November 20, 2025

Fatal free lunch

Indonesia’s free meals for kids program has left thousands of youngsters with food poisoning, and returned the country to the bad old days of military influence.

November 11, 2025

Whitlam and the White House – Part 2

“Australia and the territories under its control have become increasingly important to the US defence and space establishments in recent years as a site for satellite tracking stations, nuclear test detection facilities, space research and related activities. With ample space, relatively advanced technology, political stability and conservative government, Australia has become a uniquely desirable base for both military and civilian programs involving operations in the Southern Hemisphere.” – White House position paper, 1962, quoted in Brian Toohey, Secret.

October 14, 2025

Disarming extremism in the algorithmic age

Amelie Szczecinski is one of six talented young Australians who will travel to the UN General Assembly in New York next week as part of the Global Voices project.

December 12, 2025

UN report: acting on climate now would make the world richer, not poorer

A major UN report finds that investing in climate action would deliver enormous economic gains, while failure to act would slash growth, drive instability and cost millions of lives.

November 2, 2025

Taking from the young, giving to the old: How our tax system is letting us down

Australians are retiring with unprecedented levels of wealth. This wealth, which is primarily held in housing, investment properties and superannuation, allows retirees to draw incomes to support their retirement.

October 23, 2025

Muted response to Trump's appropriation of Christianity

“…and from among your own selves men will arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after them. Therefore be on the alert…” ( Acts 20:29–31).

December 15, 2025

Trump’s empire of hubris and thuggery

Donald Trump’s latest National Security Strategy memorandum treats the freedom to coerce others as the essence of US sovereignty. It is an ominous document that will – if allowed to stand – come back to haunt the United States.

December 13, 2025

Journalist files defence in anti-Semitism test case

Mary Kostakidis, a national TV news presenter in Australia for two decades, has asked a federal judge to throw out the Zionist Federation’s charge against her of racially vilifying Jews, reports Joe Lauria.

November 17, 2025

'A national humiliation': Australia at bottom of new renewables ranking

As the Coalition abandons net zero, Andrew Forrest has quietly moved on not just to net zero, but to real zero.

November 23, 2025

Henry Reynolds’ bold, new book takes a top-end view of Australian history

First Nations people please be advised this article speaks of racially discriminating moments in history, including the distress and death of First Nations people.

November 14, 2025

The boy who cried antisemitism

For two years, we’ve been told Australia is drowning in antisemitism. Every protest for Palestinian human rights, every mural, every chant criticising Israel has been hauled up as “evidence.”

December 4, 2025

Selling out our sovereignty

Revelations of secret F-35 fighter jet parts shipments to Israel have exposed a yawning hole in Australia’s sovereign national defence.

October 21, 2025

The migration debate in Australia

Australia’s population growth rate is returning to normal. Instead, of cutting migration, the solution to Australia’s housing crisis is to increase the rate of new dwelling approvals and completions.

October 12, 2025

Universal jurisdiction: Australia’s crucial role in international criminal justice

Samar Batool Athar is one of six talented young Australians who will travel to the UN General Assembly in New York next week as part of the Global Voices project.

November 5, 2025

The press and the Dismissal – Part I

On the morning of 15 October 1975, most major newspapers advocated in their editorials that the Labor Government should go.

November 7, 2025

When in doubt, blame China (every News Corp headline needs a villain)

If you only skimmed the headlines from News Corp, you’d be forgiven for thinking China was launching a krill-powered naval strike from Antarctica, staging an electric vehicle blitzkrieg across the outback and forcing Hyundai into some humiliating act of surrender.

December 14, 2025

How charitable are Australians? Three charts show how much we give

New data shows fewer Australians are claiming tax-deductible donations and our global ranking for generosity is slipping. Changing giving habits, the rise of online fundraisers and an ageing donor base all help explain what the statistics miss.

October 30, 2025

Why the annexation of the West Bank matters to all of us

Between 1 January and 30 September 2025, Israeli authorities carried out 1288 demolitions of Palestinian-owned structures in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem.

November 27, 2025

Gaza’s economy has collapsed beyond recognition

Gaza’s economy, society and basic infrastructure have been almost entirely wiped out. With 90 per cent of people displaced, food systems destroyed and schools and hospitals in ruins, reconstruction is becoming harder by the day.

November 26, 2025

Western Australia is rich, but it's not the economic powerhouse it claims to be

Western Australian politicians claim the state is the “powerhouse” of the national economy and deserves an outsized share of GST revenue. The ABS State Accounts for 2024–25 tell a different story, revealing a decade of weak growth, falling per capita output and a system that rewards WA despite clear under-performance.

December 1, 2025

‘Genocide is not over,’ Amnesty leader says as Israel keeps bombing Gaza

“So far, there is no indication that Israel is taking serious measures to reverse the deadly impact of its crimes and no evidence that its intent has changed.”

November 18, 2025

Sudan cannot be an invisible tragedy

The end of violence must be a first step in the Sudan Civil War. And Australia has a key role to play.

October 20, 2025

Albanese meets Trump: A fly to a wanton schoolboy

Paul Begley looks at how the Australian prime minister might “manage” his scheduled meeting with Donald Trump this week.

