June 17, 2025

Imposing meaningful sanctions against Israel is not difficult

For decades, the Israeli Government has revealed itself impervious to pressure from international bodies like the United Nations and the International Criminal Court of Justice.

April 22, 2025

Cartoon commentary

April 9, 2025

Can our human species be rescued?

Our own human species is in grave danger of becoming extinct in the not-too-distant future, and there is no systemic global effort underway to minimise this threat. A series of “existential threats” have been highlighted by many scientists.

June 19, 2025

Not yet born: America at the crossroads

On a threatening June evening, America’s army turned 250 and put on a show that revealed more than it intended.

May 7, 2025

UN chief 'alarmed' by Israel's Gaza conquest plan – but minister says no concerns from Trump

“I don’t feel that there is pressure on us from Trump and his administration,” said Ze’ev Eklin. “They understand exactly what is happening here.”

April 10, 2025

The mother of all own goals?

Following the White House announcement of the “Liberation Day” tariffs, Andrew Tillett, writing in The Australian Financial Review, argued that, “ Trump just gave China a free kick to tilt Asia in its favour”. (paywall) At Foreign Policy, the deputy editor, Amelia Lester, was wondering, at the same time, “ Are Tariffs the End of the Australia-US Friendship”.(paywall)

April 8, 2025

God doesn't save the day – oh, but yes, they do!

Hi. I’m responding, if I may be so bold, to Eric Hunter’s lovely, heartfelt post on February 10, “ Why doesn’t God save the day?” I want to answer Eric’s question in a very direct and positive way, but also (shamelessly) put in a plug for my new book, The God who doesn’t Exist, out now through ATF Press (see the link below*****).

June 23, 2025

Start at the bottom to build housing

Starting at the bottom is the way to rebalance Australia’s housing system.

July 7, 2025

MAGA buyers’ remorse and the trouble with Christian nationalism

For those who do begin to question, the challenge is not to nudge them leftward or toward some ideologically approved alternative. The challenge is simply to stay in the discomfort long enough for something more honest to emerge.

June 26, 2025

The legacy of Pope Francis Part 2: Signs of hope amid global setbacks

Despite the high hopes for implementing the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), Pope Francis grew increasingly alarmed that this historic global effort to eliminate the worst forms of hunger and poverty was failing.

April 23, 2025

Trajectory of a murderous regime: Fifty years since the Khmer Rouge

It is 50 years since the Khmer Rouge regime murdered, starved and tortured millions. A decade prior, the US left millions of UXO (unexploded ordinances) that kill and maim to this day. Now the US Government has withdrawn from the Mine Ban Treaty.

April 26, 2025

ACCCR calls for ethical and responsible leadership in the federal election

As Australians prepare to vote in the upcoming federal election, the Australasian Catholic Coalition for Church Reform (ACCCR) is calling on voters, political leaders, and policymakers to place social justice, compassion, and integrity at the forefront of governance.

June 11, 2025

Australia’s latest emissions data shows a giant fossil fuel problem

Without accounting for land use, Australia’s emissions have only decreased 3% since 2005, not 27%.

April 28, 2025

Chinese president rallies neighbours as US tariffs imposed

From 14 to 18 April, Chinese President Xi Jinping’s state visit to Vietnam, Malaysia, and Cambodia conveyed a clear message: China’s engagement with Southeast Asia is rooted not merely in trade and infrastructure, but also mutual respect, strategic trust, and a shared vision for regional stability and prosperity.

June 4, 2025

Move to revoke Darwin port lease is a political decision

Moves to force divestiture of the port of Darwin damage Australia’s standing as a reliable investment destination and represents a triumph of foreign influence on policy.

May 3, 2025

Why it’s time to think big on tax reform

Australians have been promised quick-fix tax measures to ease cost-of-living pressures. Instead, it’s high time to reform and simplify a complex tax system.

April 29, 2025

The Palestine election

Why has an election 6000 miles from the Dome of the Rock become about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict?

April 14, 2025

Will the real God please stand up?

In a lovely, heartfelt post on this website on 10 February, responding to the ongoing crisis in Israel/Palestine, with the three great monotheistic religions — Judaism, Islam and Christianity — once again seemingly in collision, Eric Hunter gave voice to the question on everyone’s lips: why does God seem to sit back and do nothing to stop all the murder and mayhem?

April 7, 2025

Protecting the Public Estate with a fierce paradigm of care

Privatisation of the Public Estate, and Decimation of the Common Good have been part and parcel of neoliberalism’s metastasising cancer throughout our world for fifty years now. No one has been free from the tentacles of greed weaving their way through and around every aspect of our personal and communal lives.

June 3, 2025

Pushing back with new urgency against neoliberalism

The era of unchallenged neoliberal dominance appears to be over, but it is too early to declare neoliberalism dead.

May 27, 2025

Inaction also speaks louder than words

The focus of my work, over more than half a century, has been on getting good things to happen and/or preventing harm from happening. It has been a mixed history that includes both successes and failures; victories and defeats.

May 8, 2025

Trump shoves Indonesia into China's hands

Jakarta is not a charmer, but her assets are attractive. Beijing and Washington have long been wooing the Indonesian capital for her strategic power and influence.

July 3, 2025

Israel’s genocide and German Staatsräson: Thwarting a youth’s political sensibilities

It was the third month of Israel’s genocidal onslaught in Gaza, just before the Christmas break in 2023, when my daughter Lelia came home one day and mentioned an unhappy confrontation with one of the directors of her school, the Freie Waldorfschule Berlin Mitte.

July 1, 2025

Labor’s Left majority: A defining moment

The May 2025 election delivered something quietly historic. For the first time since the 1970s, the Labor Left faction holds a majority in caucus.

