges and a powerful media proprietor were not honourable and trustworthy.

October 23, 2022

Schools in crisis; solutions in disarray

The school year looks like ending with observations and commentary that smack of both the disparate and the desperate. In just a few days, we have seen reminders of worsening problems, suggestions that might narrow the focus of schools.

February 15, 2022

Australian Defence policy is a shambles and an election issue

_For nearly a decade Coalition governments have overseen defence policy. Now Defence policy is in need of serious reform.

November 16, 2021

A Sino-US thaw would leave Australia stranded on a rock

As the US talks more about co-operation with China than competition, Australia’s lack of vision on China is on full display.

February 27, 2025

Australia’s hard culture and Great Replacement Theory

Racism has always been at the core of Australia’s hard culture. A hard culture is one which entrenches meanings of exclusiveness (or uniqueness), resistance to change, hostility towards outsiders, and acceptance of the status quo as normal. Any deviance from the status quo is seen as perverse, undermining “respectable” cultural beliefs.

January 11, 2025

Hotel California: Time to check out

The Eagles classic “Hotel California” could be considered an allegory for membership in the imperial system of the United States. At least to this point, that appears to be the mindset prevalent in Australia’s political, defence and security class, regardless of the harm that membership causes. It is time to check out.

November 26, 2024

What ails America – and how to fix it

America is a country of undoubted vast strengths—technological, economic, and cultural—yet its government is profoundly failing its own citizens and the world. Trump’s victory is very easy to understand. It was a vote against the status quo. Whether Trump will fix—or even attempt to fix—what really ails America remains to be seen.

March 27, 2024

Paul Keatings meeting with Foreign Minister Wang Yi and the evolution of bilateral relations with China

Paul Keatings report on his meeting with Chinas Foreign Minister Wang Yi brought back memories of an hour long one on one conversation I had with Jiang Zemin, who in 1987 brought a trade mission to Sydney. He was the Mayor of Shanghai at the time.

March 23, 2024

Environment: Booming oil and gas profits mainly benefit shareholders

The oil market is twice as large as all ten largest metal markets combined. Most oil and gas profits go to shareholders, not reinvestment in the industry. Since 2001 only 5 months have been cooler than the average for 1981-2010. Extinction Rebellion perform at the National Gallery of Victoria.

February 7, 2024

Why Yang Hengjun should be released - he's Walter Mitty not James Bond!

The standard media news bite is that Yang Hengjun is a Chinese born Australian pro-democracy writer who was unlawfully detained and now jailed for life in China. But the full story is murkier than that.

October 18, 2023

Mass media reporters aren't buying Israel's hospital bombing story

A huge blast in Gaza has destroyed the Al-Ahli Arab Hospital, killing hundreds of people. The exact death toll is still unknown.

March 22, 2023

Josh Wilson's welcome concern: AUKUS will cost the earth

Comment by Hon. Melissa Parke on AUKUS 22 March 2023.

I welcome the speech given by Josh Wilson MP, my successor in the federal seat of Fremantle, in the Australian parliament on 20 March in which he raised concerns regarding the AUKUS agreement. I also welcome the contributions from former Prime Minister Paul Keating last week (15/3) and former Foreign Ministers Bob Carr (17/3) and Gareth Evans in the Guardian (21/3). There ought to be a thorough debate in the parliament and in the community over this deal that is set to cost the earth in more ways than one.

February 14, 2023

AUKUS: time to talk about time and submarines

Scheduled for the 2040s, while the AUKUS nuclear-powered submarines might never eventuate, the theatre surrounding the announcement provides a publicly-digestible narrative for the surrender of Northern Australia to the American military in the present day.

January 22, 2023

Australia Day: The contention is inescapable

Contemporary Australia is not the wayward step-child of Britain. It was created in our own country. Is it time to establish an Australia Day freed from the dark shadows cast by the now discredited British Empire?

January 17, 2023

When ambassadorial style overshadows the diplomatic substance

Japans Ambassador to Australia, HE Shingo Yamagami, enjoys his media profile. He appears frequently on Sky News, advises Australia publicly on how it should manage its official relations with China, and describes himself as a former spymaster.

Maybe the Ambassador aspires to be a legend in his own lunchtime.

November 23, 2022

DeSantis ideology is clearer, darker and more coherent than Trumps

DeSantis would likely deliver the next staggering blow to liberal democracy in America. He has made his ideology unambiguously clear, and it is darker and more coherent than Trumps. Americas allies would be well served to monitor closely the political tides as the 2024 presidential election approaches.

November 26, 2021

From our readers: Collaery trial an affront to democracy

In letters to the editor: Australia and East Timor, climate action, and do we really need our own military?

March 31, 2021

Australia must change its mindset, especially on international affairs

Australias mindset remained fundamentally unchanged since the days of British imperialism. Western countries, especially the United States and Britain, are still our people, while Asian states, above all China, are not. The world has changed and so must we.

December 12, 2024

The carving up of Syria

My heart is breaking over Syria, and it was already broken over Gaza. I watch the television reports of the ‘joy’ in Damascus and wonder what alternative planet the mainstream media inhabits.

December 20, 2022

Penny Wongs China visit should become a trip for Australia to find its original aspiration: Global Times editorial

At the invitation of Member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, State Councillor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi, Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong will visit China on Tuesday and Wednesday.

December 9, 2022

America's shiny submarine lure reels in Australia's sovereignty

_This years AUSMIN further advertised how the lure of submarines has facilitated the US military colonisation of Northern Australia. AUSMIN meetings are now performative art. The Australian side acts as though it has agency and the Americans pretend they arent just a resentful fading hegemon. _

March 25, 2022

Weekly roundup Saturday 26 March

Weekly roundup of links to articles, reports, podcasts and other media on current political and economic issues in public policy.

