June 26, 2025

Australian CEOs are still getting their bonuses. Performance doesn’t seem to matter so much

Almost all of Australia’s top chief executives are, according to their boards at least, knocking it out of the park in terms of performance.

June 15, 2025

US progressives say stop supporting 'rogue genocidal regime' as Israel wages illegal war on Iran

“Trump must act immediately to suspend all military support to Israel and stop allowing US arms to fuel war crimes, mass civilian death, and regional collapse,” said one critic.

June 1, 2025

Jerry Falwell and the Christian culture wars

In May 1979, Jerry Falwell invited a select group of Christian conservative leaders to a strategic planning retreat at his Lynchburg, VA, estate.

June 25, 2025

Let one version win – ours

The Church burned translators of the Latin Bible into English in the late 14th century and forbade its teachings, to ensure only one narrative ruled. Australian sinophobes want their version of what the People’s Republic of China is doing, thinking and planning to prevail.

July 14, 2025

Message from the editor

Anthony Albanese left for China two days ago. If you relied solely on some parts of the Australian media, you’d think he was handing over the silverware and snuggling up with the People’s Liberation Army.

June 17, 2025

Universities and the 'definition' of antisemitism

Antisemitism is a despicable phenomenon with a long and dismal history, sadly promoted by significant elements in Christianity for many centuries as well as by other secular ideologies, and we do well to guard against it.

June 16, 2025

Trump's tariffs look exceptionally bad for Taiwan

The direct impact of the extraordinary, “Liberation Day” US tariff regime is bad for Taiwan. The indirect effects may prove to be graphically worse.

June 14, 2025

Reflections on Ukraine’s 'Spider Web' and other attacks on Russia: why the euphoria?

Reports by invested parties of battlefield success in most wars — and the war between Russian and Ukraine is an exemplary case — are best read when accompanied by the aphorism of the ancient Greek tragic dramatist, Aeschylus — in war, truth is the first casualty — and then following the unfolding of Newton’s 3rd Law as applied to war reportage: every claim is met with a counter-claim until something resembling an account corresponding to observable facts emerges. This, almost without exception, reduces the original version to an ambitious fable.

April 15, 2025

How Trump’s tariffs will affect Pacific islands

Most Pacific island countries got off relatively lightly when Donald Trump announced his “reciprocal” tariffs. Ten were levied tariffs of 10%, the minimum handed out. (Timor-Leste also got a 10% tariff.) Three Pacific nations were given higher rates: Vanuatu (23%), Nauru (30%) and Fiji (32%).

July 3, 2025

Trump’s worldview is causing a global shift of alliances – what does this mean for nations in the middle?

Since US President Donald Trump took office this year, one theme has come up time and again: his rule is a threat to the US-led international order.

June 12, 2025

Now AI can imitate a deceased loved one. Should it?

As another anniversary of my husband’s death approaches, I’ve been wondering if I want AI to “resurrect” him.

May 9, 2025

Danger: Global security is now in the hands of Trump, Rubio and Hegseth

The United States is a national security state. Over the past half-century, it has unnecessarily conducted “forever wars” in Vietnam (1960s-1970s), Iraq (2000s-the present), Afghanistan (2000s-2020), and now possibly in Yemen.

April 25, 2025

Federal election: When it comes to the ocean, where is the contest?

A recent ABC story announced “Federal parties compete on marine protection”. But are they really competing? So far, neither of the two major parties has said anything about ocean protection.

July 7, 2025

The Rainbow Warrior 1985-2025: French state terrorism and the end of innocence Part 1

Immediately after murdering Fernando Pereira and blowing up Greenpeace’s ship the Rainbow Warrior in Auckland harbour, several of the French agents went on a ski holiday in New Zealand’s South Island to celebrate.

May 16, 2025

China and renewable energy: Dawn of the Fourth Industrial Revolution

China’s deployment of renewable energy technologies is spectacular and globally dominant, but is not its primary focus.