June 21, 2025

Centrifugal forces have been unleashed in Iran

The US-Israeli surprise attack on Iran is literally and figuratively designed to unleash centrifugal forces in the Islamic Republic.

June 2, 2025

New Zealand cribbed Australian defence documents

New Zealand officials drew heavily on Australian defence documents to produce the 2025 Defence Capability Plan, which indicates the country’s intended military acquisitions and development for the next 15 years.

May 31, 2025

Beyond the sensible centre: A critical reflection on political imagination in the 21st century

The “sensible centre” is the most overpopulated address in Australian politics today.

May 6, 2025

Kate Grenville’s questions about our 5000 war memorials

Now that Anzac Day is done and dusted for another year, it’s time to look at Australia’s continuing war obsession from a different angle. The late distinguished historian, Ken Inglis, estimated there are between 4000 and 5000 war memorials in Australia. They are in large cities, suburbs, regional towns and villages, and on crossroads where villages once stood.

May 2, 2025

No, it is not time for Australia to acquire its own nuclear weapons

Clive Hamilton’s proposal that Australia should consider acquiring nuclear weapons relies on several flawed assumptions. The biggest of these is the myth that nuclear weapons make us — or anybody — safer.

June 27, 2025

Election flows reveal nearly 90% of Greens preferenced Labor ahead of Coalition

Minor party preference flows for the federal election have been released, with Labor winning Greens preferences by 88.2-11.8, while the Coalition won One Nation preferences by 74.5-24.5.

May 5, 2025

Truth, citizenship and the failure of Australian education

Australian schools excel at training students to meet external benchmarks, but fail miserably at cultivating critical minds.

May 9, 2025

Four World War II myths: Ignoring China, downplaying Russia’s role

As the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II approaches in 2025, the vital contributions of China and Russia remain largely overlooked by the West, just as they have always been.

April 29, 2025

2025 is the crunch year in the scientific contest about accelerated warming

The record-breaking warming years of 2023 (1.5°C) and 2024 (1.6°C) were above expectations and shocked scientists.

June 24, 2025

Neocolonialism, media propaganda, never-ending wars: Served with ketchup and fries - Part 2

In the 20th-century the American empire realised it could no longer rely solely on military might despite its need to grow the Military Industrial Complex, which remains central to its economy and its political hegemony.

April 24, 2025

China's two 'secret weapons' in the tariff war

As of 15 April, the White House indicated on its website that tariffs on products imported from China could rise as high as 245%.

June 26, 2025

Add your name – Open letter to PM Re flagrant violation of international law by US and Israel in bombing Iran- 23 June 2025

Re flagrant violation of international law by US and Israel in bombing Iran

July 4, 2025

Dangers of renewed civil war in Syria

With 150 armed groups in Syria, the ruling HTS (al-Qa`idah) doesn’t control the country, while Israeli bombing intends to expose the weaknesses of the so-called central government in Damascus.

April 16, 2025

The Coalition commits to Christian Nationalism

The Republican Party thought it could ride the tiger of the Christian Right: instead, that movement swallowed the party whole.

July 1, 2025

Trump 2.0 alienates Southeast Asia’s next generation

US President Donald Trump’s second term has sent the global economy into a tailspin with a torrent of tariffs announced on 2 April.

July 5, 2025

What are working with children checks? Why aren’t they keeping kids safe at daycare?

Disturbing allegations have emerged about a Melbourne childcare worker, who has been charged with more than 70 offences, including sexual assault and producing child abuse material.

June 20, 2025

People of Pacific Rim say 'no' to US-China war

The Pacific and Pacific Rim countries have a geographical commonality. They are encircled by, or have a border with, the vast, blue, peaceful Pacific Ocean.

July 9, 2025

Trump’s budget and the 21st century great divergence

Donald Trump’s recently passed budget has the capacity to lay the foundation for a widening gap between the world’s two largest economies, the United States and China, and make China as great, comparatively, as it was before the industrial revolution.

June 27, 2025

Beyond complicity: Western accomplices to genocide in Gaza

After decades of unwavering support for Israel’s illegal occupation of Palestine, it seems Western leaders can no longer avert their gaze from the horrific televised images of mass carnage and starvation in Gaza and brutality on the West Bank.

July 19, 2017

Trust is falling in Western democratic institutions

One clue to understanding the loss of trust in the professional integrity of the Western media is their unrelenting efforts to demonize Russian President Vladimir Putin.

June 23, 2025

How Albanese could save the world

Yes, it does sound a bit unlikely, but so does bringing order to an international order in crisis.

July 3, 2025

Australia, the UN and the future of humanity

The Albanese Government is now very well placed to encourage and assist the United Nations, to prevent human extinction, and make our planet habitable for future generations. It has also, now become very urgent that we take comprehensive action on the issues discussed below.

June 24, 2025

Peace no more war: A permanent solution for United Nations

It is so sad to see that wars keep flaring up here and there. We are all supposed to be living in a modern civilised, well governed world order under the GUIDANCE of the almighty PEACE Charter of United Nations designed by our farsighted forefathers after the Second World War.

April 22, 2025

If alcoholics don’t pick up the first drink, they can’t get drunk

Alcoholics Anonymous in Australia is celebrating its 80th anniversary with a national convention in Sydney this month. Ross Fitzgerald, who has been sober for 55 years, looks at the organisation’s history.

May 7, 2025

What just happened to the Greens?

Unlike many members of the Labor Party, I do not harbour a burning hatred for the Greens. Their values are admirable and, in many cases, indistinguishable from my own.

Pearls and Irritations

John Menadue's Public Policy Journal