February 19, 2023

Sunblock for Planet Earth

How best to reduce greenhouse gas emissions: stop burning coal, eat less meat or block out the sun? The first and second look preferable to the third to me.

February 8, 2023

An AUKUS ménage à trois

As the government offers new hints at the ‘optimal path’ for the AUKUS nuclear-powered submarines, the questions about the viability of the project mount. The political pressure to out-muscle the Coalition on ‘national security’, if that’s what is driving the Labor government’s enthusiasm for this impending car-crash, should not be allowed to undermine the national interest.

January 4, 2023

Amidst horror, the screeching metal of turnstiles haunts our conscience [xmas]

We tramped along streets of rubble and twisted girders of metal in Gaza – these had been a home, a school and even a hospital. From one heap of rubble, a sobbing Granny ran up to me – it was winter and bitterly cold. She was camped in a hollow in the bombed out ruin of her family home, where she had been the only survivor from a family of 21 people. She grabbed and hugged me and begged me to tell the world what was happening in Gaza. I made a promise to her that I would.

January 2, 2023

Best of 2022: China has neither the intent nor the capability to attack us

We are being led in our anti-China hysteria by the United States which is not concerned that China will attack us, or even the United States, but is concerned that its world hegemony is being challenged.

February 8, 2022

PM bogged and vulnerable in the face of the enemy’s guns

Scott Morrison’s press club address did the opposite of what he intended, leaving open the question of whether he’s fit to lead Australia..

November 10, 2021

Clown but not out: foreign policy failures won't wing Morrison

Despite his French frolics and Glasgow flameout, this PM will rely on domestic optimism when he chases his second poll win.

February 14, 2025

Australia’s 'suspicious' links to DeepSeek: Anti-China Media Watch

The ABC’s Andrew Greene has found an Australian link to Chinese AI platform DeepSeek, a Chinese national who holds post-graduate degrees from Monash University and the University of Adelaide. No surprise, ASPI is lurking in the background of the sinister allegations against an Australian educated PhD, while that researcher, Dr. Zizheng Pan, is hiding in plain sight.

January 22, 2025

Elitists touched up by one of their own - The Callick case

The Murdoch Press sure knows how to whip up an eye-catching headline – it may be its longest suit. True to form, on 19 January 25 The Weekend Australian ran a corker – “HOW THE AMERICAN HATERS IN OUR MIDST GO EASY ON CHINA.”

January 16, 2025

The fall of Israeli impunity: The world is starting to hold Tel Aviv accountable for the Gaza genocide

A dramatic escape was cited by Israeli media as the reason that Yuval Vagdani, a soldier in the Israeli army, managed to escape justice in Brazil.

October 19, 2024

Israel's "Right to Defend Itself" against the Hezbollah resistance in Lebanon

Readers may recall my recent P&I post, Israel does not have a right to defend itself, as our PM keeps saying_,_ 11 October_._ Since publication I have been questioned by some: does the argument made in respect of Palestinians resisting from the West Bank and Gaza, occupied by Israel, apply as well to resistance in the form of missiles fired at Israel from non-occupied territory, such as Lebanon, from which Hezbollah operates?

January 15, 2024

Fumio Kishida should steer away from getting entangled in AUKUS

Among the superstitious political elites in Japan, recent events like the earthquake, the plane collision at Haneda and the arrest of a lawmaker in a major political slush fund do not bode well for Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, already unpopular. AUKUS can be another nightmare for Fumio Kishida, albeit external in nature.

March 26, 2023

Will Australia always follow the innocent nation into war?

A war in East Asia provoked by American intransigence would be no less disastrous for Australia than one caused by China’s ambitions. While China’s intentions and plans are inaccessible and should generate prudent caution, the well-researched drivers of America’s strategic policy should also produce grave reservations within the Albanese government.

February 3, 2023

RAND: Ukraine procrastination unwise for American imperialism - Biden must negotiate

The unravelling military situation in Ukraine means that Biden’s best option is to negotiate, a new RAND report argues. The sooner the better. There is the awful danger that continued procrastination will propel the hapless Biden administration into precipitating nuclear war.

January 23, 2023

Fear to criticise Israel fosters racism and apartheid

_An extremist Israeli government insists that apartheid policies will be permanent, that the 2022 slaughter of Palestinians will be repeated, that settler stealing and violence will be ignored and international law derided. In these circumstances, surely no Australian citizen, let alone a politician, could justify such policies?

December 1, 2022

Taiwan backs Chiang Kai-shek’s great grandson in push for peace with Beijing

Defeated in 1949 in its civil war against China’s pro-Communist forces, the Nationalist KMT, or Kuo Min-tang, party has had a victory. But it had to wait till last Sunday’s Taiwan mayoral elections, where it won 13 of Taiwan’s 23 district electorates.

