• Pearl 
  • About
  • Our authors
  • English
    • English
    • Indonesian
    • Malay
    • Farsi
    • Mandarin
    • Cantonese
    • Japanese
    • French
    • German
    • Spanish
  • Donate
  • Get newsletter
  • Read
  • Become an author
  • Write

Pearls and Irritations

John Menadue's Public Policy Journal

Politics
Policy
Economy
Climate
Defence
Religion
Arts
Asia
Palestine-Israel
USA
World
Letters
July 18, 2017

LESLEY HUGHES. Solving the climate crisis: one city at a time

Although Trump has withdrawn from the Paris Climate Agreement, many cities in the US (and in Australia) are taking climate change matters into their own hands, thumbing their collective noses at ideological-driven policy paralysis at the federal level.

November 28, 2018

TERRY FEWTRELL. Seems Pope Francis is with the People

The latest letter from Pope Francis greatly empowers Australias Catholics to use their influence and puts heat on the bishops to allow the voices and wisdom of Australian Catholics to be heard seriously.

January 9, 2018

UCANews. Democracy showdown looms in Malaysia

Approaching elections should act as a safety valve in the multi-ethnic nation.

July 25, 2017

FRANK BRENNAN, TIM COSTELLO, ROBERT MANNE and JOHN MENADUE. Stopping Boats and Saving Lives Four Years On ...

How much longer will we continue to punish proven refugees who are our responsibility while they await interminable, uncertain futures in Nauru and Manus Island? Everyone knows that not all the proven refugees will be resettled in the USA even once the USA resumes taking refugees in October 2017. Kevin Rudd first announced the most recent plan for removing unvisaed asylum seekers offshore on 19 July 2013, seven weeks out from the 2013 election. Richard Marles helped with the negotiation of the deal.

July 17, 2017

LAURIE PATTON. NBN: How many more surveys before they get it? We are not impressed!

A raft of surveys have confirmed what everyone knows. Were increasingly unhappy about the rollout of a technically inferior National Broadband Network.

July 31, 2017

JOHN TULLOH. "Hell on earth" lies just across the Indian Ocean

If you travelled from Western Australia north-west across the Indian Ocean, the first country you would encounter has been described as Hell on Earth. You will find there civil war, famine, drought, refugees, destruction and a blockade for starters. Now it has a cholera epidemic. No wonder it has been called the worst story in the world which nobody is talking about.

July 11, 2025

US sanctions UN expert Albanese over criticism of Israeli genocide

One critic said Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s “crude effort” to sanction Francesca Albanese “only serves to establish that the US is an international outlaw.”

July 12, 2025

Imperial hypocrisy about 'terrorism' hits its most absurd point yet

The US has removed Syria’s al-Qaeda franchise from its list of designated terrorist organisations just days after the UK added nonviolent activist group Palestine Action to its own list of banned terrorist groups.

July 15, 2025

Usman Khawaja: grace under pressure, faith underpinning it all

In Australian sport, few stories echo as deeply as that of Usman Khawaja. He is known for his calm presence at the crease, his graceful technique, and the quiet way he has built a legacy in a game that was not always welcoming.

July 14, 2025

Localise relationships of care and responsibility

Continual crises in all the health, education and human services industries are no longer “exceptions”. They are continuous chronic symptoms of what’s wrong with our neoliberalised, marketised “care economy”.

July 19, 2017

GEOFF DAVIES. The chasm between the society we are offered and the fair go we want

There is widely perceived to be a gap between our stumbling political system and the wishes of the Australian people. However those who look a little deeper into our Australian hearts see not just a gap but a yawning chasm.

July 16, 2017

MICHAEL KEATING. Why Blame Neo-Liberal Economics: A Response

My previous article on Why Blame Neo-Liberal Economics, which argued that neo-liberal economics was not a main cause of increasing inequality, drew an unusually large and mostly critical response. While it is not feasible to respond to all the detailed points that my many critics have raised, in this response I propose to focus on two big issues: (i) what is neo-liberal economics and how does it influence policy outcomes, and (ii) why has inequality increased since the 1980s. I will also briefly discuss the policy implications that flow from my analysis.

