January 14, 2025

The cost of apathy

“Apathy isn’t just a lack of care – it’s a failure of connection. It happens when people stop believing their voices matter, their efforts count, or that change is possible. Apathy is the silent enemy, replacing passion and engagement with indifference.” – Manu Sharma, The Silent Enemy

October 16, 2024

Singing from the same hymn sheet – solutions for mental health care in Australia

At a time when there is a surge in mental health disorders in young Australians of 47 per cent over 15 years and the health system is struggling to cope with the growing complexity and demand, multidisciplinary solutions are being proposed between the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists, the Australian College of Mental Health Nurses and other consumer and health professional groups.

March 4, 2024

ASIO needs a boss who can stand above the tumult

At the height of the argument about western conviction that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction in 2002, Tony Blairs minder, Alastair Campbell was accused of asking intelligence agencies to sex up what passed for evidence. The satirical magazine Private Eye published a cover with Alastair Campbells child asking, What did you do in the war, Daddy? Campbell replies, I started it.

February 19, 2023

Murdoch media problems

The good news for the Murdoch media is that its not the most distrusted brand in Australia despite the efforts of its journalists.

October 5, 2022

Xi Jinping and the Chinese Communist Party

Neither Xi Jinping nor the Chinese Communist Party are as all-powerful and domineering as they might seem.

March 1, 2022

Even in a time of huge budget deficits, government must pursue policy reform

Elections are times for political parties to articulate their policy vision. And for the 2022 federal election, held in the third year of a global pandemic, a program of bold and well-designed policies is more important than ever.

March 30, 2021

Protests or riots? First-hand retelling of Hong Kong's 'democracy' struggle

Western media’s perception of the 2019-20 Hong Kong democracy protests, to some the riots, is a carefully cultivated and curated version of events. Testimony of those who witnessed them first hand should not be pushed aside to give space to the dominant narrative of the media.

March 6, 2025

WEU redux?

NATO was, in part, established to prevent moves by France and Germany towards independent European defence and foreign policies, such as the West European Union. This has been a geo-political priority for Washington since the end of World War II.

December 12, 2024

We’ve entered the era of gutless government

Sorry to tell you that I’m finishing this year most unimpressed by Anthony Albanese and his government. I’m still reeling from his last two weeks of parliament, pushing through 45 bills just to show how much he’d achieved and give himself the option of calling an election early next year should he see a break in the clouds.

January 3, 2024

China and Australia once were allies

With QUAD and maybe JAUKUS, Japan is anxious to recruit us and others as spear carriers against China. The anti-China cause is long standing in Japan.

December 31, 2023

South Africa initiates case against Israel at International Court of Justice

The African country, one journalist noted, “fought for its own liberation against an apartheid regime supported for decades by the U.S.”

October 13, 2022

Public Education a test for the ALP

The ALP has to attend to the shameful state of public education. Attempts to shift the responsibility on to the Coalition may be appealing but the geneses of these conditions lies at the feet of Julia Gillard. There is no doubt Gillard cared about education; you could not doubt her commitment to improving the learning outcomes for all Australian students. However, her reforms have resulted in public schools being reduced to third-world conditions.

March 26, 2022

Keith Mitchelson - Oligarchs in Australia

The world is awash with Russian oligarchs these days. Some have even washed up in Australias gas-and mining-fields. But one wonders, are there other oligarchs floating around under the radar?

March 7, 2022

Defeat of Ukraine may leave Australia like a shag on a rock

If Japan attacked, the grandees agreed, the best policy would involve an initial primary focus on the defeat of Germany.

November 22, 2021

Culture war over religious freedom normalises fascist politics

Australian conservatives’ obsession with religious freedom is just another US import, and part of a worldwide surge in fascist identity politics.

October 21, 2021

Indonesia trade pitch plays down the perils awaiting outside investors

Chief among the many pitfalls of engaging with Australia’s giant neighbour is Indonesias legal system, which is rife with corruption and rigged against foreigners.

November 16, 2024

Foolish anxiety in the global west

Around 18 months ago, The Economist applied uncommon energy to advance the narrative that the US economy was in outstandingly good shape. Very recently, we have been instructed by the same influential British weekly that, “ America’s economy is bigger and better than ever” [paywall]: Which makes one wonder, what primary anxieties are prompting these distinctive, recurrent expressions of avid admiration?

March 25, 2024

Australia's AUKUS tributes

Of course, at this time of rising living costs, economic uncertainty, and impending climate disaster, subsidising the British and American submarine construction industrial bases is the obvious priority. At least it seems that way to the Albanese government.

