October 21, 2025

After the bombing: The shape of life left by the genocide in Gaza

Since the ceasefire came into effect, I’ve been searching for a way out of all the horrors that surrounded us in Gaza, but I can’t find one.

March 2, 2026

Louise Adler sets the record straight on Adelaide Writers' Week

The Adelaide Writers’ Week (AWW) debacle might have served as a “life lesson” to politicians and lobbyists about the risks involved in interfering with the independence of arts organisations. But as we have seen at Newcastle and the Sydney Writers Festival some are apparently slow learners.

November 19, 2025

Working with PM Fraser - the changeover - Part 1

John Menadue stayed on as the most senior public servant in the land, after the trauma of the Dismissal. In this 5-part series he details what life was like working with PM Fraser. Given his closeness to Whitlam, some of his conclusions are surprising.

March 19, 2026

The government is sanitising Australia’s involvement in the Iran war

Australia’s support for US and Israeli action against Iran highlights a growing reliance on military responses over diplomacy and international law.

February 9, 2026

The Zionist lobby, antisemitism and Herzog

Australia’s political and media response to Gaza, including the invitation to Israel’s president, reflects the influence of pro-Israel lobbying and the shrinking space for lawful criticism.

January 14, 2026

Trump is delusional about Venezuelan oil

Trump is banking on Venezuela’s vast oil reserves to justify US intervention. But the state of the industry, global energy shifts and basic economics point to failure.

December 17, 2025

A beautiful mosaic: celebrating multicultural Australia

Multicultural Australia has enriched the nation’s cultural life, creativity and global standing. These achievements deserve recognition and defence at a time of growing hostility to migration.

February 8, 2026

From Les Misérables to Trump – what happens when moral certainty hardens

Polarisation is often described as ideological. But its deeper cause may be moral – a loss of the capacity to recognise goodness in those who disagree with us, and the consequences that follow.

March 16, 2026

Five years after March 4 Justice, women are still being killed

Five years after tens of thousands of women marched across Australia demanding action on gendered violence, the country has changed its language and policies. But the most brutal statistic – women killed by current or former partners – has not declined.

January 21, 2026

De-icing the Earth: a fatal decision

Global ice is melting fast, with major sea level rise and extreme heat locked in unless emissions fall sharply. The window to act is closing.

November 28, 2025

Why Labor can’t be bold without confronting tax reform

If the Albanese government wants to deliver lasting reform – in education, healthcare, housing and climate – it will have to confront the hardest political question of all: how to raise the revenue to pay for it.

January 22, 2026

Australia looks like a winner – but we’re losing where it counts

Australia remains wealthy but structurally fragile – highly dependent on raw exports and poorly positioned for a more complex, decarbonising global economy. Economic complexity is a warning signal we can no longer ignore.

January 19, 2026

What does it mean to be bold on the economy?

Australia’s export mix is dangerously narrow. A mission-led industrial strategy is needed to build competitive advantage and lift productivity.

January 8, 2026

We've had 26 royal commissions. Their failures should caution us against a repeat

Calls for a royal commission after the Bondi shootings reflect public anger and distrust, but decades of experience suggest such inquiries rarely deliver lasting reform or accountability.

November 13, 2025

‘Extraordinary and reprehensible circumstances' - Part 4

Malcolm Fraser was a conservative in terms of the constitution. His view was the Senate was “primarily a house of review – and apart from exceptional circumstances should not frustrate, certainly not on a purely obstructionist basis”

October 27, 2025

As Nobel laureates show, the US can’t take tech lead over China for granted

It’s hard to tell who will ultimately win the tech race, but this year’s Nobel economics prize gives us some clues.

March 9, 2026

Diplomacy as cover – how the road to war with Iran was paved

Negotiations with Iran appeared to promise a diplomatic breakthrough, but the launch of Operation Epic Fury suggests the talks served mainly to mask a pre-planned path to war driven by political and strategic pressure.

February 17, 2026

Ley's by-election to test Coalition

The looming by-election in Farrer is shaping as a four-cornered contest that could reveal how vulnerable the Coalition has become.

November 12, 2025

What Washington really thought of Whitlam before the dismissal

The cloud of American involvement in the events of November 1975 is unlikely to ever clear. Especially while US presidential libraries continue to block access to critical documents that might shed light on the shenanigans.

October 23, 2025

Albanese and Rudd sold out freedom of the press this week

Many Australian journalists think Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Ambassador Kevin Rudd did a wonderful job this week in handling the corrupt narcissist who runs the United States, Donald Trump.

October 20, 2025

Gaza has a ceasefire, now Palestine needs self-determination

Whether it’s the Israeli Government, an international peacekeeping force, or a post-conflict reconstruction authority for Gaza chaired (grotesquely) by Donald Trump, the fate of Palestine still rests in the hands of outsiders.

March 11, 2026

Albanese’s politics of avoidance

From AUKUS to Gaza and now Iran, the government’s instinct has been to avoid political traps rather than confront hard choices – and voters are drifting away.

February 19, 2026

Scapegoating migrants is as old as history itself

Scapegoating migrants is designed to distract our attention from the truth and real issues – the abuse of corporate and media power and failure to tackle housing shortages for younger generations.

January 24, 2026

Carney’s moment: a Western leader finally says the quiet part out loud

Mark Carney’s Davos speech is a blunt diagnosis of a world in rupture, where power now trumps rules and coercion is openly deployed. The answer, it argues, is collective action by middle powers – a modern “third path” that resists subordination and rebuilds leverage.

November 25, 2025

Our politicians continue to fail us on immigration policy

As One Nation rises by recycling anti-immigration rhetoric, both major parties are fumbling their response – missing the chance to offer a clear, credible and principled long-term plan.

