December 31, 2024

The public service: back in from the cold

The Albanese government has begun to rebuild Australia’s shattered Public Service. The government’s fate depends significantly on it – but there’s much still to do.

December 28, 2024

That which can be destroyed by the truth, should be

“That which can be destroyed by the truth, should be.” This is a line by fantasy author PC Hodgell, though it’s often misattributed to Carl Sagan.

February 11, 2024

ASEAN can add momentum to Australia’s call for US-China detente

Australia’s former foreign minister Bob Carr and 49 others are supporting an appeal for easing of hostility between the two superpowers. The Asean leaders’ meeting in Melbourne could provide a platform for discussions on peace security and boosting areas of cooperation with China and the US.

December 27, 2023

We’re all responsible for preventing domestic violence – and men play a crucial role

One of the most memorable tales from Tony Birch’s 2006 debut collection, Shadowboxing, is The Butcher’s Wife.

December 8, 2023

The official story of October seventh

The official story is that on October 7, 2023, thousands of evil Hamas terrorists broke out of their walled-in enclave and killed approximately 1,200 Israelis for no reason other than because they were evil and wanted to kill Jews. Nothing was done by the Israeli government to provoke this attack, and nothing of any relevance happened prior to this date.

February 17, 2023

Reforms and more funding needed to save Medicare

The release of the Strengthening Medicare Taskforce report has re-ignited discussions about reform of Australia’s primary healthcare system.

December 12, 2022

Listening to Chinese whispers shielded Beijing from COVID-19 blame

China was wracked with unprecedented anti-zero-COVID protests in late November 2022. They started with a fire in Urumqi city, Xinjiang.

November 26, 2022

French ambassador: US ‘rules-based order’ means Western domination, violating international law

France’s ex US Ambassador Gérard Araud criticised Washington for frequently violating international law and said its so-called “rules-based order” is an unfair “Western order” based on “hegemony.” He condemned the new cold war on China, instead calling for mutual compromises.

October 30, 2021

Why Australia should be helping the least vaccinated nations like PNG

While Australia embarks on third booster shots, the vaccination rate in PNG is less than 2 per cent. What does that say about being a good neighbour?

March 31, 2025

The Pacific is fighting for climate justice: Will Australia listen?

The Pacific Islands Climate Action Network (PICAN) participated in the final day of the Sydney Climate Action Week, on the lands of the Gadigal people of the Eora Nation and had the privilege of listening to Indigenous and First Nations stories, learning from their wisdom.

January 16, 2025

The BJP bus rolls on despite a bumpy year for Modi’s India

India’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party hit a bump in the road in 2024 when it lost its majority in the Lok Sabha general elections, held between April and June. The shock jolted passengers a little, but the big orange BJP bus continues to roll down the road to Hindutva – the promised land of a Hindu supremacist state.

November 6, 2024

The world's centre of gravity has shifted to BRICS

The recent BRICS summit in Kazan summed up the results of the Russian presidency of the organisation in 2024. John Shipton, an Australian activist and the father of WikiLeaks creator Julian Assange, also took part in the event.

April 2, 2024

Australia's Hong Kong travel advisory disregards its own national security legislation

On March 19, the Hong Kong legislature passed the Safeguarding National Security Ordinance and reached a historic milestone in the implementation of “one country, two systems”. Legislation to implement Article 23, which requires Hong Kong to legislate on its own to prohibit seven national security offences, has been outstanding since 1997, and the inadequacy of the city’s defence mechanism has been a drag on its development.

March 4, 2024

Zionism ≠ Judaism

The collapsing of the two categories, Judaism and Zionism to become synonymous seems to me to be a very dangerous, even foolish thing to do. Yet, to my amazement it seems many Jews are doing precisely that. It would be fair to say that such is representative of the deeply conservative Jewish establishment in Australia.

February 29, 2024

A tale of two poles

In a recent interview with Victorian Health Minister, Mary-Anne Thomas, Melbourne ABC presenter, Raf Epstein, led off with a classic “gotcha” question:

December 1, 2023

Analysis exposes big oil disinformation efforts ahead of COP28

“Digital platforms continue to provide vested fossil fuel actors with a cheap and easy way to disinform the public about climate change,” said one campaigner.

March 15, 2021

A week is a long time in politics and three weeks is even longer

Scott Morrison’s prime ministership began with a brazen betrayal, perfectly captured in the image of a beaming Morrison, arm slung around the shoulders of embattled Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull declaring ‘this is my leader_._ _I’m ambitious for him!’. Like every step along the Prime Minister’s political path it was entirely contrived, a matey display of faux fealty, friendship and political protection. Two days later, Malcolm Turnbull’s political career was over, and Scott Morrison stood in his place. It reads now as the defining image of his Prime Ministership – duplicitous, disloyal, and self-serving.

