August 21, 2025

Understanding Donald J. Trump

I think I am in a bad dream and soon I will wake and find Donald J. Trump didn’t happen.

August 6, 2025

Albo's Palestine delay an act of moral cowardice

The Albanese Government’s failure to move to follow the lead of the UK, Canada and France in recognising the state of Palestine smacks of cowardice.

September 24, 2025

Our media and Palestine/Gaza

An article entitled “Israel backtracks on location of hostages”, appearing in the weekend edition of The Australian, evidences the failure of our media to properly inform the Australian public on the Israel/Palestine issue.

August 1, 2025

With the UK and France moving toward recognising Palestine, will Australia now follow suit?

One of the smallest and most exclusive clubs in the world belongs to states. The US Department of State puts the number of independent recognised states at 197, while others count 200.

August 17, 2025

Restaurant reviews benefit restaurants

The question burns: What are Nine Publishing’s restaurant reviews in The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald trying to do? What is their purpose?

September 15, 2025

Regional arts vital, but neglected, community resources

Australia has a unique network of regional art galleries which attract tourism, help local businesses thrive and contribute to overall regional development.

September 18, 2025

AI: Much ado about something that one day may be important

AI. AI. AI. Maybe if I utter those magic initials one more time, you’ll reach peak ecstasy. Worried about our lack of productivity? Fear not. The economy will soon be rocketing ahead.

August 16, 2025

Europe: From great market to satellite continent

The tariff deal between the EU and US signals a major setback for Europe’s autonomy.

July 15, 2025

'No' to Jillian Segal's antisemitism action plan

Representing Jews Against the Occupation ’48 (JAO48), I would like to share our response to Jillian Segal’s “antisemitism action plan”. In short: we reject it.

September 22, 2025

Timid reform won't cut it for the Liberals

The Liberal Party’s electoral support is at rock bottom. Its members agree on at least one thing: that the situation poses an existential threat.

July 29, 2025

A strange thing happened last week on the way to the office of Japan’s prime minister, Shigeru Ishiba

People from the parties that had just tried to vote him out of that office were demanding he stay in that office.

September 28, 2025

Social cohesion: The velvet glove for assimilation

For two decades, Australian governments have invoked social cohesion as a national virtue. It appears in budget papers, multicultural statements, speeches, and media briefings.

August 22, 2025

I’ve changed my mind about red tape, but cutting it won’t solve everything

This is the week to understand something most people don’t: businesses don’t do productivity.

July 22, 2025

Time for Australia to look beyond China and the US

Opportunities for diplomacy in the Indian Ocean will help secure Australia’s future in a multipolar world.

August 26, 2025

Lowering tobacco tax to make illegal tobacco sales 'disappear overnight': At last we have a proposed figure and it’s an absolute doozie

Last week Ross Fitzgerald wrote a piece here titled Time to get real on taxing cigarettes and restricting vapes.

September 16, 2025

The martyrdom of Charlie Kirk

Martyrs are used by messianic movements to sanctify violence. To show any mercy or understanding toward the enemy is to betray the martyr and the cause the martyr died defending.

August 5, 2025

Hiroshima anniversary – RAAF flying boat vs atom bomb

In World War II, did Aussie airmen in slow old flying boats do more to stop Japan than America’s atomic bombs – and leave a lesson for today?

July 23, 2025

Will Albanese and Xi “cooperate” to acquire “common ground” in the fullness of time?

China policy and related diplomacy has recently made important progress based on the postponed resolution of apparently hard differences, but how long can the “reservation” of difficulty delay the explicit correction of the separation of economy and security?

September 1, 2025

The gates of Gaza

What happens when the gates of Gaza are opened?

July 11, 2025

The fanatic’s gaze: Louis Theroux and the West Bank settlers

He has made it his bread and butter for years: finding society’s kooky representatives, the marginal, the crazed and the touched.

September 29, 2025

How AI-based eye scans can detect high blood sugar, heart disease

Retinal scans, aided by artificial intelligence, may soon offer doctors a simple, non-invasive way to detect several medical conditions.

September 14, 2025

Late marriage the new norm in South Korea

In 2024, South Korea set another demographic record, with women marrying for the first time at a historic high average age of 31.6, while men did so at an average age of 33.9.

August 10, 2025

Spy novelist Stella Rimington, the first female head of MI5, was a ‘true trailblazer’

Dame Stella Rimington, former director-general of the UK’s domestic counter-intelligence and security agency, MI5, and author of several spy thrillers, has died this week, aged 90.

September 27, 2025

Liveable cities of China

No Chinese city appears on the annual lists of the most liveable cities in the world. Is this due to ignorance or to a pervasive anti-China bias?

August 13, 2025

Grossly inadequate compensation offered to Kathleen Folbigg

On 5 June 2023, Kathleen Folbigg was released from prison following 20 years of imprisonment after having been wrongfully convicted of killing her four children over a 10-year period.

July 28, 2025

What about the RAAF in the AUKUS equation?

All the commentary about AUKUS is predicated on some kind of conflict with China over Taiwan. That is foolishness personified. But there is another factor that is even more bewildering. Both sides of the argument appear to have forgotten the existence of the RAAF.

