December 12, 2023

"It is vital for us not to look away": Louise Adler on the place of politics in the arts

“The world looked away during the World War, and Jews, 6 million of our people, were murdered in that looking away… It is incumbent upon humanity to look at what is happening in Gaza now and to say we will not accept this. We will say no. Not in our name. - Louise Adler

March 11, 2025

Trade and tariffs: Reality and fantasy

Donald Trump’s recent actions with respect to the use of tariffs as a weapon to re-industrialise America demonstrates not only an utter failure to understand the economics of that move but also the geo-economic realities of the world in which those actions are being taken.

February 24, 2025

Our first year changed the conversation. Help us into year two

Dear supporters,

This week marks one year since we launched the Jewish Council of Australia with our op-ed in The Age, declaring that as Jews, we support Palestinian human rights and don’t accept that criticism of Israel is antisemitic.

February 22, 2025

Will New Zealand invade the Cook Islands to stop China?

New Zealand’s leading newspaper, the New Zealand Herald, screamed out this headline on 10 February: “Should New Zealand invade the Cook Islands?”

February 15, 2025

Israel-India partnership kills off self-determination for Palestine and Kashmir

For more than 75 years Kashmiris and Palestinians have suffered at the hands of colonial powers – genocide, human rights abuses and denial of fundamental rights feature in their shared history. While the Kashmiri struggle for self-determination rarely makes the headlines it deserves to be not only supported but also understood in terms of the Indian Government’s policies and actions that result in death and suffering for Palestinians as well as Kashmiris.

December 8, 2023

ABC gives selected politicians licence to spread fear - Weekly Roundup

Why the RBA Board should enjoy the break on a houseboat ride, the ABC gives selected politicians licence to spread fear, bullshit, lies and division just because they are called the opposition, sex and the cost of living, immigrants kids do better at school than Australian-born kids, cleaning up the mess of another failed privatisation. Read on for the weekly roundup of links to articles, podcasts, reports and other media on current economic and political issues.

June 26, 2021

Being open, despite the past: article by Russian President Vladimir Putin

An article by the President of Russia has been published in the German weekly newspaper Die Zeit and is timed to coincide with the 80th anniversary of the beginning of the Great Patriotic war.

February 20, 2025

The Grandmother Effect, an evolutionary lesson for housing policy

Evolution works by conserving traits that carry value for the species, but more often it is perceived as “survival of the fittest” or in “social darwinism”. These are literary licences: scientifically, they are close to misinformation. A look at the Grandmother Effect will show you why.

December 13, 2024

CSIRO patiently and methodically slaps down Peter Dutton’s nuclear nonsense

Australia’s premier scientific organisation, the CSIRO, has patiently and methodically slapped down the major nuclear talking points promoted by Coalition leader Peter Dutton in its latest GenCost report, which confirms – yet again – that integrated wind and solar are easily the cheapest option.

October 26, 2024

China looks to turn a page with Japan, Britain, and Israel

And India announces breakthrough with China on the troubled border.

March 27, 2024

The empire slowly suffocates Assange like it slowly suffocates all its enemies

The British High Court has ruled that WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange may potentially get a final appeal against extradition to the United States, but only within a very limited scope and only if specific conditions are met.

February 29, 2024

Enhanced lethality but no better security: New navy gears up for war

Last Tuesday Defence Minister Richard Marles announced the Albanese governments plans to overhaul the Royal Australian Navys (RAN) ageing surface fleet. The new enhanced lethality surface combatant fleet will more than double the amount of main surface vessels the RAN will operate, but their usefulness in ensuring Australian security is dubious.

February 24, 2024

Here, while others are not: A meditation on peacebuilding

When our father was one of those Australian soldiers fleeing the advancing Nazi army in Greece, an aircraft suddenly appeared. He jumped into a ditch on one side of the road. Others of his mates jumped into a ditch on the other side of the road. The guns in the plane killed all those on the other side of the road. Hence, we are here with our children and grandchildren…and others are not here.

October 18, 2023

"Extreme escalation": Hospital destruction an unconscionable war crime

The Medical Association for Prevention of War renews its call of last week for the Australian government to express in the strongest possible terms that Australia supports the application of the rule of law impartially and in all circumstances, and explicitly condemns violations of it not only by Hamas but also by Israel in the horrific war unfolding in the Middle East.

October 10, 2020

Olive branches dampens the sound of distant war drums

With the hospitalization of Trump, the world went into temporary recess from the Cold War and China sends an olive branch to Australia to dampen the sound of distant war drums. As the SCMP suggests, there is still hope for peace and mutual understanding.