March 30, 2025

Go north, old man

Donald Trump’s pledge to push the boundary of the United States of America 2000 kilometres north is not another rush of blood, but channels 300 years of imperial rivalries over resources.

January 13, 2024

South Africa's genocide presentation against Israel called 'overwhelming and devastating'

“Whatever the outcome, we are witnessing an amazing moment of rule of international law history,” said Amnesty International secretary general Agnès Callamard.

November 23, 2023

Australia’s role in the bombing of Gaza

Being part of the global supply network that supplies parts for the Israeli F-35 jet fighters used over Gaza implicates Australia in their alleged war crimes.

November 13, 2022

Reconstructing China’s role in regional security

_Today the possibility of consolidating an inclusive regional architecture for comprehensive security in the Asia Pacific has become almost inconceivable. This is because on-going China–US tension appears to have excluded that option.

November 7, 2022

‘Peaceful modernisation’: China’s offering to the Global South

Xi Jinping just offered the Global South a stark alternative to decades of western diktats, war, and economic duress. ‘Peaceful modernisation’ will establish sovereignty, economy, and independence for the world’s struggling states.

February 28, 2022

Boozing it up in Geneva by Big Alcohol

Big Alcohol has once again actively undermined efforts by the World Health Organization to adopt a new alcohol action plan and mobilise governments to do more to stop preventable alcohol harm.

March 12, 2021

The biggest step yet in Truth Telling about Australia’s history since colonisation

Focus has rightly been on the very serious issues of sexual violence that have been raised regarding the Federal Parliament and historically with the Attorney-General, Christian Porter. However, there is already a risk that the profound importance of what has been announced in Victoria this week by the First Peoples Assembly and the State government – the Yoo-rrook Justice Commission – which will be the most comprehensive Truth Telling process in Australia since colonisation began in 1788, might be missed.

February 5, 2025

The Henty legacy and its ongoing impact

In the 1860s, as the new colony of Victoria boomed following the discovery of gold, First Peoples were being moved onto missions and reserves, where their lives were tightly controlled.

January 22, 2025

The coming failure of the Israel-Hamas ceasefire

The Israel-Hamas ceasefire has been all but universally welcomed but, as with all ceasefires, it will end, probably in failure. That problems with the agreement have surfaced before it was even implemented, in particular over the release of Israeli hostages and Palestinian prisoners, did not bode well for its longer term success.

January 18, 2024

Yemen and canal errors: when Australia misread the Suez crisis

Australia’s assistance in striking targets in Yemen, obediently abiding by the direction of the United States and United Kingdom, had a certain curious resonance to another event that involved foreign shipping, the wounded pride of imperial powers, and meddling Arabs.

January 9, 2024

Tony Blinken is a cold-blooded sociopath

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken just referred to the US-sponsored assassination of yet another journalist in Gaza as a “terrible tragedy”, as though the reporter was struck by lightning or died in a car crash or something.

February 13, 2023

Indonesia seeks Myanmar peace talks

Indonesia is chair of ASEAN this year and using its position to try and end the two-year crisis in Myanmar that’s already cost more than 3,000 lives.

February 4, 2023

Art that pumps the heart

So we have just had our first presentation of Australian Honours under the new Labor government.

January 2, 2023

Best of 2022: The world votes for “climate hell”

Something of epochal importance happened in Egypt last week – the most significant event since Cheops shoved up his triangular monument, four thousand odd-years ago at the dawn of ‘civilisation’. But the world media, true to form, missed it almost completely.

November 14, 2022

Ukraine and Russia's second front is a propaganda war. But who is winning?

Since Russia launched its “special military operation” into neighbouring Ukraine, media, political organisations and researchers in Ukrainian allied countries have accused Moscow of launching a propaganda blitzkrieg meant to justify the invasion.

January 20, 2025

10 reasons why US president-elect Donald Trump can’t derail global climate action

If you care about saving Earth from catastrophe, you might be feeling a little down about the re-election of Donald Trump as United States president. Undeniably, his return to the White House is a real setback for climate action.

