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Pearls and Irritations

John Menadue's Public Policy Journal
Politics
Policy
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Climate
Defence
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Palestine-Israel
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Letters
October 30, 2025

The easy way or the hard way to the same result

National leaders deceive most people most of the time. Israel’s long, atrocious, US-backed assault on the Palestinians in Gaza, the West Bank, and Lebanon is the latest example, as are their joint attacks on Syria, Yemen, and Iran.

October 16, 2025

Australia’s ‘ISIS brides’ have returned. Governments can do better at handling this situation

In 2014, the Islamic State terrorist group declared a caliphate, a form of Islamic government headed by a caliph, considered to be a successor to the Prophet Muhammad.

December 10, 2025

Australia’s social media ban puts free speech on the chopping block

Australia’s social media ban for under-16s is being sold as a protection for children, but it raises serious questions about free speech, democratic participation and the perverse effects of prohibition.

November 21, 2025

My one hope – to meet my wife and daughters again

Hamed Al-Mansi is a physical education teacher and farmer from Gaza. He is now alone in Gaza and his dearest wish is to reunite with his family. He has allowed us to publish an extract of his diary.

November 19, 2025

Coalition politicians who can't accept the threat of climate change should resign

Politicians who cannot accept climate change is humanity’s greatest threat should have no place in the Australian parliament. 

November 8, 2025

AUKUS and nuclear propulsion proliferation in the Asia-Pacific

President Trump recently announced support for South Korea’s plans to build nuclear-powered submarines.

November 5, 2025

In memoriam: The slow death of the Quad

Quietly, but surely, life is ebbing away from the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (the Quad).

December 1, 2025

Message from the Editor

I was lucky to speak with a room full of young people at the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering this week, at an ‘ask me anything’ session. So many of them were worried that the university system was not delivering, and that, for students, fear of debt was making them think twice about further education and distorting subject choices.

November 23, 2025

Working with PM Fraser - parting words - Part 5 - Malcolm Fraser

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

November 15, 2025

This Russian victory really is one for the little guy

The Castle remains good law in Australia. Almost three decades since the battling suburban solicitor Dennis Denuto introduced us all to the high legal concept of “the vibe of the thing”, the High Court has broadly endorsed the classic movie’s basic contention: a man’s home is his castle.

December 5, 2025

Words or action? Dreyfus and human rights at home

Mark Dreyfus has been appointed Australia’s special envoy on human rights. Is the government prepared to match international advocacy with concrete action at home – by finally legislating a Human Rights Act?

October 23, 2025

Dental health – time for a small, cost-effective revolution

In the many years I’ve been writing about the dental divide, the only movement I’ve seen is in the increasingly bad numbers around poor oral health, waiting lists and costs to patients. It’s time to see dental caries as a preventable disease.

October 22, 2025

Chris Hedges' Edward Said memorial lecture: ‘Requiem for Gaza’

Journalist Chris Hedges delivers the 2025 Edward Said Memorial Lecture, “Requiem for Gaza” in Adelaide, Australia.

October 10, 2025

Australia’s next big bet lies East, not West

It is in Asia where Australia’s bread is buttered. And Canberra needs a strategy on the security impact that is a gathering tide from the economic impact of Trump’s tariffs on our interests there.

December 12, 2025

Why the Vatican’s latest word on women deacons has angered reformers

A newly released Vatican document on women deacons has sparked anger among Catholic reformers, revealing deep resistance to change, clericalism, and the marginalisation of women in church leadership.

November 11, 2025

After Trump goes home

If anyone had any lingering doubts about the change in the world order, the sight of President Trump pumping his fist into the air at the doorway of Air Force One, before turning his back on Asia to fly home, they should be put to bed now.

December 13, 2025

Don’t take it from us – here’s what great Australians think of P&I

At the time of writing, Pearls & Irritations is still $23,405 short of its critically needed fundraising target, with just four days remaining. Leading Australian thinkers explain why independent, expert-led analysis matters more than ever.

