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Pearls and Irritations

John Menadue's Public Policy Journal
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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.

January 13, 2026

Best of 2025 - Albo, Trump and China: No one likes a loser

The first obvious takeaway is that our prime minister has been wise not to heed the Austral Americans urging him to get to Washington as soon as possible.

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?

January 15, 2026

Best of 2025 - 'We don't do that in this country': judge slams DPP

An appeal by ACT director of Public Prosecutions, Victoria Engel, SC, has been dismissed by a Full Bench of the ACT Court of Appeal after only three minutes of deliberation.

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.

December 21, 2025

Assange sues Nobel Foundation to stop war-promoting Machado from receiving Peace prize cash

Julian Assange has filed a legal complaint seeking to block Nobel Peace Prize funds from being paid to Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado over her support for US military actions.

November 29, 2025

How the social media ban could harm African diaspora youth

New research shows Australia’s under-16 social media ban risks harming African diaspora young people by cutting off vital spaces for identity, belonging and connection.

January 8, 2026

Best of 2025 - UN at 80 – Rome is burning, governments are fiddling and the UN is ailing - Part 1

This year marks the 80th anniversary of the signing of the UN Charter. During these eight decades, much has been accomplished that calls for celebration. Yet, there is no denying that the United Nations is facing perhaps the greatest crisis of its 80-year history.

November 12, 2025

‘Spooky fiddling’: Preparing the ground – Part 3

“There is profoundly increasing evidence that foreign espionage and intelligence activities are being practised in Australia on a wide scale… I believe the evidence is so grave and so alarming in its implications that it demands the fullest explanation. The deception over the CIA and the activities of foreign installations on our soil… are an onslaught on Australia’s sovereignty.” – Gough Whitlam, House of Representatives, 1977

November 22, 2025

US wants Seoul’s subs to counter China – Asian Media Report

In Asian media this week: Washington sees global role for South Korean navy; the military cements government control in Pakistan; Palestine is an obstacle to Trump’s new Middle East plan; Japan prepares for drawn-out dispute with China; why South Korea is turning its back on coal power; and boot camps for beauty queens.

October 6, 2025

Chris Hedges – Statement by the National Press Club ( 4 October 2025)

Pulitzer Prize winning journalist Chris Hedges’ forthcoming address to Australia’s National Press Club on Gaza has been cancelled, as revealed in an article published during the weekend. The National Press Club has responded in a media statement.

December 22, 2025

This one’s on Netanyahu, not Albanese

The Bondi massacre sits within a wider international context that has reshaped public attitudes to Israel, antisemitism and protest, complicating how grief, fear and responsibility are understood in Australia.

December 12, 2025

One fire, one-sided view: how the ABC's fire 'analysis' became narrative

Australia’s public broadcaster is trusted because it separates analysis from opinion. A recent ABC news analysis article blurs that line – with serious consequences for credibility.

December 18, 2025

What Australia’s gun law response means for New Zealand

Australia is moving toward its biggest overhaul of firearms regulation since Port Arthur. For New Zealand, the lessons may be uncomfortable – and unavoidable. _

October 31, 2025

The ABC and News Corp finally agree on something: China panic

Last week, a friend asked if I was worried about Chinese “nuclear threats".

January 5, 2026

Best of 2025 - Australia is one trade deal away from backing authoritarians, says Taiwan

In the grand tradition of diplomatic overreach, Taiwan’s deputy foreign minister recently offered some sweet and spicy talking points to our media: semiconductors are tanks, China is akin to WWII Germany, and if Australia doesn’t fast-track Taiwan into the CPTPP, we might all wake up speaking Mandarin under a fascist AI regime, as reported by News Corp and 7 News.

December 6, 2025

Hong Kong high-rise renovations a murky, greedy industry – Asian Media Report

From Hong Kong’s deadly tower fire and surging renovation graft, to climate-fuelled floods across Asia, record weapons sales, a massive Korean data breach and collapsing Chinese tourism in Japan, this week’s Asian media coverage reveals the region’s mounting pressures and political tensions.

November 26, 2025

Without peer in Australian media – Geoff Raby

Former Australian Ambassador to China and senior diplomat Geoff Raby commends Pearls and Irritations

October 15, 2025

Who are 'Advance' and what are they doing to our politics?

Launched in 2018 as a conservative answer to GetUp!, the group Advance likes to style itself as the voice of the average person against “the elite"._

December 17, 2025

Conflicts of interest: defending the indefensible

Evidence to a parliamentary inquiry has raised serious questions about conflicts of interest and how they are being managed.

October 29, 2025

As the home ownership dream fades, Australians may be open to a frank conversation about house prices

One of the most basic axioms in Australian politics is that voters support rising house prices. John Howard expressed this axiom when he infamously remarked that no one had ever told him “I’m angry with you for letting the value of my house increase”.

October 19, 2025

Tipping, tipping, tipping... the dominoes fall

Dying reefs, shrinking icesheets, withering forests and collapsing currents are the latest symptoms of an Earth system enduring dangerous trauma, according to the Global Tipping Points Report 2025.