July 20, 2025

The world governed from the Black House

In a world where international politics intertwine, the White House stands as a symbol of American power and influence, from which global affairs are managed through the decisions of the current US administration.

August 15, 2025

Albanese’s recognition of a Palestinian state implements a long-held Labor ambition

Those who accuse the Albanese Government of breaking with a historic Labor position of opposing recognition of a Palestinian state are wrong.

July 25, 2025

The penalty for being late is to be doomed forever

Infected by wars and climate change is the other intractable issue: how to help _43 million_ refugees? More than 3,451 _pledges_ to change the mountain-size misery have been made worldwide by governments, NGOs, and individuals, including Australians. The issue is less about gathering signatures, more about turning words into action.

September 10, 2025

The central role of government support for the Arts in defining our national culture

Australians emerged from our cultural cringe in the late sixties when our film and television industries thrived. Has that belief and pride in Australia gone for good?

September 19, 2025

Gaza: Where displacement is slow death

Forcing 1.2 million people to leave their homes in Gaza is not merely a move from one place to another, it is a death sentence carried out slowly.

September 23, 2025

Gaza: Genocide and war in the 20th and 21st centuries

We live in tragically interesting times. The present time is eerily reminiscent of the troubled decades between the two World Wars of last century. Then, world affairs were increasingly disturbed by violations of international law. So is the present.

August 7, 2025

Roundtable will fix nothing unless we can all park our self-interest

I’m not sure if it’s happening by accident or design, but we may be about to convince ourselves that, though our democracy isn’t nearly as stuffed up as America’s, we’re fast making ourselves ungovernable, unable to agree on how to fix our problems.

August 1, 2017

MUNGO MacCALLUM. Another fine mess the constitution has got us into.

We bar dual citizenship from the parliament, but the head of it – the Queen of England one who presides over ceremonial openings when she happens to be in the country, is not only a dual but a multiple citizen herself.

October 4, 2025

States increase pressure on Commonwealth to address hospital cost increases

Hark back to December 2023. National Cabinet endorsed a historic agreement setting the parameters for future Commonwealth-state sharing of public hospital costs over the next decade.

July 30, 2025

Top Australian writers urge Albanese to abolish Job-Ready Graduates, calling their humanities degrees life-changing

“Earning a humanities degree was not only life-changing, in terms of opening up a world of knowledge otherwise beyond my reach, it also turns out to have been enormously productive – for me and many, many people around me,” said Tim Winton this week. “My little arts degree has created jobs and cultural value for over 40 years.”

September 17, 2025

Islamophobia reports are not enough

For decades, Muslims in Australia have been asked to give evidence, to share their trauma, and to trust that government inquiries will bring change.

September 5, 2025

Give Asia a break

The article in Pearls and Irritation by Ju Hyung Kim titled “Asia must learn from SEATO and build its own NATO” is disquieting for its attempt to spearhead a disruption of peace and harmony in the East, South and Southeast Asian regions.

July 31, 2025

It’s time to talk about AI and national security

The federal government has recently introduced legislation to extend the looming sunset clause on compulsory questioning powers originally granted to the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO) following the 9/11 terrorism attacks.

July 14, 2025

Peter Russell-Clarke’s greatest gift was how he made you feel like one of the family

Throughout my teenage years, our lounge room sang “Come and get it, come and get it” and all in earshot would carol back, “with Peter. Russell. Clarke!”

September 21, 2025

Death of the Holocaust Industry

The genocide in Gaza has exposed the weaponisation of the Holocaust as a vehicle not to prevent genocide, but to perpetuate it, not to examine the past, but to manipulate the present.

September 9, 2025

Who is a terrorist?

Since 7 October 2023 there has been a growth of the use of the allegation of terrorism for propaganda purposes.

July 21, 2025

Let’s combat antisemitism, not use it to dehumanise others - Part 1

The state of Israel’s heinous conduct must not be seen solely as a “Jewish problem”.

September 7, 2025

When Australia defied US nuclear plans. Part 2: Sovereignty at stake

Declassified US. Pacific Command Histories, which provide much of what is now known about the Australian B-52 terrain avoidance and maritime surveillance missions, reveal that the Fraser Government was far from transparent with the public about the true stakes of the B-52 deployments to Australia – and perhaps not fully cognisant itself.

September 3, 2025

Climate-first foreign policy essential for Australia and regional security – top security leaders

A group of high-profile Australians, including Admiral Chris Barrie, have released a critical new foreign policy plan in the wake of climate change.

August 29, 2025

Washington and the Gaza war: How the US uses its support for Israel to assert global dominance

Since the outbreak of the Gaza war on 7 October 2023, Washington has made its position clear: full and unconditional support for Israel.

September 11, 2025

Our future prosperity is bright. We’ve hidden an ace up our sleeve

As you may have noticed, the nation’s economists are in a gloomy mood and warning of tough times ahead.

August 3, 2025

Is ChatGPT making us stupid?

Back in 2008, The Atlantic sparked controversy with a provocative cover story: Is Google Making Us Stupid?

August 25, 2025

Australia's first Jewish governor-general would have stood with Gaza

Our first Australian-born governor-general, Sir Isaac Isaacs, was a Jew and rejected Zionism as “undemocratic, unjust, dangerous”.

Pearls and Irritations

John Menadue's Public Policy Journal