April 26, 2025

If Einstein spoke today, he would be accused of antisemitism

In 1948, as the foundations of the Israeli state were being laid upon the ruins of hundreds of Palestinian villages, Albert Einstein wrote a letter to the American Friends of the Fighters for the Freedom of Israel, condemning the growing Zionist militancy within the settler Jewish community.

June 19, 2025

Goodbye to all that? Rethinking Australia’s alliance with Trump’s America

Even the most ardent supporters of the alliance with the United States — the notional foundation of Australian security for more than 70 years — must be having some misgivings about the second coming of Donald Trump.

May 14, 2025

An open letter to The Greens

On election night, I sat glued to the TV, hanging on Antony Green’s every word. All I wanted was the defeat of the Liberals and huge gains for the Greens.

July 5, 2025

World Bank warns that changes are coming in the global economy

The World Bank’s just released flagship report Global Economic Prospects sounds a warning for the global economy, which is projected to slow dangerously through the next few years, while also showing substantial changes.

May 3, 2025

Being a good international citizen in a Trumpian world

We live in troubling times, globally and regionally, with not the least of our troubles being the current occupant of the White House.

June 30, 2025

South Korea’s democracy in the shadow of the far-right

On 4 April 2025, South Korea’s Constitutional Court unanimously ruled to remove the impeached president Yoon Suk-yeol, claiming he “violated the constitutional order and posed a serious threat to the Democratic Republic”.

May 27, 2025

A defining moment for the future of Palestine

A United Nations conference in New York between 17 and 20 June will be a defining moment for the future of Palestinian statehood and the endlessly debated, but never resolved, policy known as the two-state solution.

May 10, 2025

The Racial Discrimination Act at 50

The passage 50 years ago of the Racial Discrimination Act, Australia’s first substantial piece of human rights legislation, laid the basis for the recognition of native title in the common law in the 1990s.

July 9, 2025

BRICS+ meets in Rio amid global shifts and internal fractures

As leaders of the group gather for a summit, the absence of China’s Xi and Russia’s Putin shifts the spotlight to India’s Modi and Brazil’s Lula.

June 24, 2025

Israel’s war with Iran exposes fragility of Jewish supremacy

Netanyahu’s government is ceding violence against its own people in order to obscure its lack of political power.

June 23, 2025

The unravelling of American exceptionalism: The inevitable decay of hegemony built on crassness - Part 1

In early May 2025, as Roman Catholic Cardinals gathered to pick the next Pope, US President Donald Trump posted an AI-generated image of him as the Pope shortly after saying, “I would like to be Pope.”

May 12, 2025

Recognising and embracing AI in research

Artificial intelligence and human endeavour can work together in harmony to reshape scholarly work.

May 31, 2025

Australian whistleblower David McBride’s appeal rejected

The Australian Government whistleblower is headed back to jail with no end in sight to his incarceration. He is serving nearly six years for leaking documents to the media exposing Australian war crimes in Afghanistan.

May 20, 2025

After the victory: Kelty’s warning and why it’s still not enough

The Labor Party has just secured a resounding second-term mandate – defying forecasts, media pessimism and internal doubts.

June 12, 2025

Australia should use its power as an independent voice to push for peace

Australia occupies a unique position in the global landscape, bridging East and West both geographically and culturally. Yet it continues to underuse its potential as an independent, peace-building voice in international affairs.

May 19, 2025

The vanishing elders of Australian politics

Australia is ageing. An estimated 14% of our population is now over the age of 70 – more than one in seven citizens.

April 9, 2025

‘Selling a pup’: Is this election a populist contest after Trump?

In 2025, after nearly 50 years of global neoliberalism since Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher, the rich have got richer and inequalities have grown.

June 27, 2025

How lobbyists are blocking bans on advertising for online gambling – and putting young Australians at risk

Two years ago this week, the late Labor MP Peta Murphy tabled a landmark parliamentary report — You Win Some, You Lose More — calling for a phased ban on gambling advertising.

June 3, 2025

Malaysia keeps fractious ASEAN family together

Kudos to Malaysia. Putrajaya has just finished hosting the 46th ASEAN summit in Kuala Lumpur over six days. Judging from the attendance, statements and declarations, the summit was a great success.

May 21, 2025

Beijing’s global vision takes shape in Africa

Mao Zedong once famously declared that “political power grows out of the barrel of a gun”. But almost a century later, China realises that triumphing in an increasingly multipolar world also requires shaping public opinion. Accordingly, Beijing is rearranging its foreign policy outlook – especially in Africa.

July 11, 2025

Not waving, drowning – Indonesia may lose warming battle

This is the way the world ends, not with a bang but a flooding: With apologies to T. S. Eliot

June 2, 2025

Tariff shockwaves: Indonesia’s export strategy under fire

While trade negotiation between Indonesia and the US is still underway, the archipelago must reassess its non-tariff measures to address US concerns while ensuring fair trade practices and maintaining economic stability.

May 30, 2025

Three ways to support young people with mental ill-health

The social and economic cost of youth mental ill-health in Australia is a burning issue that will persist unless we urgently and actively change the way the system interacts with young people and their families.

May 29, 2025

Aid cuts resulting in a more unkind and unsafe world

More than 305 million people need humanitarian assistance globally today – a staggering number that has almost trebled over the past decade.