November 11, 2022

Taiwan endgames

The term endgame was originally applied to the final stages of a multifaceted matching of minds in the likes of chess or bridge. The term has also been widely used in politics to introduce and debate outcome investigations, as in, the Cold War endgame, the globalisation endgame and the Ukraine War endgame. This article considers the two primary perspectives, that of China and Taiwan, on the basic shape of Taiwan endgame alternatives.

March 29, 2022

Home affairs misleads Senate on Djokovic case

The responses Home Affairs officials recently gave to Senate Estimates on the Department’s handling of the Novak Djokovic case were a mixture of smoke and mirrors overlaid by outright misinformation.

March 5, 2025

The real truth on productivity: The bosses aren’t trying hard enough

At last, some sense on the causes of our poor productivity performance. For ages, we’ve been told it’s the government’s fault — maybe even the voters’ fault — for failing to make economic reforms. But last week the econocrats finally set the record straight: the problem is, our businesses have stopped doing the things that make us more productive.

December 23, 2024

Donald Trump’s return will be a political headache for Japan

After Japan’s ruling party suffered an electoral setback in October, Prime Minister Ishiba Shigeru also has to deal with the return of Donald Trump. Japan’s role as a US client state puts it on the front line of an escalating confrontation with China._

November 11, 2024

The "Rules based International order"- illusion and reality

US and Australian politicians frequently refer to the rules based international order when attacking the actions of “official enemies”. Most Australians think that they are referring to the UN Charter and the basis of international law that it personifies. For those in the know international law also incorporates the binding resolutions of the UN Security Council, decisions of the International Court of Justice as well as Treaties entered into between nation members of the UN._

November 22, 2023

UN Security Council can end Israel-Palestine, Ukraine, Syria, and Sahel wars

All P5 members, and indeed the whole world, suffer adverse consequences from the continuation of these wars. All are paying a price in terms of financial burdens, economic instability, risks of terrorism, and risks of a wider war. For the sake of global peace, let the Council now choose to end these wars.

March 28, 2023

Australia: can we avoid a future that is truly frightening?

The last few months, culminating in the announcement about the AUKUS agreement and the release of the 2023 IPCC Synthesis Report, have probably crystallised for many Australians a realisation that they are headed towards a future that is truly frightening.

March 2, 2023

To fix immigration, dismantle Home Affairs

Soon after the Albanese government was elected, new Home Affairs Minister Clare O’Neil startlingly declared Australia’s migration system was “in a state of disrepair.”

February 7, 2023

American values on show in Jerusalem

Under the shelter of the ‘shared values’ mantra the leaders of America and its vassal states like Australia find justification for militarisation and hegemony. Secretary of State Blinken’s comments in Jerusalem, while sharing a podium with the Israeli Prime Minister, have exposed the utter meaningless and hypocrisy of this formula.

December 14, 2022

Sabre rattling in the US department of attack

With America pivoting from a war on terror to provoking China, why not cut to the chase and change the name of the US Department of Defence to the Department of Attack?

January 21, 2022

Biden's honeymoon is over, and 2022 looks daunting

The US president’s first year has disappointed progressive supporters and generated little in the way of positive developments on the world stage.

January 13, 2022

Save the Kabul Peace House, save the people of Afghanistan

Australia has allocated 3000 places for Afghan refugees. In October, the number of applicants exceeded 100,000. So far no Afghans have been resettled.

January 11, 2022

Co-opted under Covid: health experts set up for blame they may deserve

As the pandemic enters its third year, politicians are demanding their advisers follow theories about the roles of government and the private sector.

January 10, 2022

Morrison government fiddles as the economy stagnates

The government’s economic forecasts are highly questionable and the uncertain budget outlook raises doubts about the future funding of essential services.

March 18, 2025

ANZUS and NATO are kaput and Trump doesn’t care

Anthony Albanese and Peter Dutton have proven too gutless, so far, to speak frankly to Australians about the implications of the imposition of new tariffs by the US, the first of many, to be imposed on Australia. They have expressed some ritual regrets and said it was a poor reward for their sycophantic grovelling over the years. They have not said that the coming election is the perfect time for blunt discussions of what it all means.

January 24, 2025

A five-minute scroll

Joe Biden publicly admits Israel has committed war crimes.Jews Against the Occupation 1948 call for context and balance for acts of racism. In north Gaza tents are being constructed for returning citizens, while scattered clothing found in Jabalia could add to evidence of Israeli actions.

November 1, 2024

Israel shreds the UN as it seeks to ban UNRWA

Israel has knocked yet another nail in the United Nations system.

