December 14, 2021

States can supplant outsource-happy Canberra as ideas engine room

There is a great opportunity for honest discussion of more efficient and effective divisions of power and responsibility, writes Jack Waterhouse.

December 12, 2021

No justice for Julian Assange, but plenty of cruelty

Julian Assange’s pending extradition to the US allowed the Australian government a chance to show some ticker by demanding his freedom.

January 26, 2025

Editorial changes at Pearls and Irritations

At the end of this month we farewell Aran Martin, after over two years as our editor.

December 9, 2021

Beijing Winter Olympics boycott is a hollow gesture

A boycott of the Winter Olympics serves no real purpose history shows that Olympic boycotts in the name of human rights abuses are ineffectual.

March 16, 2022

Jim Green-Nuclear facilities targeted in Russia's war on Ukraine

Several nuclear facilities in Ukraine have been attacked by the Russian military over the past fortnight: a nuclear research facility at Kharkiv; two radioactive waste storage sites; the Chernobyl nuclear site (which no longer has operating reactors); and the operating Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant.

January 27, 2025

When it comes to Australia Day, wattle stop the arguments?

At this time of year, we’re reminded that Australia has a problem: an ongoing and deeply divisive conflict over Australia Day.

February 24, 2022

Dog whistles to create a straw man argument

The dogwhistle to the frightened right falls in the tradition started by John Howard.

December 18, 2021

Jailed Danish politician exemplifies growing anti-refugee populism

Denmark’s former immigration minister has been jailed for separating refugee couples but her actions did not lack parliamentary approval.

August 28, 2021

Stakeholder voices in health policy

Formulation of COVID policy, as with other aspects of health policy, has involved stakeholders voicing their opinions about whats in Australias best interest. Or at least, that is how their lobbying is framed.

March 30, 2021

Climate crisis solutions need to address the web of causes

Climate change has no single cause. It has resulted from the interconnected web of population, consumption, technology, and the political economy. The climate emergency requires us to recognise and grapple with this web sooner rather than later.

December 11, 2021

Depressed by the press: journalism bows to the authoritarians

Weakened by commercial and political pressures, legacy media are struggling to counter the antagonism of vested interests, writes Lucy Hamilton.

December 7, 2021

Where there are tailings, no grass grows: Serbians protest against Rio Tinto

Australian mining giant Rio Tinto is at the centre of a new controversy this time, over a lithium mine and processing plant in Serbia.

March 24, 2021

Vaccine rollout hindered by lack of recognition for nurse practitioners

A general practitioner will be required to supervise nurse practitioners as they administer the COVID-19 vaccine, a decision that was made without concerns of health and safety. This means under-resourced and at-risk communities will be slower to gain access to the vaccine,

April 10, 2021

Australia's household wealth surged by the end of 2020 but property owners have taken the lion's share

The recession was great for some Australians. Despite the pain of the lockdowns, and nearly a million jobs disappearing, by the end of 2020 Australia’shousehold wealth was surging.

October 17, 2020

UK's Trade Union Congress describes Israeli practices against Palestinians as 'apartheid' & Students at two universities voted to divest from Israel (The New Arab Oct 10, 2020)

The UK’s Trade Union Congress has passed its first motion which identifiesIsraelas a state that carries outapartheidpractices, in what is being seen as a national landmark in recognising the Palestinian plight.

December 30, 2023

Big media outlets 'lack balance' in Gaza reporting

Five out of six major Australian media outlets have substantially imbalanced reporting when it comes to covering the Gaza conflict, new research claims.

December 10, 2021

From our readers: Defining the Morrison government

In letters to the editor this week: the parlous state of our Parliament, adding reason to the ‘capitalism’ conversation, and our flawed universities.

March 30, 2021

Throwing stones in the Uighur glasshouse

On his last day at work for the Trump Administration, Mike Pompeo accused China of genocide against the Uighurs in Xinjiang province, which the Chinese Foreign Ministry vehemently denied. His successor as Secretary of State, Anthony Blinken, supports the accusation and has repeated it.

April 10, 2021

China's Five Year Plan & Technology Leadership an interview with Prof Jane Golley

In discussion with economics professor Jane Golley, director of ANU’s Australian Centre for China in the World, ANU, about the new china five-year plan 2021-2026 on the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Chinese communist party.

April 17, 2021

Australia is playing in the international greyzone: it is time to get out of our unthinking alliance with the US

Unbeknownst to most of the population, Australia is a willing player in a global game of Risk. The risks are great, the rewards less so. We do not need to play this game.

March 31, 2021

Newmans sermons as spiritual reading during Lent

If you are anything like me, you have on at least one occasion squandered the holy season of Lent. The Church has established such times on the liturgical calendar so that we might enter more deeply into the mysteries of Christs life.

December 6, 2021

It's time for Morrison to consider his legacy as electoral wilderness looms

The prime minister may not be able to save his electoral skin, but he can help the Coalition to become a competent opposition, writes Jack Waterford.

January 10, 2018

LESLEY RUSSELL. Who cares for the carers?

Governments have yet to create a coherent strategy to help the almost three million Australians providing informal care.

March 5, 2022

US, Russia, NATO, Ukraine: Truth is out there, beyond the memes

“Today we face an avoidable crisis [between the US and Russia regarding Ukraine] that was predictable, actually predicted, willfully precipitated, but easily resolved by the application of common sense”.

December 8, 2021

Last chance saloon: ABC crucial to the survival of local TV production

A new report commissioned by the ABC reveals that the public broadcaster’s local productions contribute at least $744 million to the Australian economy.