March 15, 2025

Rethinking China

Just about everything that is uttered about China in the West is done so in the deeply underlying presumption that everyone out there, in the wonder lands of democratic Christendom, most assuredly believes that, as a godless communist state, China is inherently evil and that its singular ambition is to take over the world.

January 13, 2025

ETIM extremists attempt to terrorise China

So many people have a concern about ETIM and following their role into Syria they are reported in many Western media outlets as “coming for China next”.

November 13, 2024

Election study shows what kind of government New Zealand voters wanted

The US election guru James Carville is credited with putting Bill Clinton in the White House with the slogan “It’s the Economy, Stupid” on his election strategy white board every day of the US Presidential campaign in 1992. The New Zealand Election Study indicates the economy was also front of mind for voters in the 2023 General Election.

November 13, 2024

NATO and the Russian invasion of Ukraine

In a recent Pearls and Irritations article Jon Richardson has sought to make the argument that the prospect of Ukraine joining NATO played no part in Russia’s 2022 invasion but that this was a product of Russian imperialism. Why supporters of this line of argument seek to attribute the invasion to only one factor – Russian imperialism – is a mystery.

October 31, 2024

Lessons for Hong Kong from Australia’s remarkable international education sector

One crucial policy initiative outlined by Hong Kong’s chief executive, John Lee Ka-chiu, in his latest annual Policy Address is the project to establish the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region as an international tertiary education hub.

February 12, 2024

'Head-spinning upset' as Imran Khan's PTI wins most seats in Pakistani election

Independent candidates affiliated with the jailed former prime minister’s party staged a shock upset despite allegations of widespread electoral fraud led by Pakistan’s military.

January 15, 2023

Israel helps Ukraine whitewash its Nazis

Representatives of Ukraines neo-NaziAzov Battalionhave been touring Israel to drum up support for the units imprisoned fighters. They have been meeting with Israeli politicians and soldiers.

November 29, 2022

The BBCs abysmal coverage of Qatars World Cup

The British state-owned broadcasters refusal to show Qatars Opening Ceremony reeks of hypocrisy.

November 20, 2022

Journalistic responsibility vanishes when reporting on US-targeted nations

Two false news reports have gone viral in recent days due to sloppy sourcing and journalistic malpractice. As usual they both featured bogus claims about US-targeted nations, in this case Russia and Iran.

January 28, 2025

Trump reveals plan for the ethnic cleansing of Gaza

Well that didn’t take long. President Trump has said he wants to “clean out” Gaza and relocate its population to US client states Egypt and Jordan, which would of course be a textbook case of ethnic cleansing. It would also align perfectly with longstanding Israeli agendas to remove Palestinians from their homeland so that their territory can be seized and settled by Jews.

March 22, 2024

Human rights protections underpin safeguarding national security ordinance

Grenville Cross says new legislation incorporates guarantees lacking in other common-law jurisdictions similar laws.

February 11, 2024

When celebrated dissidents find the grass isnt greener on the other side

Ai Weiwei joins a long line of dissenters such as Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn and Liu Xiaobo who became disenchanted by the West.

January 24, 2025

US "blunt force trauma" trade strategy treated with Chinese acupuncture

At this time it seems impossible to avoid discussing President Trump and his approach to China. What is less often discussed is China’s approach to Trump.

December 30, 2024

Trump has been Beijing’s most effective science talent recruiter

Many fear the supposedly defunct ‘China Initiative’ – a racial profiling programme targeting Chinese-born scientists in the US – could return with a vengeance.

February 19, 2024

First the CIA, now the US Dept of Justice, could take actions that would see WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange dead

Documents obtained under FOI applications have revealed a worrying side to official Australian efforts regarding WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange.

October 9, 2023

"Inhumanity in its vilest form": Theres no time to lose for crisis-hit Myanmar

Each day the people are enduring horrifying attacks and flagrant human rights violations by a genocidal, criminal regime.

March 26, 2023

American Fascism: A prior question to the AUKUS arrangements

The criticisms of the AUKUS arrangements announced by the government are entirely warranted, as is the outrage that has accompanied them, but, strangely, they miss a point which should have preceded them. And that has to do with the political complexion of the United States itself; in brief, it faces the world as a troubled and corrupt actor, neither united as a nation, nor even as a state.

March 6, 2025

What is an American with TDS to do?

