July 10, 2025

Empathy, morality, civilisation and resisting tyrants

Are we just selfish brutes who need to be civilised into social, moral behaviour? If not, where do our decency and altruism come from? Can we resist the tides of fear and control rolling over us and cultivate more compassionate and peaceable societies?

July 5, 2025

The magic of the mandate: Now you see it, now you don’t

In 2003, then prime minister John Howard committed Australia to the US-led invasion of Iraq.

May 29, 2025

China-US trade deal: The 'win' belongs to globalisation

In a breakthrough for global trade, China and the United States concluded ice-breaking talks in Geneva with a deal to temporarily roll back tariffs and create a new bilateral consultation mechanism.

July 8, 2025

The Empire has accidentally caused the rebirth of real counterculture in the West

Everyone’s still talking about Bob Vylan, and rightly so. A crowd full of Westerners happily being led through a chant of “Death, death to the IDF” at the 2025 Glastonbury Festival was a historical landmark moment for the 21st century, and the group’s persecution at the hands of Western governments is once again highlighting the way our society’s purported values of free thought and free expression go right out of the window wherever Israel is concerned.

April 17, 2025

Humanitarian data drought: The deeper damage wrought by US aid cuts

“We have to be extra honest, this is a challenge; it’s not easy to find a solution.”

April 25, 2025

Vote with Palestine

Find out how the major parties have responded to Israel’s genocide in Gaza during the past 18 months, and then see how your local candidates stack up when it comes to Palestine.

May 28, 2025

ACTU statement on Gaza May 2025 'including the use of targeted sanctions'

The Australian Union movement is a movement of peace and solidarity. We continue to be horrified by the humanitarian catastrophe facing Palestinians in Gaza.

June 13, 2025

NACC ambiguity on Robodebt investigation 'worrying', says KC

Three months have passed since the National Anti-Corruption Commission promised an “impartial and fair investigation” into Robodebt. Nothing has been heard since.

May 1, 2025

Beyond a consumer boycott: We need to divest US brands from our language

The other day, I asked my ride-share driver which platform offered him the best deal. He told me Didi gives more back to the driver, but he has to use the Uber app because “everyone knows Uber. It’s the first thing they think of”.

June 20, 2025

Job and the point of a good life

Job is not a manual for how to live well. It’s a reflection on why one would want to.

July 9, 2025

Punishment, proportionality and principle

The reaction to the fire bombing on a Jewish establishment in Melbourne has been sadly predictable.

July 2, 2025

Courage needs to be shown in politics – Israel is no longer above the law

In the past weeks, an estimated 500 more Gazans have been killed, bombed out of existence by the IDF or killed while queuing for food.

June 25, 2025

The legacy of Pope Francis in an unjust world – Part 1

Pope Francis endeavoured not just to evaluate the burning global issues; he strove to mobilise decisive action to transform our world to improve living standards and well-being for everyone. He spoke as a voice from the Third World, challenging the conscience of the richer countries.

June 18, 2025

The West’s war on Iran

I have visited Iran twice. Once in June 1980 to witness an unprecedented event: the world’s first Islamic Revolution. It was the very start of my writing career.

April 24, 2025

Feeding the beast: The use of private consultants by public universities and its implications for tertiary education

Global consulting partnerships are not only reshaping public sector organisations along corporate lines and hollowing out government expertise in the process, but they have also been responsible for a significant decline in tertiary education quality and standards, including billions of dollars in wasteful expenditure on non-core business.

July 4, 2025

'Watershed moment': Big battery storage prices hit record low in huge China auction

The price for big battery storage modules have hit a record low in the latest giant auction in China, where more than 70 bidders competed for 25 gigawatt hours of capacity in what is being described as a “watershed moment” for the industry.

June 12, 2025

Ministerial responsibility and cabinet solidarity: Are they misaligned?

When Tony Abbott brought Malcolm Turnbull back into his shadow cabinet as communications spokesman in 2010, the then Opposition leader mocked Turnbull by calling him the inventor of the internet.

April 15, 2025

Building peace through contemplation, compassion and our common humanity

We acknowledge respectfully the Boonwurrung people and the elders and people of the Eastern Kulin nation who have traditional connections with, and responsibility for, the land on which we meet.

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.

Pearls and Irritations

John Menadue's Public Policy Journal