March 19, 2022

Is it people with disability or people with disabilities

The term “people with disability” as it is so often used when discussion turns to the “rights” of people sounds misleading and incorrect to me.

March 26, 2025

It’s official – supermarkets are overcharging. Quick, change the subject

Why does a government release a highly critical report on the conduct of Woolworths and Coles on the Friday before a budget that will lead straight into an election campaign? Short answer: not for any worthy reason.

February 25, 2025

The Bible, the Hawking Index, and the case for critical engagement

If a younger me had come across an article written by an older me arguing that the Bible should be taught in schools, I’d have assumed some serious u-turn was in my destiny.

February 22, 2025

Peter Dutton is playing with fire

In December while I was visiting Australia for a month I met a young woman who told me she would be running a local campaign in the upcoming federal election. She was a member of the Liberal Party, she noted, admitting that she had hoped to be the candidate herself, but the preselection had gone to someone else. But she seemed personally undeterred. ”We’re going to win,” she said, her face alight with her eagerness for the contest.

December 23, 2024

It's the family, stupid

What has gone wrong for the Cultural revolution of the 60s-70s? Is it Trump and the MAGA movement as Robert Manne posits, or is it identity politics out of control, as Nicholas Gruen argues — the extremity of political correctness, me-tooism, cancel culture, social tribalism and wokeism — weaponising discourse and driving us apart. There is a further dimension to this debate. ‘It’s the family stupid’. For better or worse, in its infinite variety, we are all born into a family.

December 19, 2024

Cartoon commentary

December 12, 2024

Pearls and Irritations - Editor Position

Our current editor Dr. Aran Martin is leaving us at the end of January. He has given excellent service to Pearls and Irritations. We are seeking a new editor and share the role description below.

December 7, 2024

Chomsky is right says Professor Walt

The wide-ranging political views of the exceptional, international public intellectual, Noam Chomsky, have recently been searchingly assessed in the journal, Foreign Policy, by Professor Stephen M Walt, in an article entitled, “ Noam Chomsky Has Been Proved Right”__.

January 19, 2025

Outmoded concepts of disadvantage must be rethought

It’s time to rid ourselves of the concepts of disadvantage and equity and immerse ourselves in the practices of learning and knowledge like never before.

December 3, 2024

Cartoon commentary

October 13, 2024

Cartoon commentary

February 19, 2023

In Kashmirs cycles of violence, progeny of former counterinsurgents are trapped in traumatic past

Ganderbal, India The sun has just come out on a grey wintery afternoon and the snow-clad peaks of Harmukh are shining in the distance, casting sharp reflections over the horizon.

February 1, 2025

Working for Whitlam

Future MP Race Mathews had an insider’s view of policy development — not least health policy — in the office of the leader of the opposition.

October 14, 2024

Taiwan: Is reunification with China a dead issue?

On January 13 this year, Taiwan, amid high hopes in the ruling party, held its quadrennial presidential/vice presidential/legislative election. It was expected to be a very consequential election. Taiwan’s future was said to be at stake.

March 3, 2024

Greater efforts are needed to tackle a staggering increase in vaping rates

The Federal Government last week launcheda new influencer-led social media campaign to discourage vaping among young people, warning that social media is awash with pro-vaping content.

February 9, 2024

The materialisation of Chinese Christianity

As the Lunar New Year approaches, many Chinese families clean the front door of their home and hang poetry around it. This is a rich and age-old Chinese tradition, both cultural and religious.

November 21, 2023

Managerialism is crushing the human connection: The Care Economy series

Unpacking the care economy, Dr Robbie Lloyd investigates some of the key issues impacting our communities in a series of articles that explore ageing, disability, mental health reform, the challenges of health policy and reform, drugs and alcohol and domestic family violence._

December 2, 2022

Can we build on Whitlam's legacy and place patient need at the heart of Medicare?

Our health services should be first and foremost about patients, and a revamped Medicare should be focused primarily on patient need, not on the antiquated view of some providers as to how a 21st century health system should be.

December 27, 2024

Dutton's policy exposes the Liberals as slow learners

Prudent public policy seeks to protect us against black swan events. Black Swan Theory (BST) is a metaphor that describes a rare, unexpected event that has a huge impact and is difficult to predict. These events are considered outliers because there is no past data to indicate when they could occur.

November 22, 2024

Should the Commonwealth get out of schooling?

