September 30, 2023

Chinas Military is built for defence, not to threaten others

In the final of this three-part series, I explore why Chinas emphasis on expanding land and naval forces suggests its focus is on defence of its borders and seaborne trade, not offence._

January 12, 2023

George Pells death symbolises the demise of a church out of touch and out of time

Pell was an ideological warrior that resisted the changes of liberal society and its tolerance for diversity and individualism.

December 3, 2022

Environment: COPs over but climate change is like ol man river ,

… he just keeps rolling along, destroying homes, communities, health and farming.

October 27, 2022

National Endowment for Democracy supports US aggression in Taiwan

The National Endowment for Democracy (NED) does not have the democratic rights of the people in the 100 plus countries in which it operates at heart. It is solely interested in the maintenance of US power.

November 15, 2021

The ABC must not let itself be bossed around. End of story

The ABC is not just another government department. A Senate inquiry into its complaints process cannot be allowed to happen.

July 24, 2021

When a picture paints a thousand words that reveal the truth- Minamata.

In the quest for truth and justice, the media holds up a mirror that reveals what is hidden from our eyes but is often done in our name.

February 5, 2025

The widow’s mite: a call to justice, not sacrifice

The early Quakers knew that a deep understanding of the Bible was critical to recognising when they were being fed bullshit cloaked in religious language. By knowing Scripture well, they resisted manipulation and propaganda, ensuring faith remained a force for justice rather than a tool of power.

January 22, 2025

Beware misguided attempts to protest the horrific Israeli genocide

On 6 December last year, a fire was lit in the Adass Israel synagogue in Melbourne. Considerable damage was done and one person was injured. A few days later, on 11 December there was a similar fire at a synagogue in Sydney. Anti-Israel graffiti was sprayed on walls and a car set alight (which the two assailants had apparently stolen for the job). In the absence of anyone claiming responsibility, we can assume that both these incidents of vandalism (sorry, ‘terrorism’) were misguided attempts to protest against the Israeli genocide against Palestine.

December 16, 2024

What the Australian War Memorial should be doing about children

Give me the child for the first seven years and I will give you the man was a Jesuit maxim attributed to Ignatius Loyola. It is probably apocryphal, but it is an approach many have taken over the years to implant ideas in young minds.

January 30, 2024

Israel cannot hide from the International Court of Justice

It is easy to be cynical about the international rule of law. No sooner had the International Court of Justice (ICJ) found that Israel is plausibly committing genocide against the Palestinian people than the U.S. State Department declared, We continue to believe that allegations of genocide are unfounded and note the court did not make a finding about genocide or call for a ceasefire in its ruling Israeli leaders declared the case to be outrageous and antisemitic.. Yet the risks for Israel of the ICJ ruling, and its follow-up in the next year or two, are profound. If Israel spurns the Genocide Convention, it imperils its place within the community of nations.

December 18, 2022

US infrastructure fund no match for Chinas Belt and Road

Is the US led PGII, slated as a rival to Chinas Belt and Road, just a rebranding of an old, failed, initiative?

February 16, 2022

Blinken's visit to the colony

It must be a sure handicap to be saddled with such a name when piloting a large government department, but US Secretary of State Antony Blinken shows no sign of that bothering him. It has, however, become a hallmark of a policy babble that is markedly devoid of foresight and heavily marked by stammering confusion.

January 6, 2022

Last Chance Saloon: best chance to ease East-West tensions cannot be missed

We are at a crunch point now in Russia-US relations. Their high-level talks starting next week will be closely observed by China, Russias de facto strategic ally. The coming days and weeks will determine the shape of world security for decades to come.

June 12, 2021

China: Draconian repression of Muslims in Xinjiang amounts to crimes against humanity

Uyghurs, Kazakhs and other predominantly Muslim ethnic minorities in Chinas Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region face systematic state-organized mass imprisonment, torture and persecution amounting to crimes against humanity, Amnesty International said as it launched a new report and campaign today.

March 23, 2025

Environment: Building nuclear involves killing more people

Building nuclear power plants requires keeping air-polluting coal power going for an extra 25 years and killing 3000-10,000 Australians. Which milk alternatives will reduce your environmental footprint? Australia’s Carbon Credit Units trade for less than a tenth of the social cost of carbon. US Environmental Protection Agency abandons the environment.