Donald Trump is an awful person and a terrible president. But he may provide an enduring breath of fresh air when it comes to the black/white posturing about freedom versus authoritarianism.

October 23, 2024

Kazan Summit: BRICS nations to push for a multipolar world

Leaders from Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa will meet in Kazan, Russia, next week for the 16th BRICS summit, marking a pivotal moment for the bloc. With an expanded roster of members and heightened global interest, the summit is expected to focus on strengthening ties among emerging economies and pushing back against Western-dominated financial and security systems.

February 24, 2024

A welcome new approach to economics

_The Alternative: How to build a just economy by American author, Nick Romeo, that has been published by Basic Books UK in recent weeks, is a welcome arrival to a human world in crisis.

February 16, 2024

The perfect recipe for a real antisemitism crisis

If I wanted to increase antisemitism, I imagine Id do a lot of really evil stuff under a Star of David flag while adamantly insisting that my actions are inseparable from the Jewish people and the Jewish faith. Id kill children by the thousands and commit genocidal atrocities.

January 9, 2024

Probably the worlds last anti-colonial war

Summary: the distinguished historian Avi Shlaim argues that in its war with Gaza, Israel openly displays its true colours as a Eurocentric settler-colonialist and apartheid state.

December 28, 2023

The remarkable durability of a failed embargo

Despite its failure to isolate Cuba and overthrow its government, and its near unanimous opposition from the international community, the 62-year old US embargo seems likely to endure into the foreseeable future.

October 31, 2023

In the beginning was the word - and the word was UWRF

Indonesias expanding dark side was hardly noticed by festival audiences at the Ubud Writers and Readers Festival (UWRF). But for all his domestic popularity, Indonesian President Joko Jokowi Widodo is no reformist liberal.

October 17, 2023

Is China hiding a missing submarine in the sea?

If we were to believe the UKs Daily Mail, China should be in mourning, they have lost a crew of 55 and a Nuclear submarine. The Times, historically, a reputable media outlet led with the headline that China kills own sailors with a trap set for British and US submarines.

March 31, 2023

Anti-Christian hate crimes in Jerusalem soaring this year

Church sources accuse Israeli police of downplaying acts of violence towards them, and attribute Jews’ vandalism to a growing national legitimisation of discrimination.

January 30, 2023

Ukraine: the war that went wrong

NATO support for the war in Ukraine, designed to degrade the Russian military and drive Vladimir Putin from power, is not going according to plan. The new sophisticated military hardware won’t help.

December 21, 2022

Jean Calder AC obituary

In a week full of politics and with a heavy focus on soccer and cricket, the ABC brought news from Gaza. News from this part of the world is usually tragic and while last weeks report was sad, it was also uplifting. Dr Jean Calder AC, an extraordinary Australian, died at Khan Younis in the south of the Gaza Strip on 28 November, aged 85, after a long life filled with service to others.

April 1, 2025

Time to split from sugar daddy

Last week, I listened to Stuart Rees and Sue Wareham, two regular contributors to P&I, discuss kindness and cruelty in public policy._

November 27, 2024

Negotiate, don't escalate

A nuclear war cannot be won and must never be fought.

February 10, 2024

Let them eat dirt

The final stage of Israels genocide in Gaza, an orchestrated mass starvation, has begun. The international community does not intend to stop it.

October 2, 2022

Memo to the Productivity Commission: fixing inequality is the key to productivity

Every five years the Productivity Commission is charged with examining everything that can be done to lift Australias productivity.

March 14, 2021

QUAD: A public relations exercise to disguise Big Pharmas obstruction and to combat Chinese vaccine successes

QUAD (US, Japan, India and Australia) was regarded as a strategic bloc to contain China. However, the recent virtual meeting between President Biden and Prime Ministers Suga, Modhi and Morrison ,whilst highlighting the provision vaccines to the region was really about curbing Chinese vaccine successes- an expression of soft power.

October 7, 2024

Albanese government’s refusal to publicly challenge Paris about decolonisation “shortsighted”

The Albanese government’s silence on decolonisation is striking—the prime minister and foreign minister never use the word! Last year, Australian commentator Graeme Dobell argued that “Labor has run a grimly realist foreign policy seeking a balance of power in the Indo-Pacific.” While collaboration with France may seem “realist” in this strategic framework, the refusal to publicly challenge Paris about its decolonisation obligations is shortsighted—as highlighted by four months of rioting and clashes in one of Australia’s closest neighbours._

Pearls and Irritations

John Menadue's Public Policy Journal