July 16, 2017

MUNGO MacCALLUM. Caught in the endless travails of his ungovernable party room, Frydenberg has procrastinated yet again.

The most remarkable thing our Prime Minister said last week was not his claim that the party founded by Sir Robert Menzies was not Conservative but Liberal even liberal, a touch progressive.

This has furrowed brows and raised gorges, and not only from the right wing rump and their media claque. But it was at least a matter of debate, and so was duly debated.

February 20, 2018

Joined at the hip, Mr. Turnbull goes to Washington this week. Part 2 of 2. Repost

We are a nation in denial that we are joined at the hip to a dangerous ally. Apart from brief isolationist periods, the US has been almost perpetually at war, wars that we have often foolishly been drawn into. The US has subverted and overthrown numerous governments over two centuries. It has a military and business complex, almost a hidden state, that depends on war for influence and enrichment. It believes in its manifest destiny which brings with it an assumed moral superiority denied to others. As the US goes into relative economic decline, it will ask allies such as Australia for more help and support. We are running great risks in committing so much of our future to the US. We must build our security in our own region and not depend so exclusively on a foreign protector.

In Part 1 yesterday I outlined the facts and reasons for the US being almost always at war. Today I highlight that the risks pre date Trump and discuss the role of the media and others in keeping us in denial about the risks in our dependence on the US.

October 14, 2018

MUNGO MACCALLUM. ScoMo , public relations, marketing and billboards

They say that if the only tool you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail. And perhaps if the only life experience you have is in PR, everything looks like a billboard.

March 6, 2021

Canberra; the entertainment capital

Canberra is, without a doubt, the entertainment capital of Australia. It has travelling picture shows, a lovely lake with a splendid waterspout,and a high court, architecturally modelled on a squash court, where people in period costume debate weighty matters although attendance is meagre as jokes are rare and usually accidental.

September 10, 2021

The Other 9/11: secrecy fight over Australian spies helping CIA overthrow Chile's President

On the eve of its 48th anniversary, documents just declassified by the Australian National Archives show the extent to which the Australian Secret Intelligence Service (ASIS) worked closely with the CIA in the lead-up to the coup-d’tat in Chile in September 1973. Story by Peter Kornbluh and Clinton Fernandes.

October 14, 2018

MICHAEL KEATING. The Change from Turnbull to Morrison: What Difference has It Made?

Now that Scott Morrison has passed the fifty-day landmark as Prime Minister, this article considers what has changed since the demise of Malcolm Turnbull and what difference Scott Morrison will make in resolving the major policy challenges that Australia is facing.

January 31, 2018

STEPHANIE DOWRICK. Weapons of Moral Destruction

A few days ago I drove with a friend from Sydney to Leura in NSWs Blue Mountains. We were heading towards a meditation centre and on the way shared views about social justice and most especially peace activism. As long-time meditators, we were tossing ideas back and forth about how we can most effectively align political activity sometimes driven by outrage - with personal peace of mind.

March 6, 2021

The NBN, a litany of failures

There is no greater example of deception, incompetence, short-sightedness and poor economic management by this government than when it comes to the National Broadband Network.

October 14, 2018

ALAN FINKEL. The science is clear: we have to start creating our low-carbon future today.

This weeks release of the special report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has put scientific evidence on the front page of the worlds newspapers.

August 8, 2017

LYNDSAY CONNORS. The Coalition applauds most queue jumpers.

The sound of transactional businessmen - Trump and Turnbull-brokering a Faustian bargain was never going to be edifying. The question is how Australians want to deal and to be seen to deal with the world as it is, while working out how we would like it to be.

March 16, 2018

JENNY HOCKING. News release. The Palace Letters.