May 7, 2025

Australia lays out red carpet for rapid green energy transition. Can Labor seize the moment?

What an opportunity Australia has before it.

April 11, 2025

Cartoon commentary

April 8, 2025

We should walk away — quickly — from Trump’s America

Anthony Albanese must feel that he understands how John Curtin felt after the fall of Singapore. The idea that Winston Churchill “abandoned” Australia to its fate is virtually a dogmatic myth inside Labor, not only part of the cult of Curtin but of Paul Keating, whose version of what occurred has been often repeated.

July 16, 2025

Who's afraid of Donald Trump?

With his use of extreme tariffs to punish countries with trade surpluses, US President Donald Trump seems to be making an economic fool of himself.

June 6, 2025

Mental health of workers undermined in New South Wales

The NSW Government is seeking to pursue legislative changes that would ultimately worsen mental health outcomes for working people.

May 13, 2025

Trump’s USAID cuts only accelerate the West’s miserly convergence with China

Critics of the Trump administration’s assault on foreign aid warn that it will undermine the United States’ capacity to compete with China.

May 5, 2025

Ignoring the impact of racism undermines effective policymaking

We have heard about a variety of urgent issues during the federal election campaign in the past few weeks and months, from cost of living, immigration, crime and health to housing and energy policies, but one of the topics that have received no attention — indeed never appeared high on the political agenda — is how to address racism.

May 26, 2025

Dangers and conveniences of combining great power with egomania

To take just one possible indicator, if the worldwide stampede to safe haven investments is anything to go by, there is a general sense of foreboding out there regarding President Trump’s election to a second term in office and the deleterious effects of this on the global economy, the stability of international relations and the likelihood of war with China, the genocide in Gaza, the gathering pace of global warming, authoritarian rule, and the suppression of dissent.

April 29, 2025

Fossil fuels blamed as 84% of world's coral reefs hit by worst bleaching event ever recorded

“The magnitude and extent of the heat stress is shocking,” said one marine scientist.

June 28, 2025

Japanese prime minister’s abrupt no-show at NATO summit reveals a strained alliance with the US

Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba has sent a clear signal to the Trump administration: the Japan–US relationship is in a dire state.

June 11, 2025

Award for Morrison an insult to the truth

Scott Morrison’s award is not just a political misjudgment – it is an affront to decency.

May 2, 2025

Yale, Ben-Gvir and banning Palestinian groups

Universities are in a bind. As institutions of learning and teaching, knowledge learnt and taught should, or at the very least could, be put into practice.

May 23, 2025

It’s time for Albo to lead in new directions

Anthony Albanese is coming under pressure from different sections of society to change his approach to governing and also being criticised about the lack of imagination in his approach to foreign affairs.

June 21, 2025

AUKUS submarines would be obsolete before Australia gets them

Before the drawings have been completed, new detection technology has already made RN SSN AUKUS obsolete.

June 5, 2025

A sign of hope: UN High Commissioner Navi Pillay to receive 2025 Sydney Peace Prize

The Sydney Prize jury has announced the choice of UN High Commissioner Judge Navi Pillay as the recipient of the 2025 Sydney Peace Prize. The jury’s rationale and citation reads, “Navi Pillay, for a lifetime of advocating for accountability and responsibility in the face of crimes against humanity.”

May 24, 2025

The Coalition's climate change wars: Costs and opportunities

There should be no surprise that the Nationals’ climate change denial-infected policy preferences have led to a rupture of the Coalition.

July 8, 2025

The Rainbow Warrior 1985-2025 – Nuclear refugees in the Pacific: the evacuation of Rongelap - Part 2

On the last voyage of the Rainbow Warrior prior to its sinking by French agents in Auckland harbour on 10 July 1985 the ship had evacuated the entire population (320) of Rongelap in the Marshall Islands.

