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.

September 3, 2025

'Act of bastardry': Queensland LNP Government kills another giant wind project

The Queensland state LNP Government has scrapped another approved wind project in what is being called “an act of bastardry”, and accusations that the state is openly rejecting renewables as it moves to re-open coal country.

July 24, 2025

The woman everyone loves to hate: Erin Patterson and the danger of certainty

Like Lindy Chamberlain before her, Erin Patterson has become the woman everyone loves to hate.

August 14, 2025

Recognition of Palestine: UN challenges

During the past weeks, media coverage of Israel’s conduct of the war in Gaza, including the creation of widespread famine and instances of starvation, has motivated a majority of Western countries to support a permanent end to the war in Gaza, potentially through a UNGA-endorsed Palestine/Israeli two-state solution.

September 8, 2025

From public good to corporate enterprise: The financialisation of universities (Part I)

In recent months, Australian universities have faced increasing scrutiny over their role in the economy, particularly regarding their growing emphasis on financial sustainability.

August 1, 2025

Appeal to Parliamentarians: Resist Israel/US thuggery, be advocates for peace

As though infected by a chronic illness, news of unending death and destruction in Gaza and on the West Bank leaves millions feeling frustrated, angry, despairing and powerless.

July 27, 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.

September 20, 2025

Why the planet now needs China

The World Bank’s Reboot Development report has belatedly confirmed what scientists have warned for decades: humanity is breaching the safe operating limits of the Earth.

August 23, 2025

The governance crisis in Australia’s universities

Recent media reports that Julie Bishop might have bullied an academic staff representative on the ANU council are alarming.

August 21, 2025

Contacts, connections and collaborations: creating value in innovation ecosystems

In an era saturated with digital platforms, it is easy to mistake connections for collaborations in innovation ecosystems.

August 20, 2025

An India-Australia mineral partnership is critical for resilience

Critical minerals have become lynchpins of the 21st century economy as countries move towards green energy and digitisation.

September 18, 2025

Climate code blue: Why hospitals must lead the healing of our planet

Hospitals must lead – not only for better patient outcomes, but for the healing of our planet. The next chapter in healthcare leadership will be written by those who can drive change for both.

August 18, 2025

Labour market data: Complex, imperfect and politically convenient

Labour market data is politically potent, technically complex and often imperfect. Recent US events are a reminder that Australia’s own systems deserve closer scrutiny.

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 19, 2025

Antisemitism, free speech and a dangerous redefinition: How one envoy is rewriting the rules

The recent synagogue fire in Melbourne is being used as a blueprint for sweeping changes to Australian law.

September 15, 2025

Genocide – Armenia (1915-16) and Gaza (2023-25)

The term “genocide”, and its codification in international law, has its origins in the mass murder of Armenians in 1915–16.

August 15, 2025

As deadline looms, advocates call plastics treaty draft 'nothing short of a betrayal'

“The process has been completely captured by swarms of fossil fuel lobbyists and shamefully weaponised by low-ambition countries,” said the chief executive of the Environmental Justice Foundation.

August 11, 2025

Reflections: public education past, present and future

Readers of Pearls and Irritations may be aware of the Public Education Foundation, a not-for-profit organisation which turns donations into life-changing scholarships for students and others in around 200 NSW schools.

July 16, 2025

Jillian Segal 'won’t dictate' to husband over $50,000 to Advance

The special envoy seeking to dictate the nation’s speech has suggested it was her husband who was responsible for $50,000 given to far-right group Advance — and that she won’t “dictate” his actions.

September 27, 2025

Don't forget her name

Amina Al-Mufti, a Palestinian child, was only 10 years old. Only a child! She simply stepped out to fetch a bucket of clean water for her family, something for which no child should have to risk their life.

July 31, 2025

The productivity paradox

A century ago, industrialists measured economic virility by tonnes of coal hewn per shift. Today, Canberra’s spreadsheets obsess over “GDP per hour worked”.

September 25, 2025

The creation of a martyr: Eerie parallels

If one wants to understand the current elevation of Charlie Kirk in the US to the status of a martyr, offered as sacrifice linked to national rejuvenation, even salvation, one need look no further than similar elevation by the Nazis of Horst Wessel.

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 2, 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 11, 2017

MUNGO MacCALLUM. 'The gentleman you describe.'

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

August 7, 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 31, 2017

SPENCER ZIFCAK. What's Wrong with Peter Dutton’s 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 who’s under pressure and has to be seen as doing something.’ That’s unfair.

