March 21, 2024

“A Crime Without a Name”: what is genocide?

So many people are speaking about genocide at the moment, but so few of them seem to know what the word means. I would like to take a moment to consider where the word comes from, and the nuances of the UN definition.

February 18, 2024

USUKA: The hidden history of AUKUS

The Australian Citizens Party (ACP) have written to the National Anti- Corruption Commission (NACC), asking them to investigate former Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s decision to join private companies who will profit from the massive defence expenditure resulting from Morrison’s decision to establish AUKUS — a decision the ACP characterised as “extraordinary, unilateral and secretive”. Dr John Jiggens details the hidden back story of AUKUS.

January 23, 2024

Public schools – a case for charity

Much has been written about the entrenched disadvantage in public Schools. Successive Governments have failed to provide the very basic resources for these students. Further evidence has revealed a concentration of students with disabilities that require additional support are now located in residualised comprehensive public schools. These impoverished conditions have been easily avoided for families who have the resources to enrol their students in private schools. However, another ‘private’ system has emerged that has moved in to exploit these ‘failing’ schools - charity!

December 16, 2023

Bibi's moral legacy

December 8, 2023

The unflinching cruelty of Henry Kissinger

Henry Kissinger’s death has brought a flow of predictable judgements: ‘He created some evils - 1973 Chile, for example. But overall he helped end the Cold War.’ And as a beneficiary - the 1971 opening to China, for example - Australians should be grateful.

November 10, 2023

In the high court of western public opinion

The Zionist slogan….A land without a people for a people without land…has led to the ethnic cleansing of the Palestine people.

March 1, 2023

The lopsided distributional impacts of Australia’s profit-price inflation

With excess corporate profits accounting for 69% of additional inflation beyond the RBA’s target, current anti-inflation policy blames the victims of inflation, while ignoring its perpetrators.

January 14, 2023

We need urgent action to save our life support systems

We must modify our sluggish democracy to act urgently, transform our economy, and save our life support systems. The alternative is for economic change to be delivered brutally by nature.

January 8, 2023

Reflections on Pope Benedict

Benedict the 16th was not one of my favourite Catholic churchmen. But like his predecessor John Paul II, I always cut them some slack, given their personal encounters with chaos and depravity within their European cultures.

November 21, 2022

From immunity to impunity: the lawsuit against Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman

For a country that has made human rights the glossy cover of its foreign policy rhetoric, this was not a good look. The Biden administration’s decision to grant Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman immunity from a civil lawsuit filed by the fiancé of murdered Saudi journalist and a human rights organisation simply stank.

November 11, 2022

210+ GOP candidates who spread doubt and lies about 2020 election won their races

More than 210 Republicans who cast doubt on President Joe Biden’s 2020 victory won congressional seats and races for governor, secretary of state, and attorney general on Tuesday night, underscoring the extent to which right-wing election denialism has become entrenched in the GOP and threatens to remain a noxious force in U.S. politics for the foreseeable future.

October 4, 2022

How to become a republic: Lessons from the Republic of Ireland

There are likely to be many obstacles on the long road to Australia inevitably becoming a republic but the biggest will be finding agreement on how we choose our new head of state. For the 1999 republic referendum, the then Prime Minister John Howard, an avowed monarchist, was well aware of this obstacle, using it cleverly to divide the supporters of a republic and thereby ensure that the no vote won.

November 19, 2021

Lying in public view: Morrison takes his formula onto the campaign trail

The prime minister has an untruth for every occasion, from climate conferences to radio chats. It is symptomatic of the increasing role of lies in all politics.

October 4, 2021

How the Australian public is short-changed on Israel and Gaza

This book is the story of why many editors and journalists in Australia are in fear of upsetting the pro-Israel lobby and therefore — in my view — self-censoring.

December 30, 2024

Gina Rinehart, Kim Williams and the ABC

The Iron Ore Lady, Gina Rinehart, wants to reduce taxes and government spending to help the less fortunate. As part of her Grand Program, she’d like to get rid of the ABC. No matter it’s the most trusted news source in the country – sacrifices must be made if Gina’s compassion is to be given a fuller voice. And with one swing of her axe on the ABC’s neck, she’d save a billion dollars a year which, as it isn’t hers, she’d palm off to those more in need than she is, apparently.

January 3, 2024

Asia should forge its own way and no longer be subservient to the US and its outriders like Japan

The old adage “Beware of Greeks bearing gifts” is a warning not to take things at face value. If caution is abandoned, the consequences may be dire.

December 3, 2023

Who killed neoliberalism?

Neoliberalist theory and practice went so horribly wrong because governments that put their faith in markets forgot one word – competition.