May 17, 2025

Still waiting for the Asian Century? The world-system has moved on

Dr Allan Patience’s recent essay, “Australia’s misunderstanding of the Asian Century”, is a wake-up call we can no longer afford to ignore.

April 28, 2025

The resilience of Gazan writing: Resisting temporal closure

One particular aspect of Palestinian resilience during Israel’s ongoing besiegement and genocide in the Gaza Strip concerns a prodigious amount of creative writing that, besides bearing witness to circumstance and personal experience, engages cultural resistance.

May 22, 2025

Australia and China can power up Southeast Asia’s green energy transition

Australia and China share key interests in Southeast Asia in the context of a global green transition and great power rivalry.

July 12, 2025

The Texas flood, Australia and the psychology of evacuation

The Texas flood on the weekend of 4 July has produced a shocking toll – probably well over 200 people dead, including many children.

April 7, 2025

Institutionalisation: Vice-chancellors’ cowardly collusion with antisemitism lobby

In response to a Senate inquiry into supposed antisemitism on Australian university campuses, the Group of Eight (Go8) vice-chancellors representing the Australian National University, Sydney, Melbourne, Monash, UWA, UNSW, Queensland and Adelaide have produced a definition of antisemitism which is to be enforced on all their respective students and staff.

June 13, 2025

Review: Perfect Victims

Mohammed El-Kurd is a poet, writer, journalist and organiser from Jerusalem in occupied Palestine.

June 18, 2025

Social media takes over as main source of news as trust falls

A major global survey reveals that social media has overtaken news sites as Australians’ main source of news amid falling trust in news, growing concern over misinformation, and rising news avoidance.

June 8, 2025

Grounds for optimism over bilateral ties with China

As living in another country shows, mutual understanding is built on respect and openness.

May 15, 2025

An open letter to the Australian PM from a child of Holocaust survivors

Dear Anthony Albanese,

I am a child of Holocaust survivors. More than 95% of my extended family perished during World War II in Nazi extermination camps while others were killed by mobile death squads or through starvation in a number of ghettoes.

April 14, 2025

America's trade revolution: From architect to antagonist

Donald Trump called it liberation day, the day he chose to announce tariffs on most countries around the world. But there will be no liveration for Americans who will end up paying grossly inflated prices for goods from abroad.

April 10, 2025

How Australian education was captured by arms dealers

Australian universities, technical institutes and schools are becoming militarised. The power of defence industry money combined with government policy and public underfunding of education have created an avalanche of defence funding and profound influence over our education system and the people who emerge from it.

July 13, 2025

As Trump flip-flops on tariffs, what’s the point of negotiating at all?

Are the tariffs a reality show aimed at Americans, a way to gain the upper hand on China, or just a distraction from sector-specific duties?

June 20, 2025

Patrick Lawrence: World’s most dangerous man and his enabler

Netanyahu has craved this war with Iran for decades, always justifying his psychotic lust by way of endless lies and an apparently bottomless paranoia.

July 15, 2025

NYT report says Netanyahu prolonged war on Gaza to stay in power

“He pressed ahead with the war in April and July 2024, even as top generals told him that there was no further military advantage to continuing,” reports The New York Times.

May 1, 2025

The fall of Saigon: From triumph to Trump (Part 3)

On 30 April 1975, Saigon fell, Vietnam rose. The story of Vietnam after the US fled the country is not a fairy tale, it is not a one-dimensional parable of resurrection, of liberation from oppression, of joy for all, but there is a great deal to celebrate.

April 30, 2025

Whither national urban policy?

Urban policy in Australia, despite our historically high level of urbanisation, has made only on-off appearances at the federal level of government.

July 4, 2025

What are police allowed to do at protests and who keeps them in check?

Earlier this week, former Greens candidate Hannah Thomas was hospitalised with serious injuries after being arrested at a protest in Sydney.

Pearls and Irritations

John Menadue's Public Policy Journal