January 25, 2019

JOHN MENADUE. A Repost: What does it mean to be an Australian? Are we still the land of the second chance?

The Macquarie legacy is still with us. It underpins our best instincts togive all residents in this country, whether Australian born, migrants or refugees an equal opportunity in life, a second chance. That ethos of redemption is a core part of our history.

August 9, 2017

John Menadue. Rent-seekers and the hollowing out of democracy (Repost 12/2015)

Rent-seeking is a term understood by most economists. It refers to the ability of powerful groups to extract special concessions and favours at the expense of the wider community.

July 23, 2017

What were we fighting for at Gallipoli, in Palestine and on the Western Front? Part 1 of 5-part series.

To find out what we were fighting for in the Great War we must get past the usual fig-leaf explanation, which is as remarkably effective as it is short on cover in Australian culture.

July 27, 2017

GREG LOCKHART. What were we fighting for at Gallipoli, in Palestine and on the Western Front? (Part 5 of 5)

Part 5: Narrative Overview and Conclusion

The emphasis in our military history and remembrance on asking how we fought does not inherently preclude an interest in what we were fighting for. The two narratives could co-exist and interact. But not effectively in our culture yet. We still lose sight of what our remembrance confirms: the interconnectedness of what we were and still are fighting for.

July 25, 2017

GREG LOCKHART. What were we fighting for at Gallipoli, in Palestine and on the Western Front? (Part 3 of 5)

Part 3. Empire over nation.

In 1914-18, the fight for Empire against Asia minimised independent Australian national interests. Ambiguous, interchangeable use of the terms empire and nation also protected that imperial bias in our political culture.

August 7, 2017

John Menadue. Murdochs Media Tax. (Reposted from 29/12/2015)

Rupert Murdoch complains that he faces unfair competition from a taxpayer funded public broadcaster like the ABC and SBS. Yet in effect, he imposes his own consumption taxes on consumers.

July 26, 2017

GREG LOCKHART. What were we fighting for at Gallipoli, in Palestine and on the Western Front? (Part 4 of 5)

Part 4. A race strategy to save White Australia

Political manipulation of the societys racially inflected anxieties was a major factor in the imperial ascendency over national defence policy in the Commonwealth in 1911. The secret implementation of a race strategy then determined our entry into the Great War. This information was not available to Australians until 1992.

June 9, 2013

It's the tourism product stupid - not marketing! John Menadue

The Australian tourism industry tells us often that we need to spend more in marketing and publicity and that the tourists will come. I have always been sceptical; believing that what matters most is the tourism product itself.

Marketing didnt work with the Oprah Winfrey circus despite the government tipping in $5 million. On top of that, Australian tourism agents provided accommodation and support for 300 of the fans who accompanied Oprah. The Australian dollar was certainly strong at the time but the net result of Oprahs visit seems to have been a drop in tourist numbers not only from the US, but also from the UK and Canada where the Oprah circus was televised.

July 14, 2025

Australia cannot survive unless it switches to a no-growth economy

Big financial institutions have concluded that global warming will not be contained to the limits agreed more than a decade ago and are examining ways of maintaining their profits in such a world.

July 11, 2025

BRICS is sliding towards irrelevance – the Rio summit made that clear

The BRICS group of nations has just concluded its 17th annual summit in Rio de Janeiro. But, despite member states adopting a long list of commitments covering global governance, finance, health, AI and climate change, the summit was a lacklustre affair.

July 12, 2025

The greatest irony in our contemporary history

I just read the Sunday Age articles by Chip Le Grand. The writer and The Age have been engaged in a vicious propaganda campaign against the increasing mass protests in Australia that have also involved large numbers of artists, writers, academics and students opposed to the Gazan genocide.

July 15, 2025

Why any strategy to combat antisemitism must also address Islamophobia

Australia’s newly released Plan to Combat Antisemitism has sparked strong debate and rightly so.

August 1, 2017

MUNGO MACCALLUM. Time to take Bill Shorten seriously.