May 6, 2025

P&I authors expose Israeli atrocities, but with what effect?

In his emotional victory speech after winning the 3 May election, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese referred to Australian values such as kindness, and Foreign Minister Penny Wong described him as a man of compassion.

June 10, 2025

‘Deadly’ sports diplomacy: why Australia’s Indigenous people must be a part of our sports strategy

The fact that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders have practised sports diplomacy for more than 60,000 years is a powerful story.

June 4, 2025

International observers find Philippine mid-term elections not free and fair

In September 2023, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese met Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr to upgrade the relationship between the two countries from “comprehensive” to “ strategic” partnership.

May 8, 2025

The Coalition is killing the Liberal Party

The 2008 merger of the Liberal and National parties of Queensland to form the Liberal National Party (Queensland) initially had little impact outside the Sunshine State.

April 16, 2025

Giving birth to the new international order

The multipolar world will be born when the geopolitical weight of Asia, Africa, and Latin America matches their rising economic weight.

June 7, 2025

Talk of a two-state solution may not go much further

A two-state solution to the Israel-Palestinian problem has not been mentioned for ages, but was revived recently. However, it may end with just that – talk.

July 10, 2025

Tariff deadline extended as Trump’s trade talks falter

It was supposed to be 90 trade deals in 90 days, turbocharged by the threat of ‘ Liberation Day’ tariffs.

April 28, 2025

A couple of seats that could go against the anti-Dutton grain

“The people have spoken.” “We have a clear mandate.” Really? In many cases, like the landslides of 1975 and 1996, the above quotes are undoubtedly true. But in others, like 1984 and 1998, I’m not so sure.

April 24, 2025

Yes, we do need a population plan

Abul Rizvi rightly argues that “ we desperately need a population plan to enable better planning for our future by governments at all levels, and businesses”.

April 23, 2025

Surreptitious Victorian native forest logging

The Victorian Government claims that it exited native forest logging in 2024. However, it has not legislated this exit. And, notably, logging is continuing through other nefarious and highly cynical means.

April 22, 2025

The great election silence

Australian elections are often marked less by what is promised or talked about, and more by absences. There’s much about tax cuts, but little or nothing about tax rorts, such as negative gearing. Policy area after policy area has such absences.

April 17, 2025

Trump: a ridiculous ego and incredibly ignorant

The analysis underpinning Donald Trump’s tariff policy is fatally flawed. Thus, it will fail to achieve its objective of restoring the living standards of his MAGA supporters.

April 22, 2025

Baseload power is functionally extinct

Much has been made of the notion that “renewables can’t supply baseload power”. This line suggests we need to replace Australia’s ageing coal fleet with new coal or nuclear. The fact of the matter is that, already, “baseload” is an outdated concept and baseload generators face extinction.

June 21, 2025

Beyond the rhetoric: Youth and anti-corruption efforts in Indonesia

If Indonesia’s President Joko Widodo was known for his Nawacita (nine goals), his successor Prabowo Subianto is introducing Astacita — an approach centred on eight strategic agendas, one of which focuses on eliminating corruption.

June 9, 2025

The Hegseth directive: Australia, spend more!

Australia’s obsequiousness before US power was again on show at the Shangri-La Dialogue, a security forum convened by the International Institute for Strategic Studies to discuss matters relevant to the Indo-Pacific.

June 19, 2025

Home Affairs and the bleak hole of humanitarian visa processing – Part 1

There is no shortage of evidence – vulnerable women in Afghanistan are in a dire situation as the Taliban continues to advance its stance on gender apartheid.

July 9, 2025

Two percent wealth tax on just 3000 billionaires could raise US$250b a year: Nobel economists

“Not only is it necessary to impose a stronger burden of justice on billionaires, but more importantly, it is possible.”

June 17, 2025

China is increasingly present in US Latin American backyard

From the time when US President James Monroe announced what has become known as the Monroe Doctrine in 1823, warning European states to stay out of the hemisphere, the US has considered Latin America to be its backyard.

May 23, 2025

The gardens of the starships

For centuries, the West has lived by the myth of the explorer. The ship leaving port, the map unfilled, the promise of something just beyond the horizon – this was our civilisational grammar.

July 3, 2025

India’s state and central governments still aren’t speaking the same language

The first rule of discussing language policy in India is to leave any expectations of a calm conversation at the door.

June 13, 2025

A naval force to escort humanitarian aid is an act of peace

In honour of a brave Gazan fisherwoman Madleen Kulab, the international aid boat of the same name was turned back to an Israeli port.

June 7, 2025

Australia doing nothing to attract American scientific talent

Australia has an historic opportunity to expand its scientific research and reap significant benefits.

May 30, 2025

On lone-wolf attacks: past, present and emerging

Ninety-nine years ago, on 25 May 1926, a man in his late forties walked down the street in the Latin Quarter in Paris.

June 10, 2025

What Trump is building is the problem, not the man himself

We treat Donald Trump as the primary obstacle to a smooth trade order but he is not the problem. What he is building is the problem because it replicates the rising mechanisms of democratically elected political fascism.

May 29, 2025

Japan needs diversity amid demographic decline

In Japan, diversity is increasingly becoming a demographic necessity rather than a policy choice.

Pearls and Irritations

John Menadue's Public Policy Journal