December 15, 2024

How Israel lost its soul

If anyone still believed that political Zionism’s objective was anything less than ethnic cleansing The Fall of Israel would surely disabuse them of that delusion.

January 3, 2024

Amid Ukraine war and the Israel-Gaza conflict, China faces strategic opportunities to act as a peace broker and economic leader of the Global South

Beijing has vowed to seize strategic opportunities and further raise its international influence, appeal and power to shape a rapidly changing world by strengthening Communist Party control of foreign affairs and standing firm against bullying and hegemonism from the West.

December 8, 2023

"Marketisation has failed": Rebuilding the Commonwealth Employment Services

When the Howard government privatised Australias Employment Services system it promised more innovative, effective and efficient services. Almost 25 years later, its clear that the giant experiment of full privatisation has failed. And the most vulnerable Australians pay the price.

November 7, 2023

Shame Fraser, shame: The overthrow of Edward Gough Whitlam. Part 1

When offered the position of Governor-General by Prime Minister Whitlam in 1974, Sir John Kerr consulted friends and colleagues as to whether he should accept the appointment. One of them, Justice Robert Hope, queried why he would take such a dead-end job, a hopeless job. Kerrs response was: Oh, no, its a very powerful position. It has much more power than you realise. - Jenny Hocking, Gough Whitlam, Vol. II.

October 5, 2023

Beyond the neocon debacle to peace in Ukraine

We are entering the end stage of the 30-year US neocon debacle in Ukraine. The neocon plan to surround Russia in the Black Sea region by NATO has failed. Decisions now by the US and Russia will matter enormously for peace, security, and wellbeing for the entire world.

December 21, 2022

Nuclear Fusion: Its really about nuclear weapons, not clean energy

The development of Nuclear Fusion is not, as the media claims, about clean energy. Instead, it is driven by the United States’ desire to continue wielding its terrifyingly destructive nuclear weapons arsenal.

December 2, 2022

UNESCO calls on Australia to commit to 1.5C limit to protect the Great Barrier Reef

UNESCO has once again raised the alarm about the state of the World Heritage listed Great Barrier Reef.

October 2, 2022

The Queen is dead, the big questions arent

Will the Queens death prompt meaningful debate about Australias colonial past and its republican future? I fear not. Too often we do the talk much better than the walk.

February 28, 2022

The fight for Ukraine

This war had begun badly for Russia and is likely to end badly.

January 31, 2022

There's still time for talk over Ukraine, but Western minds remain closed

Anti-Russian stereotypes again dominate the discourse. Western information warriors believe they have manouevred Russia into a no-win situation.

January 24, 2022

Is unsure, cautious Albanese wily enough to outwit Morrison?

Voters like the Labor leader, but there are no signs of a passionate embrace. This is the first of two articles. The second will appear tomorrow.

November 28, 2021

Andrew Podger- Public servant Angie McKenzie as FOI act delegate has no right to anonymity from Senator Rex Patrick

Senator Rex Patrick may have gone too far in personalising his criticism of Angie McKenziebut, as the delegate making the decision regarding his request for documents under the FOI Act, she has no right to anonymity.

April 2, 2025

Australians for Humanity pushes for votes against Israeli genocide

Australians for Humanity is a coalition of interested parties seeking to have Australia and Australians respond to the genocidal slaughter of Palestinians and the declared Israeli intent to ethnically cleanse Palestine and proceed to the annexation of Gaza, the West Bank and parts of Lebanon and Syria.

November 24, 2024

Poetry in times of despair

In a search for light in the tunnels of previous dark times, poets responded with lines depicting cruelties yet leavened with resilience and hope. The English romantic Percy Bysshe Shelley and the Russian resistance poet Osip Mandelstam cherished what they judged to be a panacea like quality in poetry. Shelley forecast that by crafting images of humanity, poets could become the unacknowledged legislators of the world._

December 26, 2023

The prosecution of David McBride and the Australian Constitution

In the wake of the prosecution of David McBride something has emerged about our Constitution that should give every Australian cause for serious concern, this being that the oath taken by both our armed forces and our parliamentarians is one which obliges them solely to be loyal to a foreign monarch, not to the Australian people.