February 20, 2024

Israel’s Symbolic “Ban” must not distract from atrocity crimes in Gaza: UN expert

Respecting international law and ending the system of apartheid that Israel imposes on the Palestinians is the only way to achieve lasting peace, human security and regional stability—for no one can be safe until everybody is safe.

November 23, 2023

A UN Mandate for the Gaza Strip

Israel’s military campaign to rout the war machine and government authority of Hamas in the Gaza Strip has entered its sixth week. Its steady physical destruction of the terrorist organisation’s military capabilities above and below ground has left a trail of physical ruin and a growing humanitarian tragedy as hundreds of thousands of displaced Palestinian civilians evacuated their homes in the war zone in northern Gaza and fled to tent encampments in the south at the border with Egypt.

October 27, 2023

Acting Prime Minister Marles does not believe Palestinian hospitals should be allowed fuel

The Australian government must withhold all political support from the Israeli government while the killing of Palestinian civilians and destruction of their infrastructure continue. And yet, what hope? On 25 October when acting Prime Minister Richard Marles was asked on radio whether fuel should be allowed into Gaza to allow hospitals to function; he could not bring himself even to utter a simple “yes”.

October 31, 2022

Will we choose war or peace with China?

Surely we know from daily life that a bit of friendly dialogue with prospective “enemies” really can help defuse conflict?

October 23, 2021

From our readers: The moral issue of Palestine 'settlements'

In our letters to the editor this week: NSW Labor’s support for a controversial definition of “anti-Semitism”, Scott Morrison’s sales pitch, negative gearing and action on climate change.

October 5, 2021

Asylum seeker scam continues to drive down migrant workers' rights

After sitting on the August 2021 report on asylum seekers for around a fortnight, Home Affairs Minister Alex Hawke at last allowed the report to be made public at the end of September.

March 15, 2025

Is PM Albanese about to amaze Australia?

Amazing? PM Albanese is the first Australian prime minister since John Curtin to push back publicly on our security against a global leader since John Curtin recognised the danger of an exploitative Britain eight decades ago. Curtin acted. Could it be that Albanese just might act too?

January 21, 2025

Vassal states of the imperial order pay homage to their US master

The spectacle of Foreign Minister Penny Wong and Ambassador Kevin Rudd lining up for their security passes to the inauguration of Donald Trump as the 47th President of the United States is nauseating. It is a grotesque example of hypocrisy and the deviant practices of realpolitik. Both leaders have previously criticised Trump for what he is. Both would argue they are now merely serving Australia’s interests by their ‘honoured’ presence as he takes power again.

December 18, 2024

Israel’s relentless bombing leaves Syria defenceless against military aggression

This is just another example of the exceptionalism that we have come to expect with Israel. That exceptionalism is the Zionist belief that Arab peoples are inferior to themselves — as former Defence Minister Yoav Gallant has described them — “human animals”.

December 3, 2024

Climate policy is on a collision course with physical reality

There is a chasm in outlook between the global climate policy-making elite with their focus on distant goals, market solutions and non-disruptive change, and activists and key researchers who see the world hurtling towards climate breakdown and social collapse.

October 25, 2024

Let’s tax carbon: Why the time is right for a second shot at carbon pricing

Australia now has a government and parliament wanting timely transition to net zero. We have a government and parliament wanting to build Australia as the renewable energy superpower of the zero-carbon world economy. For the time being, we have favourable international settings for using our opportunity.

October 25, 2022

AUKUS is breathing new life into our oldest relationships - Marles

It will come as no surprise to readers of Pearls and Irritations that AUKUS continues to arouse contention while organised public opposition mobilises.

January 6, 2022

The PM, the Premier and the demoralisation of public service

The aborted ‘Gladys for Warringah’ campaign demonstrated the Liberal Party’s contempt for propriety and morality in public life.

November 15, 2021

Housing should be for use value, not exchange value

Housing policies should reflect the sort of society we want to live in, not the quest for wealth accumulation.A home is not a commodity.

December 13, 2024

The fall of Bashar Assad

And my encounters with the Syrian dictator.

October 9, 2024

Equality under the law: the differing treatment of Hezbollah and Israel in Australia

Last week the federal Opposition Leader Peter Dutton was asked by a journalist about the process for making Hezbollah, the Lebanon-based political and militant group, a ‘proscribed terrorist organisation’. As is usually the case for a politician caught out because they don’t know the answer, he became aggressive and sought to belittle the journalist.

March 25, 2024

Why we shouldn’t believe the Institute of Public Affairs

Net permanent and long-term (NP&L-T) movements data published by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) was recently used by the far right Institute of Public Affairs (IPA) in a highly politicised analysis of the January 2024 data on NP&L-T movements. This ‘analysis’ was naturally picked up by the Murdoch press via the Daily Telegraph with very little scrutiny.

Pearls and Irritations

John Menadue's Public Policy Journal