February 16, 2024

Hand of God makes votes disappear Asian Media Report

In Asian media this week: Imran Khan the winner in Pakistan elections. Plus: Prabowo to adopt Indonesia First foreign policy; Chinas BYD overtaking Tesla; West really thinks its a jungle out there; Thai activists arrested for disrupting royal convoy; PLA not able to invade Taiwan; the land where pet strollers outnumber baby buggies.

February 3, 2024

Stormont restored Sinn Fin to appoint Northern Irelands first minister

Waiting for the restoration of devolved government in Northern Ireland (NI) has been like watching the grass grow as the paint dries on a slow boat to China. But I am pleased to report that the wait is now over, though my backyard resembles a jungle and the paint on the boat is cracking again.

January 19, 2024

'Impartiality the biggest joke in journalism': News staff rebel over Gaza

The contested concept of ‘impartiality’ lies at the heart of running battles between unionised staff and news organisations in Australia over coverage of Israel’s genocidal onslaught.

December 22, 2022

2022-23 Christmas - New Year Message

Last year I wrote about my growing concerns about the democratic crisis which seemed to threaten liberal democracy and Enlightenment values, admittedly a Western construct. In 2022 the situation has improved remarkably in some areas. Boris Johnson and Scott Morrison have gone, Lula defeated Bolsonaro in Brazil, Macron was re-elected in France.

March 8, 2022

Oligarchs in Russia and elsewhere. Rule by the powerful and the wealthy few

Australia has its own oligarchs in mining, property, finance, gambling and of course in the media.

January 14, 2022

From our readers: Gearing up for a climate change election

In letters to the editor: making climate change an election issue, government secrecy and protecting our children’s future.

November 23, 2021

Accusations of anti-Semitism should not shield Israel from criticism

In his adjournment speech, NSW Upper House Labor MP Shaoquett Moselmane explains why an anti-Palestinianism statement is needed.

November 7, 2021

Unprecedented land price increase provokes division across society.

As our federal politicians look the other way whilst housing prices continue to escalate, a national record reminds why this issue wont go away.

February 14, 2025

The need for Australia to act independently and be freed of the US alliance has never been greater

Never has there been a greater need for Australia to turn away from its military alliance with the United States and forge an independent and peaceful foreign policy.

February 3, 2025

“Game of narrative”: Prof Sachs on dictatorship vs democracy and phoney wars

Cambridge Union

I don’t believe the US has any right or any ability to put in place a democracy in any other country. Nor do I believe, by the way, that American democracy functions as a real democracy anymore on the life and death issues… This is not democracy. This is a game. And it’s a game of narrative, writes Professor Jeffrey Sachs.

November 15, 2024

Ken Henry: Is Australia an extractive or a productive economy?

Is our dependence on mining a sign of economic weakness? Is Australia suffering from the “resource curse”? This idea is a strong theme in Ken Henry’s address to the Royal Society of New South Wales: Inequality in Australia.

February 12, 2024

Podcast: Time for radical tax reform on climate change, housing affordability

In the first of Pearls and Irritations new podcast series, Peter Martin interviews Ross Gittins on 50 years at the Sydney Morning Herald and the radical tax reform necessary to address climate change and Australias housing affordability crisis.

February 8, 2024

Chinas worrying economic policy drift

The Rhodium Group, an independent research organisation with a focus on China, says the nations economic policymaking process has stalled with it refusing to announce meaningful actions to overcome its pressing property and share market crashes let alone forge a clear path for the future. The full paper can be accessed here.

March 2, 2023

China threat: Australia kowtows to US masters over pilot's degrading treatment

The treatment of former US marine Daniel Edmund Duggan by Australian authorities in the service of their US masters has again shown that the Australian passport is not quite worth the material its printed on.

January 12, 2023

Blaming Morrison for Liberals disastrous collapse is a facile critique

We see a tendency to blame individuals for the crisis in our politics across the AUKUS nations. This is facile. Donald Trump did not create the farce of a Republican party seen in the vote for the Speaker in early January. Boris Johnson did not create the catastrophe that is the British Conservative party displayed over the Liz Truss moment. Blaming Scott Morrison for the Liberal Partys disastrous collapse is another shallow critique.

January 11, 2023

Global political trends in 2022: a 'progressive wave'?

Recent commentary has suggested politics in 2022 witnessed a progressive wave - a global trend towards parties of the Left. While this is legitimate if you are content to look at just the UK and USA, the global picture is much more complex.