March 31, 2023

AUKUS exists to manage the risks created by its existence

“NATO exists to manage the risks created by its existence, Professor Richard Sakwa once wrote in an attempt to articulate the absurdity of the military alliance’s provocative nature on the world stage. At some point Australians must wake up to the fact that this is equally true of AUKUS: we’re told the military alliance exists for our protection, but its very existence makes us less safe.

March 5, 2023

The greatest propaganda campaign in human history

China is the victim of the largest and greatest propaganda campaign in human history. Whether this is a sign of things to come or an aberration based around a particular point in time remains to be seen but propaganda it is.

February 21, 2023

The Wests grand Illusions in Ukraine

The Grand Illusions of the leaders of Western Democracies are crashing to defeat in Ukraine.

October 15, 2022

Independent Schools: Aspiration for the few, desperation for the many

Local councils should have no role in setting enrolment caps which force private schools to turn away prospective students (and the fees they bring in). This was the claim put forward recently to the Sydney Morning Herald (SMH) by a group of five principals of high-fee Anglican schools in Sydney, backed by the Association of Independent Schools of NSW (AISNSW).

February 10, 2022

When did neglecting our elderly become the Australian way?

The nation is paying the price for Scott Morrisons decision to offer illusory freedoms over proper management of the Covid crisis.

January 29, 2022

Cavan Hogue: Ukraine is not just about goodies and baddies

Russians believe they were promised that NATO would not move east as a quid pro quo for accepting German unification.

March 1, 2025

Daniel Levy: We are all people, we are all born equal

Daniel Levy, president of the US/Middle East Project, addressed the UN Security Council on the situation in the Middle East, including the Palestinian question.

December 3, 2024

AUKUS harming Chinese and Muslim Australians

In electorates with high numbers of Chinese and Muslim voters, it is time for a reckoning with Labor’s AUKUS policy.

November 21, 2024

Gaza rots the soul

Gaza - what can we do about Australia’s complicity in this abhorrence? It is a question that rots the soul…

October 30, 2024

A dangerous move toward a modern-day Stolen Generation

By focusing on punitive programs instead of community-driven support over a ‘youth crime crisis’ that did not exist, the incoming Queensland LNP government appears to be blind to the systemic issues that drive children toward vulnerability. Their policies will reinforce a cycle of criminalisation that will haunt our communities for generations.

October 22, 2024

Israel: rogue state or righteous ally?

As Israel risks yet further charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity in its siege of northern Gaza, its defence of the indefensible is built on a preposterous inversion of morality. That is, the portrayal of Israel as the West’s protector of its very civilisation in a sea of evil and a bastion of democracy.

January 5, 2024

No Israeli soldiers have stood up and refused to participate in this evil war

It points to automatic obedience rather than to good citizenship. The army is trashing an entire region along with its residents, and that doesn’t bother our forces’ consciences.

December 31, 2023

How to stop a Gaza apocalypse

Why Gaza urgently needs a plan B. (A repost from December 2023).

December 9, 2023

What does climate denialist Abbott think of the monarchy now?

Now what on earth will those staunch monarchists and climate denialists John Howard and Tony Abbott - say about their new king, Charles III, and his very strongly held environmental views?

October 15, 2023

Australia and the US: Breaking up is hard to do

I dont think its too controversial or anti-American to suggest that our long-term strategic partner has been having a few issues lately. We may have grown used to people in the US shooting each other in large numbers, taking too many drugs, and generally over-indulging in self-destructive and planet destroying ways, but we still expected them to be democratic.

March 14, 2023

The Australian media cries wolf

The major Australian media, SMH and The Age, are crying wolf again. Whether they will lose their credibility depends on whether Australians rationale prevails over their prejudices.

January 29, 2023

Can a heavily militarised Australia learn from Costa Rica?

A break away from Australia can do much to restore ones hope that growing militarism and the militarisation of society does not have to be the way of things.

February 4, 2022

Jobs and decarbonisation: how Australia should manage the transition

The move away from fossil fuels will be felt unevenly across Australia: the communities most exposed to these changes must lead our response.

February 1, 2022

Out of touch, and out of time? Another 2019 looks impossible for Morrison

No matter how he has tried to escape responsibility, including blaming the states, the public has seen through his bluster.

Pearls and Irritations

John Menadue's Public Policy Journal