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Pearls and Irritations

John Menadue's Public Policy Journal
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Letters
October 3, 2025

Quantico’s verdict: The silence that stripped Trump bare

Donald Trump has always measured power by applause. Rallies, ratings, and ovations have been his fuel, the noise that kept the illusion of command alive. But at Quantico, facing the nation’s military brass, the noise stopped.

July 29, 2025

Is it just biosecurity that should worry us, or is there a much bigger danger?

Having consistently been reassured that “the Albanese Labor Government will never compromise on biosecurity”, we now learn that the government has lifted the ban on imports of beef raised in Mexico and Canada and finished in the US.

September 10, 2025

The ABC is inventing China's war history

When interviewing a guest, journalists are free to ask whatever questions they want. But they can’t have their own facts.

August 11, 2025

When war criminals are nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize, what does 'peace' even mean?

In 1939, a member of the Swedish parliament nominated Adolf Hitler for the Nobel Peace Prize.

September 9, 2025

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

A dominant challenge for universities now is the expectation that they produce graduates who are immediately “job-ready”.

September 25, 2025

The perfect storm: Why immigration has become the scapegoat for our age of crisis

Economic shocks, social strains and rising inequality have unsettled democracies everywhere. In this atmosphere of fear and anger, immigration has been cast as the culprit, offering populists a simple story for a complex age.

September 4, 2025

Where have all the flowers gone?

One of my most memorable interspecies encounters was many years ago with an orangutan in a nature reserve in Sabah on the island of Borneo.

August 14, 2025

The sham of Australia's recognition of Palestine: Hope, but light on glory

Australia’s recognition of Palestine, like that of other Western countries, is a step in the right direction, but it remains a sham.

August 2, 2025

Worst-case scenario of famine unfolding in the Gaza Strip

According to the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification, a worst-case scenario of famine is unfolding in the Gaza Strip.

September 1, 2025

Reforming university governance: Restoring accountability and the public mission

Over the past three decades, Australia’s public universities have experienced a profound shift in governance culture.

August 22, 2025

Why China commemorates its WWII victory

On 3 September, China will hold a major parade at Tiananmen Square in the heart of Beijing to commemorate the victory of the Chinese People’s War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression and the World Anti-Fascist War. Global leaders will attend the event and the Chinese military will showcase its latest weapons and regiment arrangements.

August 1, 2025

The politics of kindness and fairness

Aside from cheering and the long list of thank yous that accompanied Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s 2025 election victory speech, the quote that really cut through was: “…the Australian voters have voted for fairness, aspiration and opportunity for all, for the strength to show courage in adversity and kindness to those in need”.

July 24, 2025

Will Labor take Australia further from the global core?

As Anthony Albanese opens a new term and Treasurer Jim Chalmers signals a renewed focus on “abundance,” Australia stands at a pivotal juncture. Will Labor seize the opportunity to lead the nation into a high-value, sovereign economic future—or simply double down on the market-led path that has kept us stranded in the semiperiphery?

September 17, 2025

Devastating climate risk report shows need to slash emissions 75%, deploy green capital fast

The Albanese Government is reportedly set to announce its new National Determined Contributions  ( NDCs) to 2035 this week – its emissions reduction targets under our Paris Agreement obligations.

August 26, 2025

How should Services Australia be constructed?

The Robodebt Royal Commission recommended that the government “undertake an immediate and full review to examine whether the existing structure of the Social Services portfolio and the status of Services Australia (SA) as an entity are optimal” (Rec. 23.1).

September 3, 2025

For the sins of the father

In the early 1900s, female teachers were not allowed to ride bicycles. It was considered improper, and it was not uncommon for school boards to declare that it promoted immorality among children.

July 28, 2025

How’s my lippy? Polishing up impression management and memes

Nearly half a century ago Neville Wran, the gravel voiced powerbroking NSW Labor Premier from 1976-86, perfected the art of orchestrating TV press conferences. If a pesky journalist shoved a microphone in his face and asked a difficult question, Wran would just turn away from the offending mike and camera, using his eyes to invite someone else to ask their question. No sound, no visual, no story. Pretty Nifty indeed.

September 24, 2025

Revitalising the UN's foundations

The United Nations grew out of the global co-operation which defeated fascism. It was conceived as a multilateral organisation to deliver a global rules-based order.

August 4, 2025

The rise of totalitarianism – 12 similarities between 1930s Germany and 2020s America - Part 1

The parallels between today’s America and the Germany of a century ago are profound – and are becoming more relevant with each passing day. Sadly, what was considered inconceivable a few years ago has now become a possibility: the development of a totalitarian state in America.

July 30, 2025

International law not only abused – but abandoned

As the world watches the destruction of Gaza unfold in real time, the legitimacy of international law faces a crisis more profound than any it has seen since its post-WWII codification.

July 19, 2025

Israel's final Gaza solution

Reports of a shocking Israeli Gaza “solution” that aims to ethnically cleanse Gaza of all Palestinians by establishing so-called Humanitarian Transit Areas or concentration camps has surfaced in Israeli and other media.

July 28, 2017

STEPHEN LEEDER. Comparing health systems in 11 countries

A new report comparing health systems in eleven countries gives Australia a pat on the back but not for equity. What’s going on?

August 21, 2025

The quest for 21st century Australian productivity is being held back by our archaic TAFE system

It is dynamism in the workplace that leads to productivity improvement.

August 8, 2025

The shabby and ludicrous politics of provocation, self-defence and divine right

As with other wars, questions of provocation, self-defence and divine right or entitlement are central themes of what the Western mainstream media have had to say about the war in Ukraine, the genocide in Gaza, and the attacks on Iran by the US and Israel in June 2025.