October 15, 2022

Environment: A bleak, hot future for Australia

New data confirms Australias vulnerability to climate change. Nitrous oxide emissions set to become a climate battleground. Answers to where Ive been for the last month.

February 24, 2025

The MAGA challenge to Australia’s self-respect

The Trump ascendancy has, and not for the first time, posed a simple question to Australian foreign and defence policy makers: what limits are to be put on the national tolerance of egregious behaviour by the United States? What is apparent now (even if many ignored it before) is the accelerating transformation of this country’s closest, and dominant ally into an oligarchal Christian fascist state. It is a change which cannot be ignored; moreover, it is one that should give pause to all joint ventures.

December 24, 2024

At Christmas, the loving intent must be to stop carbon emissions as soon as possible

This Christmas, we can give to all planetary life. The loving intent must be to stop carbon emissions as soon as possible. The transition to renewables is obviously complex but ‘loving our neighbours as ourselves’ includes those on islands in the Pacific who know the consequences of global warming and need us to focus unambiguously on cutting emissions. They and our own endangered species, need us to honestly interrogate the necessity for every action that adds further emissions.

December 20, 2024

Finding a fair and productive level of inequality: A review of Battlers and Billionaires by Andrew Leigh

When I met Andrew Leigh before his ‘Meet the Authors’ discussion of this new edition of his book, I had to ask him, ‘how on earth do you do this?’. Lyn Hatfield Dodds who moderated the discussion opened with the same question.

March 15, 2024

Thai establishment to disband popular party Asian Media Report

In Asian media this week: Inexorable, predictable proceedings against Move Forward. Plus: South Koreas new envoy at heart of political row; Xi revives Maos party-control dictum; Fukushima meltdown fuel still a mystery; Chinas tai chi diplomatic culture; Singapore writer in long Taylor Swift gloat.

December 1, 2023

The outlook for interest rates

The Reserve Bank is widely expected to increase interest rates further. However, what is now critical to achieving the Banks inflation target is the future increase in labour costs, and this may come down sufficiently without any further interest rate rises.

November 21, 2023

Antisemitism and criticism of Israel: open letter to Julian Leeser MP

Shocking discrimination suffered by Jews in the past does not give Israel a warrant to make victims of others. You say anti-Zionism is a cover for antisemitism. Let me tell you why your view is wrong.

October 23, 2023

For Washington, the US-Australia alliance counts for less than nothing

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese will have plenty to talk about when he meets with US President Joe Biden this week. The Middle East, China, AUKUS and submarines will no doubt dominate the agenda. But there is one matter in respect of which Mr Albanese should insist on a quick resolution. That is the case of Australian publisher and WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange.

February 6, 2023

Perrottet best throw of the dice is gambling reform

NSW goes to the polls at the end of next month, and Labor must be regarded as a very clear favourite. Recent polls have put Labor 12 points ahead – 56 to 44 of the coalition. Even allowing that the Opposition leader, Chris Minns must win back seats before he builds a majority, it suggests a quite comfortable win over Dominic Perrottet.

January 26, 2023

Reforming the productivity commission

As federal Treasurer Jim Chalmers ponders the future of Australias Productivity Commission (PC), calls for its reform or even abolition have grown louder. Anyone following the media commentary might have the impression that its recommendations have been steadfastly ignored by government for the last two decades.

January 21, 2023

The eerie parallels between Vietnam and Ukraine

Ukrainians have become cannon fodder for the US geopolitical goals, just as the South Vietnamese were.

October 8, 2022

Ministerial staff reform vital after Morrison

There has been enough talk about ministerial staff in the Commonwealth government over the last couple of years to sink a battleship. Its now time to do something.

February 26, 2022

Cognitive dissonance fuels US antipathy to China

Cognitive dissonance, occurring when a deeply entrenched belief encounters countervailing facts, can cause the holder of the belief to deny or reinterpret the facts.

October 5, 2021

China might react to the Quad and AUKUS with tried and true patience

With the Quad and AUKUS, the US and its allies especially Australia are clearly challenging China militarily. All eyes are now on China to see how it will react. It has many options.

March 25, 2021

Addressing politicians' and political staff behaviour

The depressing stories coming out of Parliament House reinforce the need to review the Members of Parliament (Staffing) Act and the processes for overseeing the behaviour of ministers and other MPs as well as MOPS staff.

Pearls and Irritations

John Menadue's Public Policy Journal