TODAY, Friday 16 March 2018, Justice Griffiths handed down his decision in the Federal Court actionJennifer Hocking vDirector-General, National Archives of Australia',in favour of the National Archives. Justice Griffiths has ruled that the Palace letters between the Queen and the Governor-General, Sir John Kerr, at the time of the Whitlam dismissal are personal not Commonwealth records and donot come under the Archives Act. The Queen's embargo will continue and thePalace letters will notbe released. The decision has maintained the long-standingpractice of designating the Monarchs letters as personal rather than official Commonwealth records, ensuring the continued Royal secrecy over her correspondence, including with the Governor-General,regardless of its content or historic importance. With this decision, the Federal Court has continued the Queens embargo on their release, potentially indefinitely. The hidden history of the dismissal of the Whitlam government will remainhidden.Professor Jenny Hocking says:'We are obviously extremely disappointed with the outcome of thisimportant case. The decision by Justice Griffithscontinues the Queen's indefinite embargo over her correspondence with Governor-General, Sir John Kerr, denying Australian's access to keydocuments about an important part of our history. It is adisappointing decision for our history,specifically for the history of the dismissal which has long been cast in secrecy. Unfortunately, that secrecy will now continue.' 'Our legal team is currently examining the decision in greater detail and we will have more to say on this and any possible future developments shortly.'

In our view, as argued by our legal team as led by Antony Whitlam QC, the Palace letters areofficial Commonwealth records relating to a critical time in our history,and not personal records. They form part of our national historical estate which Australians should share. With thisdecision, rejecting calls for the release of the Palace letters, one of the last remaining pieces in the secret history of the dismissal of the Whitlam government,will remain secret, and the full story of the dismissal cannotyet be told.

It is astonishing and demeaning to Australia as an independent nation that access to the Queens communications with Governors-General continues to be at the whim of the Queen. Todays decision has maintained this residual British control over Australian archival material, kept from us in the name of the Queen through the exercise of a Royal veto'.

'Icall on the prime minister, a committed republican, to make good his stated support for therelease ofthese letters and advise the Queen to lift her embargo'.

'I wishto thank the legal team all of whom worked on a pro bono basis, Antony Whitlam QC and Tom Brennan, instructed by Corrs, Chambers, Westgarth, for their tireless work and commitment. Without them this case could never have proceeded, and could never even have been imagined. We owe them a great debt of gratitude for their public-spirited pursuit of accountability and transparency at the very highest levels. I also thank and acknowledge the hundreds of supporters of the crowd-funding campaign release the Palace lettersand who have followed its way through the Court with such enthusiasm.' For more background details on the case,read here.

August 7, 2017

CHRIS BONNOR. NAPLAN has just turned ten. So what?

NAPLAN is not unlike some kids I have known: conceived in haste as a result of a rush of blood, a bit of an erratic upbringing (from a variety of guardians), confusion as to purpose in life and fervent hopes that he/she/it will turn out right in the end. Each year there is a birthday, accompanied by a mixture of hand wringing, pious hopes and future plans that might show it was all worthwhile.

July 14, 2015

Bruce Duncan. Pope Francis calls for a global economy with a conscience

In his July trip to Ecuador, Bolivia and Paraguay, some of the poorest countries in Latin America, Pope Francis has voiced the anguish and concerns of millions of people struggling to rise out of severe poverty and marginalisation, yet are exploited like slaves.

Speaking to a crowd of two million people in Santa Cruz on 9 July, Francis attacked a mentality that has room only for a select few, while it discards all those who are unproductive, unsuitable or unworthy, since clearly those people dont add up.

February 27, 2018

RICHARD TANTER. Joined at the hip with Donald Trump and implications for Pine Gap and Australian sovereignty.

In the repost below from 18 December 2017, Richard Tanter pointed out

_Apart from the multiple USSoviet nuclear crises of 1983__, there has probably never been a more important time for Australians to consider the immediate implications of hosting Pine Gap. In the event of war on the Korean peninsula, Pine Gap hardwires Australia into US military operations, whether Canberra likes it or not. Pine Gap today is a US battlefield asset, and if President Trump_s threat to totally destroy North Korea shifts from rhetoric to policy, Australia will automatically be involved in the second Korean War, unless the Turnbull government turns away from joined at the hip rhetoric of alliance to join the German blanket rejection of its and Canberras allys belligerence.

October 14, 2018

WILLIAM BRIGGS. The Chinese threat in far away Hobart.

Two events in the past couple of weeks have signalled disturbing trends in local and global politics. It might seem a long bow to draw a link between a city council election in Hobart with the sometimes rarefied atmosphere of international relations, but there is a link and it is a serious one.

August 10, 2017

RANALD MACDONALD. ABC deal comes back to haunt Government.