November 12, 2025

The Dismissal was a calculated conservative plot: Albanese

In a speech to mark 50 years since the day, Anthony Albanese says: “The Dismissal was a calculated plot, hatched by conservative forces which sacrificed conventions and institutions in the pursuit of power.”

November 10, 2025

Message from the editor

It has been a real pleasure to watch so many Americans enjoy what might just be a pivotal moment in American politics, with the victory of Zohran Mamdani, the first Muslim and South Asian to win the office of mayor of New York.

October 26, 2025

Bad debt ‘cockroaches’ signal new threats to the global economy

The world appears to have forgotten a key lesson of the global financial crisis: some problems were spotted earlier, but sidelined.

October 21, 2025

If you go down to the forests today, you’re in for a big surprise (mass deforestation)

Visit many areas of state forest in parts of Victoria and you might get a shock – the forest isn’t there.

October 6, 2025

Message from the editor

If you do a Google search for the US federal health department (Health and Human Services) site, as I did this week, a big red banner pops up (over a homepage filled with happy snaps of Trump and Kennedy, and the Make America Healthy Again slogan).

October 13, 2023

MAPW Statement on Israel and Palestine: "Assert the right of all peoples"

The current escalation in bloodshed in Israel and Palestine reflects the fact that peace cannot be built on decades of oppression; it can only be built on justice. The Medical Association for Prevention of War (MAPW) condemns not only the recent attacks, but also the failure – despite concerns expressed by many leaders and governments around the world – to address the oppression directed over a long period towards the Palestinian people. 

December 14, 2025

Degrowing the economy for people and planet

Imperialism, colonialism, racism and ecocide: the four horsemen of capitalism’s apocalypse? Climate change threatens the survival of migratory species, and China continues to dominate the supply of rare earth elements.

November 28, 2025

How 'deep links' journalism fuels pointless China panic

A former MP takes on a routine lobbying role, a Chinese university is named, and suddenly we are in national security territory. This is framing doing the work that facts do not.

December 9, 2025

Patronage over principle: why Katy Gallagher’s ‘flexibility’ betrays good government

Labor once promised to end cronyism in public appointments. The government’s rejection of enforceable rules instead entrenches discretionary power, weakens accountability and undermines confidence in good governance.

November 21, 2025

Democracies good, China bad – and history not required

Japan and China both have legitimate security concerns. But an informed debate needs major media outlets to stop systematically erasing the historical context that shapes how the region understands current events.

October 14, 2025

How Israel lost a war by not deserving to win

It is ultimately futile and probably wicked to calculate winners and losers in a war against civilians, least of all on any sort of balance sheet weighing and measuring the value of dead bodies.

November 9, 2025

Environment: The reformed EPBC Act – will the environment or business have priority?

After six years, reforming the EPBC Act may be reaching a conclusion. Twelve environmental defenders, many Indigenous, are murdered every month. Removing four dams allowed salmon to return to an Oregon river.

October 27, 2025

The key to social cohesion

It’s often said that . Whether or not that’s true is moot – but being under financial stress is definitely bad news.

October 22, 2025

Trump is pushing allies to buy US gas. It’s bad economics – and a catastrophe for the climate

The price of partnership with the United States has changed. Washington is now using  assurances of defence and trade access to pressure allies in Europe and Asia to buy more of its fossil fuels under decades-long contracts.

October 28, 2025

Albo brings peace in our time

The prospect of a military confrontation between the US and China is receding, as is the prospect of a conflict over Taiwan, according to a relaxed Donald Trump talking to Australian journalists and politicians during Anthony Albanese’s visit to Washington. But even if conflict were to occur, America might not be calling on Australia, or Britain, to fight alongside it.