April 1, 2021

Instrumentum Laboris: A major disappointment

_Catholics for Renewal finds thisInstrumentum Laborisa major disappointment. It takes us nowhere in particular, and certainly not towards an agenda that will achieve genuine reform and renewal in our Church. It is not the impetus needed to get the Church in Australiaback on mission.

March 17, 2021

Police compliance with cruelty: will Australia follow Moscow, Minsk and Myanmar?

_In an ideal world, war is declared but no-one turns up. In the same utopia, police forces refuse orders to arrest, torture and kill, but in Myanmar, Minsk, Moscow and Hong Kong, men in police uniforms are complying with orders.

December 20, 2021

Arrogant US resents China for resisting its 'right' to interfere

What the US most resents about China is that it is successful in delivering results for its own people and resists US interference.

December 17, 2021

It's been a long time baby: the fight to end violence against women

Men’s abuse of women is still a significant problem, but our government seems unwilling to genuinely acknowledge this fact.

December 16, 2021

As a fish rots from the head, so does Australia's democracy

A lack of accountability, incompetence, corruption, vilification, a shredded social fabric: the Morrison government is perhaps the worst in history.

December 5, 2021

The AUKUS pact could help ASEAN's relationship with China

Controversy in the ASEAN region over AUKUS has died down, but the group should take it as an opportunity to build trust with China.

December 13, 2021

What lies behind our slogans and lecturing of other countries?

It’s not enough to preach ‘Western values’. Australia should instead try to understand those who don’t agree with us.

December 19, 2021

Increasing wealth inequality: how should the government respond?

Even if flaws in the retirement support system are addressed, there would still be a good case for an inheritance tax on the largest transfers.

December 22, 2021

A universal story of hope for today's world, whatever you believe

Questions about the birth story of Jesus and his divinity are secondary to his message of love and peace, which has never been more relevant.

December 15, 2021

A curate's egg: the many failures of Australia's vaccine rollout

Australia’s COVID-19 vaccine rollout was shemozzle. In the second part of a two-part article, Robin Boyle reviews where we failed.

December 22, 2021

Baa humbug: Australia's trade triumph breeds a British backlash

Celebrations are likely to be short-lived. Australia overestimates the benefits of the agreement, while British farmers remain justifiably worried.

October 22, 2021

Squid Game: what the subtitles dont tell you

Eight cultural specificities in Squid Game explained to help you do business, build stronger relationships and succeed in Korea.

December 4, 2021

Between watch dog and guard dog: the China threat and the Australian media

What is the role of Australian media, especially news media, in shaping a sense of who we are as a nation, amidst talk of a Cold War with China?

March 17, 2021

OECD Chief Mathias Cormann: a lose-lose for Australia and Europe

Pictures stick in your head dont they. The tongue kiss Soviet President Brezhnev gave East German President Eric Honecker in 1979 is one. That photo of Scotty (Holidays) Morrison and now deposed clown-king Donald Trump getting close on the White House lawn is another. Smiling, whispering, foreheads touching, a speck of dribble on the corner of Trumps mouth.

February 19, 2022

Julie Hollar.This is US economic coercion with hunger and death everywhere in Afghanistan

US media ignores Biden stealing billions from the Afghan people. Our White Man’s Media only tells about Chinese coercion._

November 26, 2021

Biden urged to fight big pharma's vaccine greed at key WTO meeting

Joe Biden must make sure those at WTO talks next week endorse a plan to waive COVID-19 vaccine patents to help end the pandemic.

November 21, 2021

Gasbagging in Glasgow: COP26 and phasing down coal

After a succession of drafts, the climate pact trod a delicate path. There was greenwashing and subversion, triumphs and laments … and “lifestyle”.

February 5, 2022

We're all equal, at least until 65: Morrison and Albaneses inheritance tax

If the government believes that access to disability support should be wealth tested then it should make that a condition for all age groups.

March 30, 2021

The jilbab: human rights in Indonesia

An Indonesian woman appears before God who will pass judgement. The almighty checks the freshly-deceaseds CV, noting she prayed regularly at the mosque, recited the Koran and lived an upright life.

However, she didnt always wear a jilbab. For the sin of letting strangers see her glossy black locks, shell be condemned to the everlasting furnace, though not alone. Also cooking will be her male rellies who didnt curb her willfulness, and Mum for her inability to raise a pious daughter.

May 8, 2021

Do I hear the sound of distant drums calling to war over Taiwan?

Since the pivot to Asia initiated by President Obama, President Trump had put into action a trade war and starting the Cold War 2.In the trade war with China most pundits would agree that the US has lost.Now, a third attempt by President Biden with the dangerous introduction of Taiwan into the picture took place.Is war imminent?

September 4, 2021

A food for special medical purposes for cancer patients?

Yet another example of a major discrepancy in consumer protection in the regulation of therapeutic claims made for medicines compared to therapeutic claims made for food.

March 14, 2021

The powerful national upside of net zero emissions

Major countries and the private sector are embracing net zero as the growth opportunity of the future. With Australia increasingly isolated diplomatically and economically, Morrison is feeling the pressure.

October 29, 2021

Conservatives likely to retain power in Japanese election

As Japan heads to an election this weekend, the Liberal Democratic Party is expected to retain government over weakened progressive parties.

March 22, 2021

Sexual violence makes a farce of the rule of law

One should always take great care in assuming the reliability of statistics or the factual basis of arguments and prejudices promoted by the NSW Police Commissioner, Mick Fuller. But he may have made the argument for fundamental reform of sexual violence and sexual harassment laws in suggesting, defensively this week, that only a small proportion of sexual assaults are reported to police, that of these, only about 10 per cent are developed to the point of charges against the perpetrator, and that of these, only about 10 per cent advance to a conviction.

Pearls and Irritations

John Menadue's Public Policy Journal