July 28, 2017

MAX HAYTON. New Zealand’s General Election, September 23 2017.

There’ll 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 27, 2017

TONY SMITH. The ‘Masked’ Man on Horseback.

When Prime Minister Turnbull announced changes to the way Australia’s 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 17, 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 Australia’s latest submarines purchase[i].

July 24, 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 he’s doing it the hard way.

July 13, 2017

KEITH JOINER. Australia’s 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 25, 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 26, 2017

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

Australia’s 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 31, 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 it’s hopelessly out of touch with today’s Australia. This need not augur a grotesque Hansonite event reiterating that non-Christian barbarians are at the door.

September 9, 2025

The desecration of Camp Sovereignty has not been reflected in the criminal charges

“Australia doesn’t see the crimes in its own country, and we have genocide occurring here” said Krauatungalung elder Uncle Robbie Thorpe, in response to a question on a clip in the wake of the devasting attack on Camp Sovereignty on Sunday, 31 August 2025.

August 29, 2025

The Earth is under chemical attack

The largest of the 10 catastrophic threats now facing humanity is global poisoning, yet it receives less attention from science, government and society than all the others.

August 1, 2025

Temu and Shein: cheap and very nasty

A garbage truck full of textiles is dumped in landfill every second. Sixty percent of the materials used in the fashion industry comes from plastic in one form or another. The production of nylon and polyester that is used is highly energy-intensive and relies on fossil fuels in the production process.

August 28, 2025

Israel and its allies: When friendship means silence

Israel frequently presents itself as a nation surrounded by hostility, relying on close alliances with Western countries for both security and legitimacy.

August 14, 2025

How transparent is Australian aid?

Aid, by its very nature, is harder to monitor than domestic spending. This makes transparency integral to good aid practice. Transparency makes it easier for the donor public to track how their taxes are being spent.

July 24, 2025

Prabowo’s economic agenda faces a fiscal stress test

Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto’s first 100 days have seen a shift towards initiatives driven by national security and ambitious populism, most notably the Free Nutritious Meals program, along with rice and fuel subsidies and tax breaks, all aimed at stimulating consumption and achieving self-sufficiency. Yet slowing growth, weak tax revenues and efforts to limit VAT increases are tightening the budget. Meanwhile, the creation of new ministries and the Danantara sovereign wealth fund have added overhead costs and off-budget spending. Together, these measures strain Indonesia’s fiscal space and raise concerns about the long-term sustainability of Prabowo’s security-focused agenda.

July 11, 2017

MACK WILLIAMS. North Korea ICBM threat to Australia.

The DPRK’s 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 ICBM’s would derive more from US defence presence in Australia than from any factors inherently Australian.

September 27, 2025

Paper reactors and paper tigers

The culmination of Donald Trump’s state visit to the UK was a press conference at which both American and British leaders waved pieces of paper, containing an agreement that US firms would invest billions of dollars in Britain.

September 18, 2025

Starmer’s collapse and the rebirth of a movement

In British politics, collapses come slowly and then all at once. Sir Keir Starmer, elected on the promise of competence after the chaos of Johnson, Truss and Sunak, has now seen his credibility unravel in record time.

August 27, 2025

Honeymoon over: Trump divorces India

In 2019, Donald Trump and Narendra Modi paraded their bromance with a 50,000-person “Howdy Modi” rally in Houston.

August 12, 2025

Barnaby Joyce: From spoiler to saviour?

As a member of John Kerin’s staff, Gordon Gregory was, in effect, an adviser to the ALP. With this article he demonstrates his broadmindedness and naïveté by offering advice to the Liberal Party and to Barnaby Joyce. Simply put, it is this: “Euthanase the National Party and go it alone”.

September 15, 2025

School funding: Time to break the mould and build a new model

A deep contradiction has developed between Australia’s values and the way our schools are funded.

July 17, 2025

Funding models for primary health: Revolution, not evolution, required

One of the authors was recently asked to be part of a panel for a discussion whose title was “Funding models for primary health: evolution not revolution” and where one of the questions asked (in advance to be fair) was “How far did I think we should go on funding alterations to optimise the scope of practice changes that have been proposed, without upsetting too many interest groups to the point where it becomes unproductive for all parties?”

September 20, 2025

Foolhardy prison expansion

The opening of yet another large prison in Australia, this time in Queensland’s Lockyer Valley, is foolhardy.

Pearls and Irritations

John Menadue's Public Policy Journal