February 26, 2023

Your atrocity is worse than my atrocity – A reply to Richard Cribb

The ‘your atrocity is worse than my atrocity’ argument at the core of Richard Cribb’s response to Richard Culllen over Japan needs to be handled with care.

February 9, 2023

Belling the cat in NSW private schools

NSW needs a government prepared to bell the cat when it comes to the ongoing provision of public funding to grossly over-resourced private schools. Funds provided on the grounds of assumed entitlement are funds diverted from distribution according to demonstrated need.

November 30, 2022

The right is now lies and bigotry: what next for conservatives?

Those of us who hope for a future for our children cannot vote for the current right, infected by international strains of bigotry and deceptive authoritarianism as it stands. The centre right must evaluate what it has to offer, rather than cowering under the threatening might of its extreme partners.

April 2, 2022

Christopher Sheil: widening fault lines: Covid-19’s effect on wealth inequality

Wickedly, it may seem, over six million people have so far perished from the pandemic, including more than 5000 Australians. Meanwhile, the rich have become much richer.**

March 4, 2025

The public is slow to believe the best of politicians

Peter Dutton deserves a little sympathy as he indignantly denies any conflict of interest or impropriety over his purchases of banking shares and real estate. Many people always believe the worst of politicians, particularly if there is any suggestion of abuse of position, making money on the side, or personal enrichment. Dutton has pointed to his high ethical standards, to the fact that he has always disclosed changes in his holdings, and to the improbability of his having any advance or inside knowledge of the Rudd Government’s plans about guaranteeing banking savings at a time when he was in opposition. For some, but not all of these reasons, I believe him. But he has been such a nasty accuser over the years that I wouldn’t be surprised if some didn’t.

January 24, 2025

How stupid is America’s ruling class?

Yes, there is an American ruling class, and we’ve now got the photos to prove it.

January 8, 2025

Debunking deforestation

Indonesia’s new president, former disgraced general Prabowo Subianto, is making an awkward discovery: gaining respect in the international community as head of a nation of 280 million civilians is not the same as ordering a special squad to intimidate.

March 29, 2024

Dunstan by-election: Voters abandon Labor over stance on Gaza

The Federal government’s reaction to Israel’s conduct of the war in Gaza and treatment of Palestinians in the West Bank and East Jerusalem is a likely reason for the significant increase in the Green’s vote.

March 6, 2024

How did Australia get seduced by AUKUS?

AUKUS. The most disastrous defence-policy mistake in our history: In a class of its own as an exemplar of bureaucratic incompetence.

November 16, 2023

Biden forgets that the C in APEC stands for cooperation

There are 21 countries attending APEC and over 1,200 organisations from within those countries. Only one of the 21 countries, which happens to be the host, has a recent history of promoting de-coupling, or de-risking which is diametrically opposed to what APEC stands for; they seem to forget that the C means cooperation.

October 15, 2023

‘Netanyahu is finished’

The Bibi doctrine—his belief that he could control Hamas—compromised Israeli security and has now begat a bloody war.

March 30, 2023

IPCC: a gamble on earth system failure

The fact that the IPCC incorporates in its core business risks of failure to the Earth system and to human civilisation that we would not accept in our own lives raises fundamental questions about the efficacy of the whole IPCC project. If low risks of failure are taken as a starting point, “net zero 2050” becomes not a soundly based policy aim, but an appalling gamble with existential risk.

March 27, 2023

Why do police high five Neo-Nazis?

On some level it is straightforward for a Neo Nazi protest to be easy for police to handle. As we saw on the streets of Melbourne last weekend, and repeatedly over recent years, a high five for white supremacist protesters is an easy gesture for some police officers.

February 28, 2023

Be alert but not very alarmed as ASIO rediscovers bad, as opposed to friendly, foreign spies

The Director General of the Australian Security and Intelligence Organisation (ASIO), Mike Burgess, is an intelligence professional whose views about threats to national security should be considered carefully, and on their merits.

January 18, 2023

“Inspired by love and anger”: Oil CEO heads UNCOP28

Perceptions aren’t everything but they can be very powerful. On the face of it, the United Arab Emirates’ (UAE) appointment of an oil company chief as the next President for the UNCOP28 is not a good look. That’s putting it mildly! There has, in fact, been much colourful criticism. “This appointment goes beyond putting the fox in charge of the henhouse”, said Teresa Anderson of ActionAid, a climate justice charity.

January 15, 2023

Albo is in denial. He seeks protection and reassurance

Instead of thinking through and independently acting in Australia’s best interests, Prime Minister Albanese has followed in the footsteps of his discredited predecessors and outsourced defence and foreign policy to the US.