December 31, 2024

Emergency summit regarding Antarctic meltdown

Hundreds of scientists gathered in Australia for an “emergency summit” within the auspices of the inaugural Australian Antarctic Research Conference d/d November 2024. This gathering of 450 mostly “early-career” polar scientists flexed scientific muscles to alert the world to the what’s happening to our planet, taking off the gloves and coming out swinging. They claim we’re got a bigger problem than generally realised: “Efforts to slow down climate change through coordinated global action are paramount to protect the future of Australia, Antarctica, and our planet,” Ibid.

December 8, 2024

That Christmas Carols event and remembering the birth of Jesus

Is your local community, like mine, preparing for that enjoyable Christmas Carols event? Will there be a reference to the place where it all began and, if so, what will be said? Will there be any reference to the current plight of its citizens?

December 19, 2023

Giving science clout at court, and beyond

Juries seem either to love forensic scientists or just be baffled by them (or by the spin put on their findings by cunning counsel). Some judicial officers have been somewhat slower to embrace them – with potentially disastrous consequences, not just in judge-alone trials, but when evidence is ruled inadmissible and does not go to the jury.

November 15, 2023

Anti-Sinoism in Australian media

The article titled “‘Golden visas’ are known to attract dirty money around the world. Why does Australia still offer them?” by Linton Besser was published on ABC News (31/10/2023). Taken at face value, it appears as another piece of usual media reporting. However, read with an awareness of the scourge of recent mainstream media proclivity for racial profiling of the Chinese, it can be disquieting.

November 16, 2022

Israel is not suddenly a more racist state. It is simply growing more confident about admitting its racism to the world

The most disturbing outcome of Israel’s general election this week was not the fact that an openly fascist party won the third-biggest tally of seats, or that it is about to become the lynchpin of the next government. It is how little will change, in Israel or abroad, as a result.

February 12, 2025

Here comes the human tsunami...

This year, more than 400 million people are in search of new homes, of food, water and family security.

January 18, 2025

Comparing the Chinese fight against corruption to the West's

Government corruption is, or should be, a scourge in any government. We’re faced with it on a daily basis, we know it exists and we know something needs to be done. What is done and how it is done, determines the validity of our government’s commitment; if they are not stamping it out or at least attempting to reduce it, then they are failing the people who put them there - the voters.

January 15, 2025

Why Ukraine is losing ground

An instructive new article entitled, “ Why is Ukraine losing ground? Mobilisation crisis and command failures exposed,” has recently been published online by Euromaidan Press. Its cogency is amplified by the fact that it is, fundamentally, a pro-Ukraine essay.

November 26, 2024

War games? Let's play peace

Why volunteer for the military? Academics have some answers.

November 14, 2024

At UNCOP29, improper dealings and safety concerns promise disaster

The chief executive of UNCop29 has been filmed apparently agreeing to facilitate fossil fuel deals at the climate summit.

November 9, 2024

With Trump victory, is it time to shut Pine Gap?

It’s a time of major events: Donald Trump has again been elected President of the USA and its biggest foreign spy base Pine Gap features in the movie Twilight Time to be screened in Alice Springs on Saturday.

October 25, 2024

20,000 members of the American Nazi Party once rallied in Madison Square Garden. Could it happen again?

On October 10, The Atlantic premiered ‘ A Night at the Garden’, an unsettling seven minutes and five seconds long video made of film footage that American documentary filmmaker Marshall Curry had accidentally found.

March 24, 2024

Geopolitical grand larceny and its risks

One of the Ten Commandments says, with awkward bluntness: Thou Shalt Not Steal. Predictably, some are inclined to read certain qualifications in to this prohibition. As it happens, this sort of adaptive-thinking underpins arguments made in a recent article in the leading US journal, Foreign Policy._

March 6, 2024

Sussan Ley’s desperate dog whistling will not be forgotten

On Thursday Feb 29, 2024, Sussan Ley, deputy leader of the Opposition, released the following statement on X: “If you live in Frankston and you’ve got a problem with Victorian women being assaulted by foreign criminals, vote against Labor. If you do not want to see Australian women being assaulted by foreign criminals, vote against Labor.”

February 23, 2024

Two boats and hysteria is unleashed

According to the evening news, Australia stands on the precipice of one of the greatest security threats to Australia since World War II, with the Imperial Japanese Army in the Owen Stanley’s overlooking the lights of Port Moresby. A few dozen impoverished, bedraggled refugees right up there with the Imperial Japanese Army as threat! It is a joke isn’t it, except that this stuff is taken seriously.

October 30, 2023

The sycophant

The elephant can only be ignored for so long: we need to talk about academics. Rather like journalists, academics exhibit a profound mismatch between self-image and reality.

Pearls and Irritations

John Menadue's Public Policy Journal