January 7, 2026

Best of 2025 - Rupert Murdoch’s greatest scoop

On Wednesday 25 February 1976, The Australian published a sensational front page story headlined “Iraq promises $US500,000 to pay Labor’s debts/Whitlam in secret Arab election deal”.

December 13, 2025

Federal Court dispatches Sofronoff empty-handed

The Federal Court has again shown itself to be a brutal arena for rebuilding reputations. In Justice Walter Sofronoff’s case, the court has backed the Integrity Commission’s conclusion of serious corrupt conduct.

December 8, 2025

The 2026 budget is Labor’s real reform test

The 2026 federal budget offers a rare opportunity to begin rebalancing tax, lifting productivity and tackling long-term pressures on living standards.

November 11, 2025

It’s Ley, or virtually certain Liberal self-immolation

People closer to the action than I are suggesting that the end is nigh for Sussan Ley. They may be right; momentum is often all in these matters.

October 11, 2025

Price rally fuels surge in Southeast Asia gold businesses – Asian Media Report

In Asian media this week: Beijing in 11-month gold-buying streak. Plus: Takaichi the most conservative leadership choice; US looks to delegate Taiwan defence; Prabowo holds massive military parade; South Korea’s Lee challenges US wartime control; China’s harsh times feed a spiritual economy.

January 6, 2026

Best of 2025 - Exclusion of Ed Husic from the Albanese Ministry Statement

A showing of poor judgment, unfairness and diminished respect for the contribution of others.

November 23, 2025

No COP for Australia. No tears from me

Hosting a UN climate summit should be about global cooperation on combating climate change. Australia’s bid for COP31 reveals how far COP has drifted.

October 26, 2025

Realism and optimism on energy transition

On the subject of energy decarbonisation, there are moonfaced optimists who insistently claim that net-zero emissions can easily be achieved by 2050, and “realists” like Vaclav Smil and Mark Mills, who warn that a transition away from society’s dependence on hydrocarbons, in Mills’s words, “is not feasible in any meaningful time frame”.

December 7, 2025

Bill Gates knows the climate and poverty facts but misses the politics

Bill Gates downplays climate catastrophe, wolves are blamed – or credited – for ecosystem repair, and China’s energy surge defies Western narratives.

November 24, 2025

What science tells us about Earth’s changing climate

As leaders leave Brazil and the 2025 UN climate summit draws to a close, it’s worth reflecting on what science says about Earth’s climate – what’s changing, why it’s happening, and where we’re heading next.

November 2, 2025

Environment: Six strategies will simultaneously reduce emissions and help communities prepare

Six broad strategies will tackle the root causes of climate change and help groups prepare for the consequences of global warming. Environmentally sustainable aircraft are slow to take off. Local governments can take a lead in promoting biodiversity.

December 5, 2025

When foreign policy becomes domestic theatre

Australia’s response to Japan’s rhetoric has been framed as a test of loyalty, but the outrage is largely media-driven. Caution in foreign policy is not betrayal – it is a rational defence of national interest.

November 3, 2025

Message from the editor

When I began as editor in early 2025 I was struck by how much great reading P&I offered. Now we are branching out to bring you great listening as well, with a big new project, Pearlcast.

November 7, 2025

'We don't do that in this country': judge slams DPP

An appeal by ACT director of Public Prosecutions, Victoria Engel, SC, has been dismissed by a Full Bench of the ACT Court of Appeal after only three minutes of deliberation.

December 20, 2025

Beijing makes domestic spending its top priority – Asian Media Report

From China’s new investing in people strategy to Thailand’s threat to continue border fighting, revelations about Korea’s martial law bid, South Asia’s climate emergencies, the restoration of democracy in Bangladesh, and Seoul’s imaginative food waste scheme, the latest Asian media coverage highlights our region’s pressures, problems and opportunities.

December 3, 2025

Expert independent evidence-based assessment

This month we are asking readers to support our work through a tax deductible donation via the Australian Cultural Fund. Regular author, Michael Keating writes about the value of Pearls and Irritations.

December 1, 2025

Corruption isn’t just a moral failure – it’s built into our political system

Corruption in politics is not an accident or an exception. It is a predictable outcome of a system that rewards loyalty, access and survival over accountability, transparency and the public interest.

October 24, 2025

China, US or us? Australia’s Upper Path in the global minerals race

The headlines are breathless: “ China versus the world,” proclaimed The Australian, quoting some very important people from the sheriff’s office urging allies to “decouple” from Beijing and unite against China’s “takeover of global rare earth supply chains”.

January 10, 2026

Best of 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.

January 11, 2026

Best of 2025 - ‘Disaster season’: What is that?

Anika Wells, in announcing a meeting with three telco giants to discuss Optus’s Triple Zero emergency call system catastrophe in September, referred to the need for Australians to have confidence in the system before the coming “disaster season”. By that she meant summer. Is there really such a season?

October 30, 2025

Commonwealth administrative reform remains up the creek

The results of a recent survey of community satisfaction and trust in Commonwealth public services are not to be sneezed at.

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We recognise the First Peoples of this nation and their ongoing connection to culture and country. We acknowledge First Nations Peoples as the Traditional Owners, Custodians and Lore Keepers of the world's oldest living culture and pay respects to their Elders past, present and emerging.

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