October 25, 2025

Modi cancels ASEAN trip, avoids meeting Trump – Asian Media Report

In Asian media this week: Trump says he spoke to Modi but India denies call took place. Plus: Japan’s new coalition a shift to the right; Timor Leste finally gets seat at regional table; Life worse than death on Myanmar scam farm; Prabowo – control, populism and diminished accountability; Sri Lanka suffers from world’s worst plastics spill.

December 11, 2025

Beyond the under-16 ban: online safety must be built in, not bolted on

As Australia’s under-16 social media ban comes into force, blocking access alone won’t stop online harm. Real protection depends on safety-by-design and a legal digital duty of care built into platforms themselves.

November 18, 2025

Richo’s grave should be extra deep

Graham Richardson was a very successful operator of the Labor Party from the late 1970s who was distinctly short on redeeming virtues.

November 5, 2025

Trump needs to stop weaponising hunger

“They have the authority to fully fund SNAP,” said Rep. Rashida Tlaib. “It shouldn’t take a court order to get the president to stop starving families and release the funds.”

October 13, 2025

These are fighting words

As political violence escalates in the United States, chaos is spreading and democracy itself is under threat. The words of anger, ill-considered and increasingly crude, are accelerant on the American bonfire.

December 15, 2025

Conflicts, corrections and confusion: pressure mounts on the NACC Commissioner

The Inspector of the NACC has received 90 complaints since 1 July. Most of these complaints concern the NACC Commissioner’s conflict of interests with Defence.

November 8, 2025

US-China power shift: a G2 world – Asian Media Report

In Asian media this week: Trump hints at changing great-power relationship. Plus: Beijing wresting control of the global narrative; Myanmar’s scam centre raids dismissed as a smokescreen; Prabowo considers declaring Soeharto a national hero; US approves South Korean nuclear-powered submarine; China’s modern women need new men.

November 13, 2025

ASIO's Mike Burgess and a lust for the limelight

In succumbing to a lust for the limelight, the ASIO director, Mike Burgess, is not making it easier for the government and citizens to retain confidence in him and the organisation he’s trying to run.

October 7, 2025

Steerage for the Australian-PNG navy?

The mutual defence treaty between Australia and Papua New Guinea could be a masterstroke for both countries, if our defence boffins could think laterally. I bet they won’t.

October 12, 2025

Australia’s climate assessment fails on sea-level rise risks and vulnerable communities

Australia’s first climate risk assessment has the stated purpose of guiding adaptation responses to protect people and property in a  heating climate, but what happens if the reality is worse than some low-ball projections of future risks?

November 19, 2025

Book review: Turbulence - Australian foreign policy in the Trump era

For anyone concerned about where Australia’s foreign policy including AUKUS, is taking us, Clinton Fernandes’ book is essential reading.

November 4, 2025

AFP set to fight the devil among our children

The new AFP Commissioner, Krissy Barrett, would not be the first AFP Commissioner or statutory head to think that she can reinvent her job and its functions with the help of a savvy media unit.

November 6, 2025

‘Stabilising’ relations with China while differences widen

The Albanese Government’s “stabilised” China policy faces the test of deepening ideological and strategic divides.

October 23, 2025

Superannuation and the Canberra Press Gallery's fantasies

The Canberra Press Gallery was completely absorbed with the supposed politics of last week’s superannuation changes and completely failed to consider their merits and why the changes were therefore made.

November 15, 2025

The integrity of our media matters – please support Pearls and Irritations

We continue to see powerful interests shape the headlines and spread misinformation faster than facts in current times. That’s why your support of what we do matters.

November 10, 2025

How the Dismissal ripples reached Beijing: Some personal recollections

Life in Beijing in 1975 was not easy and the events leading up to the Dismissal of the Whitlam Government in November piled on the pressure. 

October 17, 2025

Blame and frame: How Chinese Australians are counted when blamed, discounted when needed

We say we want to understand China. Then we glance past a million Chinese speakers at home and start counting somewhere else.

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