Make a deal for political expediency and then unforseen consequences usually follow.

January 19, 2018

JOHN MENADUE. The ongoing spin that Tony Abbott and the Coalition stopped the boats.- A REPOST from August 3 2017

Peter Hughes and I posted two blogs in September 2015 (Slogans versus facts on boat arrivals Part 1 and Part 2) that pointed out first, that Tony Abbott kept the door open for tens of thousands of boat arrivals by opposing legislation that would have enabled implementation of the Malaysia Arrangement of September 2011**.** Secondly, we pointed out that Tony Abbotts role in stopping the boats was at the margins and vastly overrated.

August 9, 2017

BOB CARR. The Case for Recognition of Palestine

A speech given by the Honourable Bob Carr at the NSW ALP Conference on 30 July 2017

August 3, 2017

How Trump is trashing the US Department of State.

In the New York Times International Edition of 29 July 2017, Roger Cohen writes -Why is Trump hollowing out the State Department? Is it punishment for Hillary Clintons department? Or an extreme iteration of the deconstruction of the administrative state sought by Trumps chief strategist, Steve Bannon? Roger Cohen writes…

October 1, 2014

Peter Day. The Middle East: it's important to talk.

David was a good Jewish man: faithful to his God; devoted to his family, and deeply connected to his land.

Khalid was a good Palestinian man: faithful to his God; devoted to his family, and deeply connected to his land.

Each year, in early spring, David and Khalid would meet for a chat at a small cafe. It always began with a respectful, silent handshake. Then, after a kindly nod towards the waiter, the pair would sit down.

July 8, 2025

The one-word problem for Israel

The massive, almost universal, support nations have provided Israel since the Hamas attacks is eroding around the world and new research indicates that most people surveyed over 24 countries now have negative views of Israel and Netanyahu.

April 8, 2025

If I were the minister for health...

When preparing for this, I did look back at what I had written in 2022 on the same topic and I’m sad to report, dear reader, that our current minister hasn’t implemented many of my innovative suggestions from last time, apart from some minor parts of my suggestions about workforce planning.

July 18, 2025

The Tasmanian election on 19 July won’t fix the mess

A Joint Commonwealth/State Health Commission could help address health failure.

May 30, 2025

Why Australia should recognise Palestinian statehood

The question for the Australian Government is, how can we most constructively persuade Israel to change course?

April 22, 2025

If I were minister for school education…

There will be no quick or easy way to redesign the existing school system.

June 23, 2025

Bombing Iran a clear breach of international law

As the world reacts to the entry of the US into Israel’s attack on Iran, Greg Barns says the actions betray the rules-based order.

June 8, 2025

Glenn Diesen and Jeffrey Sachs - NATO & Russia on the brink of nuclear war

Prof. Jeffrey Sachs is a world-renowned economics professor, an advisor to political leaders around the world, a bestselling author, and a global leader in sustainable development. Prof. Sachs discusses the decline of diplomacy, rationality and self-preservation in the West. As Russia’s nuclear forces were attacked, Western political leaders and media reacted with glee.

April 12, 2025

AUKUS turning point – Sydney Morning Herald calls for review

Since the AUKUS deal was signed in 2021 _Pearls and Irritations_ has led a high-profile debate on the $368 billion deal, questioning whether it serves our interests. This week we saw a significant turning point. An editorial in the Sydney Morning Herald calls on the Australian Government to follow the UK lead, and launch an inquiry into the deal. Below is the full text of the e_ditorial._

April 8, 2025

Albanese and housing 2022-25: hyperactivity without a plan

Yet again, as a federal election approaches, we look set for a national debate in which competing housing policy offers will take centre stage. The Greens began to unveil their pitch back in 2024 and the Coalition has now started to follow suit.

May 20, 2025

Yes, it's a genocide

Building on Monday’s piece outlining a shift in scholarly opinions on Palestine globally, we bring you a very powerful short video, narrated by Israeli professor of holocaust studies, Amos Goldberg. He says: “A radical atmosphere of dehumanisation of Palestinians prevails in Israeli society to an extent that I cannot remember in my 58 years of living here.”

June 15, 2025

PM Albanese promises to restore trust in democracy

But his record does not give grounds for confidence. In his National Press Club address, PM Albanese referred to the “trust deficit” in other democracies such as the US. The clear inference is that Australia does not have a “trust” deficit.