It is time, perhaps past time, to take Bill Shorten seriously.

January 17, 2018

MICHAEL KEATING. Trickle-Down Economics and a Company Tax Cut

Despite the evidence of the last few decades that trickle-down economics doesnt work, big business and its apologists in the media are calling for a company tax cut to stimulate investment. The reality, however, is that increased investment is principally in response to increasing aggregate demand. The required increase in aggregate demand in turn requires less inequality and faster wage growth, not bigger business subsidies.

August 1, 2017

ANDREW LEIGH. Why Scott Morrison isn't entitled to his own facts on inequality in Australia

You are entitled to your own opinion, but you are not entitled to your own facts, the great American professor-turned-senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan used to enjoy saying to opponents.

June 13, 2013

The personal, public and social costs of mistakes in health. John Menadue

After examining more than 14,000 hospital admissions in NSW and SA, the national cost of harm from avoidable adverse events (mistakes) in our hospitals was estimated at just over$2 b pa in 1995/96. This study was undertaken by the Task Force on Quality of Australian Health Care which reported to Health Minister Carmen Lawrence. 51% of all mistakes were estimated to be avoidable and would represent nearly 500,000 preventable hospital bed days per year. The task force commented that these mistakes are a problem that overshadows all others in the health sector

July 24, 2017

GREG LOCKHART. What were we fighting for at Gallipoli, in Palestine and on the Western Front? (Part 2 of 5)

Part 2. Empire against Asia

The imperial nature of Australias involvement in the Great War was distinctively Australian and, it should be said, a sign of the doubt white settler society had about its survival as a remote outpost of the British Empire in Austral-Asia.

July 11, 2025

What are the chances for peace in Ukraine right now?

What makes it so difficult to find a solution? Is Russia a threat to Europe? Five questions for Eurasia expert Anatol Lieven.

February 7, 2018

IAN VERRENDER. Why global markets are in free-fall

It was always going to be a tough ask. How to remove all that stimulus, all those trillions of freshly minted dollars in emergency money from an economy, without causing conniptions on financial markets?

July 15, 2025

Karmel, Gonski and the private school ascendancy

The 1973 Karmel report and the 2011 Gonski report helped drive Australia’s internationally exceptional private school ascendency.

July 26, 2017

MICHAEL THORN. The cricket pay dispute and how broadcast deals drive unhealthy product marketing

After the series of serious drug and alcohol incidents involving rugby league players and officials in May, some quite reasonably made the argument that sports that so closely embrace alcohol brands can hardly be surprised when the behaviour of players clothed in these brands act badly. This was cited in support of the argument that alcohol and sport are not a good mix.

July 14, 2025

APU Media Release: Macquarie University announces plans to axe Sociology

Macquarie University announces plans to axe Sociology and cut jobs and courses in other humanities and social science disciplines.

July 12, 2025

Gaza: There comes a time when silence is betrayal

Last week I spent a day fasting, joining medical colleagues and other healthcare workers in a rolling hunger strike to protest what is happening in Gaza. Why are we doing this?

August 1, 2017

Minimising existential threats of our own making

Events that could permanently and drastically curtail humanity’s potential or even cause human extinction are often referred to as existential threats. A moderate sized asteroid hitting our planet is a prime example. It could wipe us all out in a flash, as apparently happened to 75% of the species on earth at the time a 10 Km diameter asteroid hit the Earth about 65 million years ago.

July 10, 2017

MUNGO MacCALLUM. 'The gentleman you describe.'

We can at least talk about it without pretending it isn’t really there.

August 6, 2017

CHARLES LIVINGSTONE. Pokies, sport and racing harm 41% of monthly gamblers: survey

For the first time, the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) Survey has turned its attention to gambling, revealing that around 1.4 million Australians are directly harmed by the activity.

July 30, 2017

SPENCER ZIFCAK. What's Wrong with Peter Duttons New Super Ministry? The Preparation, the Institution, and the Politician Perhaps?