Lyndsay Connors (__Pearls and Irritations, 14 November 2024) takes issue with my argument that the Commonwealth should get out or be pushed out of schooling.

March 26, 2024

Lunacy: Australia pays the US billions to "keep those Chinese at bay"

When Canberra told us we had to join the US in its cruel attempt to prevent a Vietnamese peasant army from overthrowing a US-armed Saigon government, some of us thought the politicians were plain stupid.

February 21, 2024

Humanising war victims: The media's shameful coverage of the Gaza conflict

“The big Australian newspapers we looked at have failed to cover the Gaza conflict fairly. … We think their coverage has been shameful” - Paul Barry, ABC Media Watch.

October 5, 2023

Our better angels: Should we include or segregate students?

I am an advocate for inclusion across the board. I find all forms of segregation offensive, students with disabilities should be part of their local school. By taking this stance I am comfortable I would be accepted as a member of the better angels. However, I wonder if my membership would survive when the angels realise I find those other students segregated by attending private schools just as offensive? They are separated not because of their disability but by their parents ability to afford the extra fees.

March 18, 2025

Empathy, culpability and madness

Is Trump mad? If declining to share the joys and troubles of the whole human race, to decline a seat at humanity’s common table is a form of madness – then yes, Donald J Trump is mad.

February 1, 2025

After fleeing the Taliban, the Afghan women’s cricket team is finally playing together – in Australia

A Twenty20 cricket contest featuring a women’s team made up of refugees from Afghanistan who now live in Australia may “only” be an exhibition game, but it could be the beginning of something much more.

January 30, 2025

Trump’s Greenland for Odessa deal

In late February 2022, I was walking on a street in Irkutsk (in the middle of Russian Siberia) when I met a former female student of mine who had just come from her work office. She was upset by the invasion of Ukraine but even more so by the attitude of some women in the office. The main topic of discussion was speculation on “how many new provinces we will get”.

November 19, 2024

‘Fairness and balance’ in P&I reporting on the Middle East

Discussion about the Middle East is difficult. Conflicting views are deeply held and even reasonable people struggle to speak, and to listen, dispassionately and with respect.

October 30, 2024

Bezos sullies Washington Post's history

Journalists around the world were once inspired by Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein to commit to significant investigative journalism.

January 3, 2023

'Amazing!' Lula applauded for naming Amazon defenders as Brazilian ministers

“Lula’s win was a win for the Amazon,” one global human rights leader said of his environment and Indigenous ministers.

November 11, 2022

Rising Sino-U.S. tensions may prompt Japan to review its China policy

With Chinese President Xi Jinping securing an unprecedented third term in power, fears are mounting that Sino-U.S. tensions may escalate further over Taiwan and economic security, forcing Japan to review its policies regarding Beijing.

November 7, 2022

The mystery of the Nord Stream pipeline explosions

On 26 September, the Nordstream 1 and 2 pipelines were badly damaged in a deliberate act of sabotage that released huge amounts of methane gas. Almost all the Western media has pointed the finger at Russia but Moscow blames actors hostile to it. There are four plausible suspects: Russia, the US, Poland and Ukraine. Given the actors involved, the issues at stake and the impotence of the UN system caught in the crossfire of great power rivalry, an impartial independent investigation is extremely unlikely. In classic thrillers style, its worth looking at means, opportunity and, most revealingly, motive.

December 29, 2023

Australian livestock auctioneer goes viral after selling trucker cap on Melbourne tram

An award-winning livestock auctioneer went viral last year after selling a trucker cap on a Melbourne tram. Harry Cozens, a sheep and cattle auctioneer from Albury, was handed the cap by a fellow passenger and challenged to sell it, before launching into his call.

December 20, 2023

Bloodbath: Israels War on Gazas hospitals and their patients

Back in mid-October, a controversy broke out about a blast on the grounds of the al-Ahli Arab (Baptist) Hospital in Gaza City. Some quarters blamed it on Israel, but the latters defenders took the stance that Israel wouldnt hit a hospital. It appears that it probably didnt on that occasion, and that the blast can be attributed to a Hamas rocket instead.

October 21, 2023

China sees remarkable growth in global soft power

Almost all geopolitical soft power explanations draw on the seminal analysis by the Harvard political scientist Joseph Nye, who promoted the term in his 1990 book_Bound to Lead: The Changing Nature of American Power. At that time, he wrote, When one country gets other countries to want what it wants (this) might be called co-optive or soft power in contrast with the hard or command power of ordering others to do what it wants._

March 2, 2023

Ukraine conflict: China promotes peaceful solutions over warmongering

Sir Winston Churchill, Britains wartime leader, said that jaw-jaw is better than war-war, and he should know.