November 16, 2025

Trump’s ploy at the UN is American imperialism masquerading as a peace process

The Trump administration is pushing an Israeli-crafted resolution at the UN Security Council aimed at eliminating the possibility of a State of Palestine.

October 11, 2025

Celebrate the ceasefire, but don’t forget: Gaza survived on its own

Western leaders now claim credit for “peace”, but Gaza’s survival belongs to its people alone.

December 9, 2025

Australia’s cost-of-living crisis has a housing problem

Cost-of-living pressures dominate political debate, but the sharpest strain is not falling incomes. It is housing costs, particularly for first-home buyers, fuelled by stagnant productivity and chronic undersupply where people want to live.

November 23, 2025

The UN embraces colonialism: the Security Council and the US Gaza plan

The Security Council’s backing of the Trump plan for Gaza ignores international law, punishes the Palestinians, and rewards those responsible for genocide.

January 15, 2026

I cannot be party to silencing writers, which is why I resigned as director of Adelaide writers’ week

Cancelling the Australian Palestinian author Randa Abdel-Fattah weakens freedom of speech and is the harbinger of a less free nation.

November 21, 2025

Working with PM Fraser - a country divided - Part 3

March 15, 2026

After the Iran war, Gulf nations face tough decisions on the US

Iran’s attacks across the Gulf have exposed the limits of the US security umbrella and forced regional leaders to rethink how they balance relations with Washington, Tehran and their own populations.

December 11, 2025

2025 in Review: Bullies and sycophants, cowardice on high, courage from below

A year defined by bullying power politics, media cowardice and moral failure – alongside rare but vital acts of courage that point to a different future.

October 10, 2025

Trump says Israel and Hamas sign off on first phase of Gaza ceasefire plan

Mediator Qatar said more details of the agreement would be announced at a later date.

December 4, 2025

Australia’s immigration 'debate' is rhetoric, not policy

Australia is awash with immigration rhetoric, but little of it is grounded in evidence, clear definitions or serious policy alternatives. Rather than an informed public debate, Australians are being offered slogans, blame and ambiguity.

October 19, 2025

Was the gospel preached at Charlie Kirk's memorial service?

It is now more than a month since Charlie Kirk’s murder (10 September) and memorial service (21 September).

March 17, 2026

Australia’s fuel security crisis needs less diesel, not more refineries

Australia’s heavy reliance on imported diesel has left the economy exposed to global shocks, highlighting the need to cut demand rather than simply increase supply.

November 1, 2025

Australian Palestinian farm in the occupied West Bank raided by Israeli settlers

Australian citizen, Palestinian farmer and vigneron Sari Kassis, whose family company Domaine Kassis wines sells both locally and overseas, has reported that over the past two weeks there has been a rapid increase in destructive raids on his farm by the Israeli “Hilltop Youth”.

January 18, 2026

Best of 2025 - Why Labor can’t be bold without confronting tax reform

February 24, 2026

Values, ethics, fear – Australian women and children in the Al Roj Camp

Politicians frequently appeal to Judaeo–Christian values, yet retreat from them when fear dominates debate. The test is whether those values guide policy when it is hardest to apply them.

February 22, 2026

When Ramadan and Lent overlap, faiths move in parallel

As Ramadan and Lent unfold simultaneously across Asia, Muslim and Christian communities move through parallel seasons of fasting, prayer and charity – shaping public life in subtle but significant ways.

February 18, 2026

Will Japan’s remilitarisation drag us into a war?

Japan’s rapid rearmament marks a decisive break with its post-war pacifist stance. As regional tensions sharpen, Australia and New Zealand must decide whether alignment offers security or invites new risks.

February 2, 2026

Australia’s Trump reprieve masks a deeper strategic dilemma

Australia may have escaped the worst of Donald Trump’s return to power so far. But beneath the surface, Washington’s shift towards spheres of influence is exposing serious weaknesses in Australia’s strategic posture.

December 19, 2025

A better symbol

After the Bondi massacre, grief was swiftly overtaken by politics. Public mourning and the misuse of symbols raise hard questions about solidarity, power and what genuinely brings light.

November 30, 2025

New architecture, old assumptions: Australia and the China question

Foreign Minister Penny Wong speaks of balance, equality and a new regional order – yet Australia’s China policy still carries Cold War assumptions that risk strategy, prosperity and peace.

March 4, 2026

The US-Israeli attack on Iran is also an assault on the United Nations

The US–Israel war on Iran is a direct breach of the UN Charter and a blow to international law. But the attempt to impose global hegemony and hollow out the UN will ultimately fail in a multipolar world determined to resist domination.

November 10, 2025

‘Mr Whitlam’s style’ – Part I

“I had no contemporary political heroes. I preferred Labor values to Liberal ones. I believed in a mixed economy. I disliked the people who’d got us into the Vietnam war. I was grateful to those who’d got us out. I admired Gough Whitlam, but not as much as he did.”

January 23, 2026

Bad laws are the worst sort of tyranny – and this one ticks every box

A sweeping new bill to combat antisemitism, hate and extremism was rushed through federal parliament this week with minimal scrutiny and major rule-of-law flaws. Its vague definitions, retrospective reach and expanded executive powers risk undermining rights, due process and democratic accountability.

November 15, 2025

Keating on the malevolence and brutality of The Dismissal

Paul Keating had just been appointed to his first ministry when the governor-general brought it all crashing down on November 11. The former prime minister is interviewed by Niki Savva.

Pearls and Irritations

John Menadue's Public Policy Journal