August 5, 2025

The rise of totalitarianism – 12 similarities between 1930s Germany and 2020s America - Part 2

The parallels between today’s America and the Germany of a century ago are profound – and are becoming more relevant with each passing day. Sadly, what was considered inconceivable a few years ago has now become a possibility: the development of a totalitarian state in America. Adrian Lipscomb continues from Part 1 of this series.

September 12, 2025

Fear is a weapon

This is something that governments the world over have long known. Fear is ubiquitous and is wielded with seeming impunity.

August 9, 2025

Gaza doesn’t need another gesture, it needs real action

Like many Australians watching the unfolding devastation in Gaza, I read about Foreign Minister Penny Wong’s recent announcement of $20 million in additional humanitarian aid with mixed emotions.

August 28, 2025

Why the NDIS inevitably went pear-shaped!

I was a part of the old (underfunded, unfair, fragmented, and inefficient, according to the Productivity Commission) state-run system.

July 18, 2025

The geopolitical context of Albanese's China visit

Prime Minister Albanese and I have a few things in common. We were both born on 2 March and we have both been in car accidents, and as I write this, we are both in the People’s Republic of China.

August 4, 2017

JIM COOMBS. What Economic Policy should be about

The idea that government economic policy should only be about making capitalist enterprise easier is just plain wrong. It should be trying to make it better for the nation.

September 11, 2025

The suppression of the Arab voice and the genocide in Gaza

The United States’ unwavering military and political support for Israel is now accepted as the key enabling factor in Israel’s genocide in Gaza.

July 22, 2025

Yousef Aljamal: The war on memory and writing through a genocide

Sitting opposite me in my black leather captain’s chair, looking more like a bouncer than a writer, was Yousef Aljamal, co-author of Displaced in Gaza – stories from the Gaza Genocide.

September 29, 2025

Typhoon Ragasa – We hardly blinked

One doesn’t have to look very far to find criticism by Western governments and media of the system of governance we use here in Hong Kong. Words like authoritarian, dictatorial, totalitarian flow from these lips on a regular basis.

September 19, 2025

FOI Amendment Bill: Not what Faulkner or Allan Hawke wanted

The Explanatory Memorandum for the government’s Freedom of Information Amendment Bill 2025 claims it implements or responds to certain recommendations from previous reviews and inquiries, citing in particular the late Allan Hawke’s 2013 review of the legislation.

October 4, 2025

Sanctions: Sanitised, silent killing

Many will remember the terrible effects of the crippling UN sanctions applied against Iraq, from the time of its invasion of Kuwait in 1990, to the fall of the government of Saddam Hussein, following the loss of the second Iraq war (2003).

September 27, 2025

Productivity and innovation needs business' own investment in skills

Despite a modest increase in business R&D expenditure in Australia in the latest reported year (2023/24), Australia’s performance on a GDP basis is still woefully worse than its international economic competitors.

July 11, 2025

The ANU School of Music: Requiem for a Dream?

On 20 September this year, the School of Music at ANU (formally the Canberra School of Music) should be celebrating its 60th anniversary.

September 18, 2025

AUKUS anniversary reminder to the prime minister

Dear prime minister, How very unfortunate that you chose 14 September to announce further expenditure on submarine facilities.

August 30, 2025

ASEAN unity cracks under Trump tariff pressure

US President Donald Trump’s return to office is generating a major reshuffle in the Unites States’ foreign relations, including the imposition of tariffs on nearly every trading partner.

September 30, 2025

China’s long game in Iran’s short war

Following the 12-day Iran-Israel war in June 2025, China has quietly accelerated its strategic partnership with a weakened Islamic Republic through renewed infrastructure commitments, expanded technological co-operation and deepened diplomatic alignment.

September 23, 2025

Our belligerent, authoritarian AUKUS partner

True allies share common visions, common objectives, common strategies, common standards of behaviour and common criteria of success.

September 16, 2025

Landmark report to combat Islamophobia in Australia launched

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese together with Dr Anne Aly, Minister for Multicultural Affairs, joined Special Envoy Aftab Malik in Sydney on Friday 12 September 2025 for the launch of the landmark report “A National Response to Islamophobia: A strategic Framework for Inclusion, Safety and Prosperity”.

September 15, 2025

The social smog of neoliberalism: How competition breeds violence and division

The Industrial Revolution transformed the material basis of human life. By harnessing energy and perfecting machines, engineers satisfied physical needs on a mass scale.

August 12, 2025

Eleven opportunities for Australia

The Pacific Peace Conference was held in Brisbane on 2 August 2025.

September 2, 2025

Reining in the consultant culture in Australia’s public universities

The quiet rise of private consultancy in Australia’s public universities has now reached a point where it is reshaping the sector’s priorities, governance, and capacity to act in the public interest.

August 2, 2017

PAUL BUDDE. Mid-year NBN assessment.

The rollout of the NBN has been gathering pace, but many problems remain. Most of the issues mentioned below have been addressed by me at various Senate Inquiries over the last decade. The fact that they have not been addressed and/or resolved is an indication that politicians have so far failed to deal with them.

August 16, 2025

Recognition of Palestine: A neocolonial, feel-good gesture

Recognition of Palestine is a “feel-good” gesture that will not achieve any tangible benefits for the Palestinian people and amounts to a neocolonial denial of the right of the Palestinian people to self-determination.

September 13, 2025

'Go for it!': Kevin O'Brien's Long Tan

Brigadier O’Brien’s Long Tan is the most important account of our iconic battle in 40 years. The book spins 23 short chapters around a short exclamatory order.

September 6, 2025

When Australia defied US nuclear plans. Part 1: B-52s over Australia in the 1980s

It wasn’t always like this. For a brief moment Australia stood apart.

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