Peter Dutton is to be given a fiefdom the new, massive Department of Home Affairs. Peta Credlin responded immediately by saying that the creation of the new department had the stink of a prime minister whos under pressure and has to be seen as doing something. Thats unfair.

July 27, 2017

MAX HAYTON. New Zealands General Election, September 23 2017.

Therell be no revolution this time. Polls show New Zealand voters are as contented as a herd of freshly milked cows. The election will produce a government that will be either centre-left or centre-right. Either way, the winner will probably need help from minor parties.

July 26, 2017

TONY SMITH. The Masked Man on Horseback.

When Prime Minister Turnbull announced changes to the way Australias security is conducted, he was accompanied by a member of the military. There is nothing unusual about that except that the soldier was masked. The Prime Minister seemed to miss the irony in this masking which made our defenders resemble the people who are portrayed as threatening our security.

July 16, 2017

Road reform, bureaucracy-style: no economic benefit, higher prices for users and an easier ride for unaccountable agencies

From time to time our newspapers pen articles about road reform. They raise the need for spending to be more efficient and less guided by the electoral pork-barrel and for more value to be visible to motorists. The call for efficiency is particularly understandable as tax revenue become scarcer: the Westconnex motorway project in Sydney would almost fund the latest Gonski education reform package. Westconnex would also fund almost half of Australias latest submarines purchase[i].

July 23, 2017

MUNGO MacCALLUM. A peace deal between Malcolm Turnbull and Tony Abbott!

The new Liberal Party Federal President Nick Greiner is aiming for the Nobel Peace Prize, and hes doing it the hard way.

July 12, 2017

KEITH JOINER. Australias 13th Submarine: The Barracuda F model

I_n building our new submarines there is a choice between a fast process with comparatively fixed designs and a rolling design processwhich would be slower but would be more likely to match Australia’s evolving defence requirements and provide more continuity and retention of expertise._

July 24, 2017

Big business influence wanes as public rejects 'bizonomics'

In this article in the Fairfax media on 24 July 2017, ROSS GITTINS refers to the debate in Pearls and irritations about neoliberal economics. John Menadue

The collapse of the “neoliberal consensus” is as apparent in Oz as it is in Trump’s America and Brexitting Britain, but our big-business people are taking a while to twig that their power to influence government policy has waned.

July 25, 2017

The parliamentary eligibility law is an ass but it is the law.

Australias restrictive eligibility criterion for entering Parliament is out of touch with modern reality but, as long as it is the law of the land, it has to be enforced and be seen to be impartially enforced.

July 30, 2017

RICHARD BUTLER. Off With Their Heads

Article 44 of our Constitution defining who may or may not run for Parliament needs authoritative interpretation because its hopelessly out of touch with todays Australia. This need not augur a grotesque Hansonite event reiterating that non-Christian barbarians are at the door.

July 10, 2017

MACK WILLIAMS. North Korea ICBM threat to Australia.

The DPRKs recent ICBM test raises some extremely serious concerns for Australia which will need to be carefully considered by the Australian Government before it rushes off into decision making on the run as has been the case in the past week of hyperventilation. Any attraction of the DPRK to include Australia as a target for its ICBMs would derive more from US defence presence in Australia than from any factors inherently Australian.

August 3, 2017

It's high noon on the roof of the world

The territorial standoff in the Himalayas is a lose-lose proposition for both India and China.

  • ««
  • «
  • 438
  • 439
  • 440
  • 441
  • 442
  • »
  • »»

We recognise the First Peoples of this nation and their ongoing connection to culture and country. We acknowledge First Nations Peoples as the Traditional Owners, Custodians and Lore Keepers of the world's oldest living culture and pay respects to their Elders past, present and emerging.

Help
  • Donate
  • Get Newsletter
  • Stop Newsletter
  • Privacy Policy
Write
  • A Letter to the Editor
  • Style Guide
  • Become an Author
  • Submit Your Article
Social
  • Bluesky
  • Instagram
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn
Contact
  • Ask for Support
  • Applications Under Law
© Pearls and Irritations 2025       PO BOX 6243 KINGSTON  ACT 2604 Australia