May 22, 2025

Starvation of Gaza a continuation of a decades-old plan

Israel’s plan to push out all Palestinians from the Gaza Strip has been contemplated as long back as 1967, soon after the Six-Day War ended.

June 21, 2025

A new cold war is sweeping across Europe – with global repercussions

The last three and more years have seen the bloodiest war on European soil for the better part of 80 years.

June 6, 2025

Media shortcomings in covering terrorist Netanyahu’s daily Gaza mass murders

Opposition by former high officials in Israeli’s military and national security establishment and Israeli allies – France, England, and Germany – to the aimless killing of civilian families in Gaza is increasing.

June 3, 2025

Appointing a new secretary of PM&C

The appointment of a new secretary of PM&C demonstrates, perhaps better than anything else, the attitude of the prime minister, and the government as a whole, towards the public service. The secretary must form a close relationship with the PM, but must also recognise his or her key role in promoting the APS Values, including non-partisanship.

April 17, 2025

Israel is about to empty Gaza

As Israel prepares to ethnically cleanse the whole of Gaza, it is also setting the stage for a regional crisis.

July 17, 2025

Our last, best chance – national environment laws that protect nature and power the net zero economy

“I am addressing you today in my capacity as the chair of the Australian Climate and Biodiversity Foundation (ACBF). The ACBF is a not-for-profit, founded in 2021 to help decision-makers find means of securing the restoration of Australia’s natural environment in ways that support a thriving 21st century economy.”

July 5, 2025

Israel: The true superpower? Journalist exposes global threat in explosive Sydney talk

In a searing address to a sold-out crowd in Sydney on Saturday night 28 June 2025, award-winning Australian investigative journalist Antony Loewenstein declared that Israel has quietly become the world’s most dangerous superpower, wielding weapons, surveillance technology, and AI systems perfected on Palestinians to control populations across many countries.

June 12, 2025

Why does international justice fail to prosecute war criminals in Gaza?

Is documentation enough to achieve justice? Since the onset of the Israeli war on Gaza in October 2023, human rights organisations have relentlessly documented severe violations.

June 4, 2025

Navigating a world of revisionist powers

We are living in a world with three leading great powers — all with explicitly revisionist aims when it comes to the international “rules-based order”.

April 7, 2025

Small policy, big impact

It’s too early to predict the outcome of the election – notwithstanding the swing back to Labor reported by recent published polls. Anything could happen to change voting intentions in the last weeks of the campaign.

June 30, 2025

Scrubbing away the bloodstains, tipping out the truth

Lit lovers argue who first said “History is written by the victors”. It’s sharp enough to belong to Churchill, though earlier and longer versions come from politicians in the US and Germany – including fascist Hermann Göring.

July 4, 2025

Genocide in Gaza: History repeats itself

For the past 21 months, I have endured the painful experience of displacement, moving between tents under relentless bombardment in Gaza.

April 28, 2025

'Never again' not only for Jews, but for Palestinians and all humanity

Israel has no right of self-defence against resistance in lands that are illegally occupied.

July 1, 2025

The contemporary world is run by political dinosaurs facing extinction

An aging generation of mostly male leaders is presently occupying the commanding heights of the most powerful states around the world.

June 20, 2025

Speaking out from within: Jewish voices confront Israeli aggression

As Israel’s military campaign in Gaza reaches unprecedented levels of destruction, a global wave of protest has emerged.

June 14, 2025

Australian Honours: review

Twice a year Government House issues a list of those awarded an honour within the Australian Honours system. The vast majority of those awarded are clearly worthy of recognition, but each time the list appears there is a level of contention.

May 24, 2025

Millions want intervention to stop Israeli slaughter of Palestinians

Across Australia, around the globe, millions of people have been outraged by Israeli slaughter in Gaza and on the West Bank, their outrage compounded by despair that Israel has been given a blank cheque to ignore international law, to do what it likes.

May 14, 2025

Australia’s misunderstanding of the Asian Century

In October 2012, Prime Minister Julia Gillard released a white paper titled Australia in the Asian Century.

Pearls and Irritations

John Menadue's Public Policy Journal