April 14, 2025

Gaza's trees now bear a strange fruit

Nobody following the real news, and aware of the long history of colonial occupation, ever believed that Zionist Israel would proceed into the second phase of the ceasefire as agreed.

May 3, 2025

'I am not afraid of you,' freed Mohsen Mahdawi tells Donald Trump

A court’s order for the release of a detained student protest leader, said one lawyer, “is a victory for all people in this country invested in their ability to dissent and speak and protest”.

June 18, 2025

Israel uses Iran's enrichment program as pretext for regime change

The war against Iran is a chance to bolster Netanyahu’s fledging right-wing credentials. Tehran’s response to Israel’s offensive in the last two days has been muted.

May 5, 2025

The American Dream

“That’s why they call it the American Dream, because you have to be asleep to believe it.” George Carlin. American humourist

April 23, 2025

Health and the election: Band-aids when surgery is needed

Health policies are out and there is little difference between the two major parties. The policies definitely help patients afford to see GPs and get medication.

June 10, 2025

Decommissioning rates show gas heating could be gone by 2032, but oil exec bonuses might suffer

While Peter Dutton lost the election and with it his plan to force gas exporters to reserve a portion of their gas for domestic Australian consumers, concerns around availability of gas are not going away. According to AEMO, Victoria, NSW and South Australia are on the verge of gas shortages by around 2028 to 2029.

June 1, 2025

Sydney Harbour Bridge walk – unsuspected joy and hope

At the end of reconciliation week it is time to look back at a extraordinary event. While Aboriginal people remained quiet and uncomplaining, most of our leaders showed very little interest in them. And “average Australians”, they believed, were right behind them. Didn’t social media and talkback radio prove that?

June 5, 2025

Shangri-la is not Shangri-la

Asia, and China’s relationship with Asia, is a more complex environment than that understood by Pete Hegseth, Donald Trump and many in the West. This Shangri-la dialogue sought false friendship, and portended little peace and tranquillity.

May 16, 2025

As costs rise, poll shows most Americans blame Trump

“Working families are seeing their grocery bills and other prices skyrocketing thanks to President Trump’s erratic trade policies, and they know full well who is to blame,” said one critic.

July 4, 2025

The Western allies of the US as vassal states

A vassal state is one that retains some autonomy at home but is effectively dominated by another power in its foreign affairs.

May 24, 2025

Labor bankrolls wealthy sportsmen, but underfunds a crisis of violence against women and children

On average, one woman is killed every nine days by a current or former partner in Australia. Twenty-four women and seven children reportedly have been killed by violence this year, with five deaths occurring since the federal election was announced.

April 25, 2025

Election looms, time to ramp up the China scare campaign: Anti-China Media Watch

Hampered by an underwhelming election campaign — where the Labor/LNP “uniparty” faces the harsh reality that the punters don’t think China is about to invade Australia — Murdoch media is going all out to put those commie bastards front and centre. There’s the inconvenient truth that the Australian military is gearing up to hit China with a barrage of US-made missiles; the Chinese Communist Party is meddling in the affairs of the Catholic Church; and a 60 Minutes report tells us Barbie has fallen victim to the Chinese.

April 9, 2025

Nuclear power: Fukushima’s lessons for Australia

In November 2011, eight months after the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear disaster, I travelled with Japanese colleagues to Iitate, a village some 50 kilometres from the stricken power plant._

June 3, 2025

The US dual economy: trending toward the periphery

Over the past 45 years, the United States has experienced deepening economic divisions between the rich and poor.

May 13, 2025

Indonesia's old guard wants its old world back

Anthony Albanese’s pilgrimage to Jakarta this week as the new prime minister follows the standard post-election Hi Neighbours goodwill wave. But this time the parades and handshakes may get blurred by heat from Indonesia’s simmering Constitutional crisis.

April 10, 2025

Will there be a war between China and the US?

Will there be a war between China and the US? This question suddenly gained popularity in early April 2024, mainly because, in response to Donald Trump’s so-called “reciprocal tariff” policy, China was the first country to impose strict countermeasures.

July 10, 2025

The housing crisis is everyone's problem

The housing crisis has been decades in the making but we cannot afford decades to solve it.

April 26, 2025

The Syrian genocide and its dangers for Australia

Members of the Australian Alawite community are receiving harrowing messages from their families and friends in Syria.

June 26, 2025

Beyond Iran: the precarious balance of global oil prices

The world is more resilient and energy-efficient than in the 1970s, yet broader structural vulnerabilities persist and could hit Asia hard.

June 11, 2025

Chinese flotilla fallout still has some attempting a beat-up

There is little or no evidence that China poses a direct military threat to Australia. However, the Sinophobes among political ranks and the commentariat are trying to ensure that Beijing will treat Canberra as a hostile entity.

April 16, 2025

When elephants clash: The strategic logic behind Trump’s tariffs and China’s response

The world is mesmerised — and unsettled — by US President Donald Trump’s tariffs.

June 24, 2025

War is the worst thing in the world

War is the worst thing in the world. It is the single craziest behaviour exhibited by humans. The most destructive. The most traumatising. The least sustainable. The least conducive to human thriving.

May 6, 2025

Trump is the symptom of a deeper American malaise

The US president’s disruptive policies reveal a superpower unsettled by its waning dominance.

April 29, 2025

Are voters really dumb?

Why do our political parties treat voters as if they are all dumb? Surely we deserve better than l.c.d. (lowest common denominator) politics?

July 8, 2025

Squad a strategic boon for India and the Quad

Manila is considering expanding the “Squad” — a security coalition focused on operational maritime deterrence comprised of the US, Japan, Australia and the Philippines — to include India and South Korea.