November 22, 2025

Never underestimate a shearer's cook

What comes next for Liberal leader Sussan Ley after the party walked away from committing to net zero?_

October 13, 2025

Ignorance is complicity: Australia must end its arms trade with those committing crimes

Rayana Ajam is one of six talented young Australians who will travel to the UN General Assembly in New York next week as part of the Global Voices project.

October 10, 2025

Our American obsession

I have spent seven years of my life in the United States and much of my writing has been influenced by the US.

October 29, 2025

How UN betrayal of West Papua led to genocide, step by step

The United Nations has recently come under attack from the Trump Administration and, much as it goes against the grain, it’s difficult to argue with real-estate-developer-cum-ambassador-representative for UN Management and Reform [sic], Jeff Bartos:

October 27, 2025

The future of Palestine: What Australia must do

Responding to continuing slaughter in Gaza is a test of Australian politicians and the government’s courage.

November 16, 2025

From populism to progress: The Netherlands’ historic election

The Netherlands has been at the centre of a political shake-up in recent weeks, with the vote count only just finalised.

December 7, 2025

History, memory, and pain: Fifty years after the Indonesian invasion of East Timor

On 7 December 2025, fifty years since Indonesian troops invaded East Timor, survivors and their descendants continue to live with the legacy of occupation, violence and loss – and to insist that remembrance, truth and justice still matter.

November 25, 2025

Axed AG tells how Labor really changes the Constitution

Despite Labor’s longstanding appetite for constitutional reform, former Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus now points to a different path: bold, nation-shaping change without the need for a referendum.

November 10, 2025

‘Hawkish’ interpretations rise as US-China discourse gets lost in translation

In an echo of the Cold War, mistranslations are testing already strained nerves in Washington and Beijing.

November 15, 2025

Trick or treaty? Don't know, can't say

The Indonesian print media covering the one-day visit of President Prabowo Subianto to Australia this month has dazzled its readers with some splendid insights into a serious issue.

November 9, 2025

Rewriting Soeharto's story

Indonesian conservatives are rewriting the 32-year history of the late second president Soeharto, a former army general, champion of corruption and destroyer of democracy.

October 22, 2025

The Pope, the media and the 'normalisation' of Trump

As world media and leaders normalise US President Donald Trump’s erratic behaviour, Pope Leo XIV must resist and keep his distance.

November 21, 2025

Assessing the Liberal Party's policy-making capacity

Good policy should be evidence-based. But this is not the case with the Liberals energy policy and seems unlikely with their migration policy.

November 30, 2025

Led Zeppelin, my band that never ‘made it’, and the lost art of failure

Our culture treats success as virtue and failure as personal flaw. Older traditions – from Greek tragedy to Christian thought – saw failure as meaningful. Recovering that wisdom may be essential to living with dignity in an age of burnout.

November 12, 2025

The debate about net zero ignores the evidence

Those in the Coalition who are opposed to targeting net zero carbon emissions, argue that it will cost too much. But that claim is false and not supported by the evidence. How can they get away with it?

October 11, 2025

Almost no Australians study Chinese any more. That’s a problem

Fewer than five Australians per year are graduating from honours programs in Chinese studies with language, raising fears the nation is losing the expertise needed to navigate its most complex foreign relationship.

November 29, 2025

Gaza’s true death toll could be 126,000 or even higher

New research suggests Gaza’s death toll may be far higher than widely reported, with devastating implications for life expectancy, poverty and accountability.

October 28, 2025

It's no longer possible to be a Palestinian in the West Bank

In the West Bank, no one has heard about the ceasefire in Gaza: not the army, not the settlers, not the Civil Administration and, of course, not the three million Palestinians who live under their tyranny. They do not feel the end of the war in the slightest.

October 8, 2025

Trump’s Gaza peace plan: Today, tomorrow and the day after

Back in January last year, my Toda Policy Brief 182 was published with the title “Israel and Gaza: Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow”.

October 18, 2025

One more betrayal of the Palestinians

The history of the Palestinians is a history of betrayal. In the wake of World War I, Britain and France redrew the map of the Middle East to suit their own ends.

December 2, 2025

We’re not about to go full Trump no matter what the culture warriors say

Strains on social cohesion cannot be dismissed as the embrace of multiculturalism has made the task of defining what holds the community together more challenging.

October 26, 2025

Living with schizophrenia

The title of this book is emblematic. It gets to the heart of the problem of schizophrenia, indeed within the authors’ preface.

November 3, 2025

‘No restrictions’ and a secret ‘wink’: Inside Israel’s deal with Google, Amazon

To secure the lucrative Project Nimbus contract, the tech giants agreed to disregard their own terms of service and sidestep legal orders by tipping Israel off if a foreign court demands its data, a joint investigation reveals.

November 1, 2025

Understanding Australia-China research mobility

Australia’s research partnership with China is a significant component of its scientific output, particularly in engineering, technology and applied sciences.

November 6, 2025

New York, 1975: New York, 2025

Zoran Mamdani, a Democratic Socialist Muslim, has won his bid to become Mayor of New York. David Rosen looks at how the city he will run has changed in 50 years.

October 31, 2025

The leader most capable of governing a future Palestinian state is languishing in an Israeli jail

As the future of Gaza hangs in the balance, the Palestinian Authority needs renewal if it’s to eventually govern the Strip and play a key role in making the two-state solution a reality.

Pearls and Irritations

John Menadue's Public Policy Journal

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