February 23, 2023

Lowe's secret inflation fear: big companies' price-setting power

Despite the grilling he got in two separate parliamentary hearings last week, Reserve Bank governor Dr Philip Lowes explanation of why he was preparing mortgage borrowers for yet further interest rate increases didnt quite add up. There seemed to be something he wasnt telling us and I think I know what it was.

March 23, 2025

The sacralisation of history: The Holocaust as state legitimation

There is a cruel historical irony in Israel’s genocidal war on the besieged Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank: the brutal suppression of the Warsaw Ghetto by the Nazis in 1943 was one of the most tragic episodes in the genocide perpetrated against European Jewry during World War II.

March 7, 2025

Rise of the bigot

The Cambridge Dictionary defines a bigot as “a person who has strong, unreasonable beliefs, and who does not like other people who have different beliefs or a different way of life”. Bigotry is an individual attitude characterised by two distinct dimensions, baseless beliefs and an intolerance of others, and is exemplified by xenophobia, racism and misogyny.

November 27, 2024

Philippines maritime legislation does not impede freedom of navigation and overflight over the archipelago

The Philippines enacted two enabling legislation on 8 November 2024. Known as Republic Act (RA) 12064 or the Philippine Maritime Zones Act; and Republic Act (RA) 12065 or the Philippine Archipelagic Sea Lanes Act, the legislation has attracted a fair number of criticisms from the region among those not familiar with the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).

November 21, 2024

Obituary: “passionate and fiery” human rights activist and writer Dr Vacy Vlazna 1946 –2024

Activist for East Timor, Acheh and Palestine, Vaclava ‘Vacy’ Julie Vlazna was born 31 August 1946 in Susice in the region of Bohemia after her parents survived the German occupation of Czechoslovakia in WWII_._

January 27, 2024

These are the people were locking up

Prisons dont work. When you look at the lives of people being imprisoned, its no wonder.

December 14, 2023

Witnesses say IDF troops 'executed' women and children in Gaza school

The Biden administration “must respond to the reported execution-style massacre of women, children, and babies,” said the spokesperson of a U.S. Muslim advocacy group.

March 29, 2023

Reclaim the streets - trans day of visibility rally

In the face of the shocking anti-trans and neo-Nazi rally last Saturday in Melbourne, it’s a time for solidarity - visible solidarity with those we love and all who walk with them. Show your support by joining me at 5.30pm Friday, March 31st at the State Library, Melbourne. Lets reclaim the streets together.

February 9, 2023

Lessons from the earthquake disasters in Turkey and Syria

At personal, national and international levels, crises provide learning opportunities. How to adapt to loss by seeking change, how to think differently about family, community and nation by, among other things, pondering the meaning of security and sovereignty.

January 10, 2023

The inglorious end of Juan Guaid

Venezuelanalysis’ Ricardo Vaz offers a hard-hitting take on the demise of Venezuela’s self-proclaimed “interim president.”

January 16, 2024

Our leading lady in Jakarta is not leading

So much for Australias engagement with Asia, wrote former Foreign Minister Alexander Downer this month, punctuating a claim that the media gives close to 20 times the coverage to the US presidential elections as Indonesias.

December 19, 2023

Usman Khawaja for humanity, Australian MPs for Israel

In contrast to cricketer Usman Khawajas principled stand for human rights, the Liberals Simon Birmingham and Labors Josh Burns broadcast their judgements that the time is not right for a ceasefire. Commentary from these Australian MPs in response to slaughter in Gaza, both of whom are in Israel to show support for that country, shows their warped view of history and scant regard for humanity.

March 3, 2023

An open call for genocide in Palestine

Some might think that state genocide is a new phenomenon in Israeli occupied Palestine. I can assure you that this is the very essence of Zionism. The point was, and still is, to occupy the land, get rid of the people by any and every means, and change the topography and the demography of Palestine to favour Jewish supremacy.

March 2, 2023

China's recovery key to Australia's economic success

As China leaves its zero-covid policy behind and reopens to the world, its policy focus has shifted to driving economic growth and re-engagement with key economies.

Pearls and Irritations

John Menadue's Public Policy Journal