June 16, 2025

Misgivings in the heart of the defence state

On a quiet Wednesday night in Adelaide recently about 50 people met in a church hall to share concerns about the militarisation of their schools and universities.

June 30, 2025

OK Boomers not so okay

I was born in 1954, a year after the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II. That makes me 71. It also makes me a baby Boomer, part of an ageing population, that, like Charles and Camilla, is increasingly seen as both irrelevant and privileged. Not to mention a burden on the public purse.

April 8, 2025

Trump's tariffs appear to be misdirected

President Donald Trump has said his recent raft of tariff measures amounted to “Liberation Day” for US traders and not a fatal blow for a global trading system that has served international commerce well for decades following the turbulence that existed prior to and up to the Second World War in the early 1940s.

June 4, 2025

Marles' tough guy tosh hurts Australia

Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles is a provocateur. His hawkish language kindles military confrontation between the United States and the Peoples’ Republic of China.

May 17, 2025

Water is a vital part of population policy

If ecological sustainability must be the basis for population policy, as argued by Jenny Goldie, then a vital ingredient for sustainability is water – the essence of life.

May 7, 2025

'Genocide in action' as 60-day blockade plunges Gaza into mass starvation

The two-month-long siege is a “clear and calculated effort to collectively punish over two million civilians and to make Gaza unliveable”.

May 15, 2025

Is government a good 'parent' to foster kids?

Australian Governments have an opportunity to make a huge positive difference in the lives of the young people who grow up in its care. All that is needed is one simple change.

July 7, 2025

Achieving health equity in Australia

The recently launched World Report on the Social Determinants of Health Equity, by the World Health Organisation (WHO, 2025), paints a stark picture of the differences in ill-health, poor well-being, disease and mortality within and between countries, that arise from unfair and avoidable social conditions.

June 25, 2025

'It changes everything': Plunging costs of PV and batteries mean 24-hour solar a growing reality

The plunging cost of solar PV and battery storage has opened up a new frontier in the transition to green energy, according to a new report, with cities and industries around the world now able to access low-cost, 24-hour solar generation.

July 2, 2025

Research misconduct: Strengthening Australia’s research integrity system

A new book, Doctored: Fraud, Arrogance and Tragedy in the Quest to Cure Alzheimer’s by Charles Piller is a deeply dispiriting story. Dispiriting in particular, as it yet again tells a story of harmful unchecked research misconduct.

June 2, 2025

Where's Tony? Minister for the arts keep low profile

When glancing across the faces of the new Albanese ministry, you’d be forgiven if you couldn’t name the minister for the arts.

April 11, 2025

Probing Thatcher’s role in Golden Temple massacre

Phil Miller reports on efforts to spur the Labour Government to investigate British complicity in a massacre of Sikh pilgrims by Indian troops 40 years ago.

June 27, 2025

All politics is global: The meaning of Zohran Mamdani’s insurgent victory

Andrew Cuomo’s attempt at a comeback served as a case study in civic fragility, hypocrisy, party loyalty, and political amnesia.

June 16, 2025

Prefab collaboration between Australia and China could help tackle housing shortages

Imagine a “Lego city,” swiftly assembled yet unshakeably strong, its steel modules secured to solid foundations and reinforced with seismic bracing, expertly engineered for both speed and strength.

May 12, 2025

In memory of the Marshall Plan – a primer for Gen Z

The attack on Pearl Harbour led to an enormous volume of United States resources being committed to the war against Nazi Germany.

April 30, 2025

The Fall of Saigon 1975: Quiet mutiny – the US Army falls apart - Part 2

_Vietnam is a conflict from which we should have learnt – but never did – about the immorality, folly and counter-productivity of imperial war.

May 14, 2025

What should Labor do with its majority?

The defining tension of Labor’s second term in office will be over how to interpret the landslide victory.

April 30, 2025

A peace reflection after Easter, remembering Pope Francis and Anzac Day

After resurrection, Jesus gives peace to those who are anxious about their lives. [John 20.19] This divine peace is a beautiful gift and one to be shared.

May 21, 2025

False balance persists in ABC Palestine coverage

In December 2024, I presented an analysis of more than 450 interviews concerning Palestine and Israel on ABC Radio National Breakfast, since 7 October 2023. During this period, the host was Patricia Karvelas. Her last show was on Friday, 13 December.

July 5, 2025

Ocasio-Cortez calls Trump's budget bill 'deal with the devil'

“It explodes our national debt, it militarises our entire economy, and it strips away healthcare and basic dignity of the American people. For what? To give Elon Musk a tax break and billionaires the greedy taking of our nation.”

May 26, 2025

The vampire kangaroo legacy

The Financial Times has reported that Macquarie (also known in Britain as the Vampire Kangaroo) has told investors it was “very proud’ of its record as the owner of Thames Water – the company it sold seven years ago.

May 9, 2025

Re-elected Albanese Govt must condemn Israel's brutality and cut ties

On 5 May, the Israeli Parliament approved plans to annex and occupy Gaza. These plans have been discussed for months. This is a blatant mission to ethnically cleanse Gaza, advancing Israel’s colonial intentions to take over the territory and rid it of Palestinians.

June 14, 2025

Democracy in the City of Melbourne: Some voters are more equal than others

Now that the dust has settled on the 2024 City of Melbourne council elections, what lessons can be learned?

May 10, 2025

The need for depressive realism and a forgotten type of truth-telling

Prolonged observation of domestic and global politics reveals a world that is continually being shaped by radical contingency and surrounded by absurdity. Other conditions can be seen, but the two just mentioned are the regnant operational conditions.

Pearls and Irritations

John Menadue's Public Policy Journal