March 2, 2022

Putin has gambled everything on his Snap-Invasion of Ukraine. Now his political survival in Russia is in doubt

_War transforms the political landscape in radical and unexpected ways.

November 25, 2021

China-Australia relations: A way out of the freeze?

Chinas stated wish to join the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement on Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) could, if we are skilful, give us a path to promote the restoration of more normal diplomatic relations.

October 28, 2021

Having lost Afghanistan, America has a new enemy in China. We blindly follow

Reversing the Morrison governments policy on China is a matter of life or death.

October 26, 2021

Australia is undermining the Paris Agreement, no matter what Morrison says

We need new laws to stop Prime Minister Scott Morrison undermining the international treaty central to combating climate change.

October 7, 2021

Political choices will test new, Catholic NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet

The contemporary Liberal Party is full of Catholics, so it’s unsurprising that the church has one of its own as NSW’s new premier. Only time will tell how much Dominic Perrottet’s religion will influence his leadership.

March 22, 2025

Beijing gambles on plan to boost people’s spending – Asian Media Report

In Asian media this week: AI, green appliances to lead shift to consumption economy. Plus: Myanmar resistance rewrites rules of insurgency; Trump closes agencies that cover China, Cambodia abuses; Widowo works on extending his influence; Japanese PM’s popularity plummets; New church for Phnom Penh 50 years after Pol Pot devastation

February 5, 2025

Western commentators still unable to see the advances in China

China today is not the China of the pre-COVID age, but many commentators think it is still an economy based on cheap manufacturing.

December 20, 2023

America: a rogue state in the twilight of imperial age

For most of the post-WW2 period, Washingtons strength rested on its ability to convince other nations that it was in their vital interests to see the United States prevail in its role as the global leader.

December 10, 2023

Beyond good and evil: The mainstream media and stable relations with China

By going beyond the good and evil binary, the Australian media could play a more constructive role in fostering enduring stability between Australia and China, delineating a path that maintains Australia’s safety and integrity.

November 15, 2023

US ranks last on adherence to UN Charter

At the very bottom of a new index ranking 74 countries adhering to the UN Charter is the United States, with Israel being the second from the bottom. Both countries are frequently at odds with the UN multilateral system. The US needs to recognise that the UN system, operating under the UN Charter, is the true rule-based international order.

March 17, 2022

Demonizing Russia risks prolonging the war

_The problem is that the hatreds generated by war gain momentum during the conflict and do not have a reverse emotional gear.

March 26, 2025

There is no way in which China is a threat to Australia or even the US

Pearls and Irritations editor-in-chief John Menadue talks to Pascal Lottez of Neutrality Studies about Western misconceptions of China and the narrative that has led to a very poor understanding of the biggest power in Asia.

March 14, 2025

Any old Chinese port in a storm: Anti-China Media Watch

Reports on the financial distress of Landbridge, the Chinese-owned company with a 99-year lease for the Port of Darwin, lack perspective and analysis. Penny Wong goes soft on China and ASPI goes unchecked.

February 13, 2025

China’s digital sputnik moment

DeepSeek was virtually unknown when the year began. It is now shaking global stock markets and being called a “sputnik moment” for the US. Last month, xiao hong shi (Little Red Book) also emerged from seemingly nowhere, as US TikToc users began migrating en masse to this Chinese social media site in anticipation of TikTok being shut down. These follow a string of announcements by China’s digital tech giants on new developments in high-end semiconductor chips.

October 23, 2024

Free speech, journalism and democracy in a time of genocide

Last month in New York at separate forums, two senior Democrat figures - John Kerry and Hillary Clinton - pointed to what they saw as major problems: the First Amendment was ‘an obstacle to building consensus’, and the ‘narrative’ in the press needs to be (even more) ‘consistent’.

March 12, 2024

What will it really take to become a Renewable Energy Superpower?

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese makes great play of his ambition to establish Australia as a Renewable Energy Superpower, a laudable ambition if it can be pulled off. But if ambition is to become more than platitudes, the Prime Minister needs to fundamentally reset current climate policy. Rather than sticking to the governments inadequate 2022 election promises, rapid bold steps are required now.

February 6, 2024

Hold the outrage

We need to be careful with the outrage over the sentencing of Yang Hengjun in China.

December 14, 2023

The indefinite detention of people seeking asylum in Australia is at an end

In all of the heated, political imbroglio that has surrounded the discussion of the release of some 150 asylum seekers from immigration detention recently, one crucial perspective has passed almost without public discussion. Its really important. Its about the relevant constitutional law.

November 29, 2023

Suffer the little children to come unto me

Well, not so if they are Palestinian children that Israelis keep killing time and time again. It is part of what Israelis calls ‘mowing the grass’.

March 8, 2023

No, its not a joke: China threat theory more alive than ever

The idea that China is lusting after Australian territory is part of the fervid imagination of the worst China hawks. It simply isnt true.

February 6, 2023

Jim Chalmers' manifesto in favour of values-based capitalism

The Treasurer, Jim Chalmers’, recent essay in The Monthly explores the relationship between the state and the private sector, and how that matters for the problems of our time.

January 14, 2023

The new world economy

Belm, Brazil I inaugurate this new series of columns in a New Year and a new beginning for Brazil with the inauguration of President Lula da Silva, His well-wishers poured out across the country in a revival of hope for Brazil after four years of disastrous rule under his right-wing predecessor, Jair Bolsonaro, who had fled Brazil for Florida on the eve of Lulas inauguration. Bolsonaro left behind a mob that rampaged government office buildings before being arrested in large numbers by the police.

Pearls and Irritations

John Menadue's Public Policy Journal