March 5, 2022

The Grattan Institute's policy priorities - what do they cost?

The Grattan Institute’s proposed policy priorities deserve wide support. However, how to pay for them is not adequately addressed, and their implementation would require the incoming government to raise additional revenue.

February 27, 2022

Hysteria over China

On the 14 February I had an opinion piece published in the, CPC owned Global Times, which looked at the prospect of an improvement in relations between China and Australia.

January 24, 2022

Double fault: a pandemic of government incompetence

Novak Djokovic may have thought he’d beaten the system when he entered Australia. Instead he shone a light on our government’s lack of accountability.

March 25, 2021

UK conservatives are willing to tax the rich to repair their budget, Morrison will only take from the needy

Conservative politicians in both Australia and the UK profess to believe in small government. However, UK conservatives are prepared to increase tax to fund essential government services while in Australia, our conservatives try to achieve small government by stealth by not properly funding key government responsibilities.

February 13, 2025

Israel and the dark legacy of Sir Mark Sykes

The Arab-Israeli conflict in the Middle East is widely believed to have started in November 1917 when the British Foreign Minister, Lord Balfour, declared support for the Zionist dream of a homeland for the Jews in Palestine. Known as the Balfour Declaration, one would have expected this decision by the British Government to have been the subject of deep consideration, given the geo-political sensitivities involved. However nothing could be further from the truth.

November 23, 2024

Xi warns Trump: Don’t test our red lines – Asian Media Report

In Asian media this week: ‘Seven pillars of wisdom’ on US-China links. Plus: India’s selfishness-is-good ideology; Marles locking in US-Japan defence ties; Non-aligned Indonesia’s balancing act; ‘Tsunami of change’ in Sri Lanka election; Lonely hearts kindle companionship economy.

November 13, 2023

Serious reform now firmly on the agenda

The good news from Katy Gallagher’s second progress report on APS Reform presented at ANU last week is that there will be a second Public Service Act Amendment Bill in the new year containing much more substantive reform than the disappointing Bill before the Parliament at the moment.

October 31, 2023

Objectivity serves the powerful, and silences the oppressed

Australian journalists still cling to ‘objectivity’ as the hallmark of ‘good journalism’. And yet, Palestine has shown us how colonial notions of ‘objectivity’ pave the way for genocide.

March 21, 2023

The International Criminal Court's hypocrisy on Putin

The International Criminal Court’s conduct in the Ukraine-Russia conflict, characterised by unusual alacrity for an international legal institution, is in stark contrast to the feet dragging on alleged war crimes by Israel against the Palestinians in 2014.

February 15, 2023

Minister compromised by donations

I have no sympathy for Michelle Rowland in her persecution over accepting almost $20,000 in donations from betting and gambling behemoth, Sportsbet, before the last election. Sportsbet was then, and is now, a leader in the industry she, as the prospective federal minister, would be responsible for regulating.

February 6, 2023

Blindly following our political masters? Pearls and Irritations can help

Pearls and Irritations provides informed alternative perspectives on policy issues to those provided by the conventional-thinking mainstream media.

January 5, 2023

John Lander: Labor’s Herculean task on China-Australia relations

In an interview, John Lander outlines the “Herculean” task ahead to repair the China-Australia relationship. The odds are heavily stacked against Albanese and Wong, who will need both political courage and diplomatic skill to bring it off. But for Australia’s sake, bring it off they must. Watch it here_._

December 5, 2022

Penny Wong’s 'Whit'-washing of Australia’s history with Timor-Leste is not useful

Penny Wong’s speech at last month’s Whitlam oration demonstrated that while Australia’s relationship with Timor-Leste is swaddled in kind-hearted words, we must not forget that Whitlam gave a nod and a wink to Indonesia’s invasion of 1975. Whitlam’s decision continues to haunt Australia.

October 5, 2022

Nuclear Power: the right’s giant red herring

Politicians of the Right keep suggesting Australia should build nuclear power stations. Why? They are slow to build, very expensive and potentially risky, and we have far better alternatives. Their aim is to divide and to wedge. We should treat it as a giant red herring.

March 31, 2022

Can Australia save America’s democracy?

As long as the right to vote is unequally attainable in the United States, full equality for all Americans under the law will be denied.

December 6, 2021

Covid diagnosis delays intellectually disabled man's execution — again

Diagnosed with COVID-19, a man on death row in Singapore has been given another stay of execution, allowing international outcry to grow louder.

Pearls and Irritations

John Menadue's Public Policy Journal