November 3, 2025

Will the US do to Venezuela’s Maduro what they did to Gaddafi?

Something truly horrific is being planned for Venezuela. Generals are being bought and paid for, death squads are being organised and a major regime change operation is slowly gathering steam that, if executed, will have catastrophic consequences for the people of Venezuela and possibly the region beyond.

December 8, 2025

Australia’s trust deficit is a failure of governance

Public trust in Australian politics is wearing dangerously thin. Restoring it will require clear standards, real accountability and decisions that can be traced, justified and owned.

November 22, 2025

Root canals and conspiracies

Social media misinformation is creating a public health problem of lost teeth, prolonged dental pain, unnecessary costs, and worsening inequalities in oral health.

October 19, 2025

Savvy politicians know how to ‘perform’ authenticity – the Jacinda Ardern doco offers a masterclass

There’s a telling moment in the documentary film Prime Minister when Jacinda Ardern reflects on her rapid rise from Labour leader to prime minister, saying she had “no time to redesign myself […] I could only be myself”.

November 12, 2025

Looking back on Remembrance Day

Remembrance Day should be one on which thoughts turn to peace. Instead it tends to lead us in the opposite direction.

October 12, 2025

Omar Yaghi: Refugee from Gaza wins 2025 Nobel Prize in chemistry

Born in a one-room home on the outskirts of Amman, the son of illiterate Palestinian refugees from Gaza, Professor Omar Yaghi has risen from the hardships of displacement to the highest pinnacle of scientific achievement by winning the 2025 Nobel Prize in Chemistry.

December 10, 2025

Nationalists play to the crowd in Japan–China relations

A warning from Japan’s prime minister about Taiwan has triggered a sharp exchange with Beijing, revealing how nationalism is reshaping diplomacy.

October 6, 2025

Palestinians out by 7 October?

No wonder Israel’s prime minister was grinning. He had his fourth meeting this year with President Trump. He also got what he came for: permission to “finish the job”.

October 9, 2025

Japan's likely new leader is a surprise, and not just because she is a woman

In the recent election held by Japan’s Liberal Democratic Party to find a new leader following the assassination of former prime minister, Shinzo Abe, an unlikely name to emerge was that of Sanae Takaichi.

November 15, 2025

China-phobia in Australia is endangering the country’s security

The toxic roots of China-phobia are deeply embedded in modern Australia’s cultural history. It has a firm grip on the minds of many of Australia’s policy wonks, politicians, media commentators, and the general public.

November 13, 2025

Burn it all down movements

When a 34-year-old democratic socialist defeats a political dynasty in the nation’s largest city, we’re witnessing more than another electoral upset.

November 5, 2025

Zombie multilateralism: The undead world of APEC

After 20 years, APEC returned to Korea, but it feels different.

November 24, 2025

A rare win-win for climate, farming and biodiversity – if policymakers act

Restoring Australia’s farm dams could slash emissions, improve water quality, boost livestock productivity, and enhance biodiversity – all at low cost.

November 6, 2025

Lancet study shows more than 3m years of human life lost in Israeli assault on Gaza

“To speak of three million years of human life erased is to confront the true scale of this atrocity – generations of children, parents, and families wiped out,” said the head of a US advocacy group.

November 28, 2025

Trying teenagers as adults won’t fix youth crime

Victoria’s proposal to send 14–17 year olds into adult courts ignores international law, expert evidence and decades of failed policy. Rehabilitation, not punishment, is what reduces future harm.

October 31, 2025

Open letter to David Marr on his interview with Chris Hedges

Well-known journalist Chris Hedges, whose talk scheduled to be delivered at the National Press Club was suddenly cancelled, was confronted by the ABC’s Late Night Live host David Marr in an unexpectedly ferocious interview. One reader took exception to this.

December 6, 2025

Refugees aren’t politically progressive by default – and policy needs to catch up

Australian settlement policy often assumes refugees will embrace progressive politics. Research and community experience show refugee political identities are far more diverse – with important implications for law and policy.

November 25, 2025

The ceasefire that isn’t: 400 violations in 40 days

Israel has violated the ceasefire in Gaza hundreds of times since October, using vague or unverified justifications to carry out strike in a recurring pattern of escalation and impunity.

December 9, 2025

‘This will be my dream project’: How we got Frank Gehry to design the UTS ‘paper bag’

“I’m up for it” was the response of arguably the most famous architect in the world to our hesitant inquiry. “This will be my dream project,” he said.

October 21, 2025

'We can do this': Rio Tinto’s rapid switch to renewables shows path for quick exit from coal

You might be able to imagine the scene: An Australia sporting minister stands up in front of a vast audience to announce that something is simply not possible – it might be running 100 metres in 10 seconds, kicking a drop goal from 50 metres, or a swimming relay team beating a world record.

December 15, 2025

Book Review: Merlinda Bobis explores four generations of colonialism and violence in the Phillipines

Merlinda Bobis’ In the Name of the Trees weaves four generations of Bikol women into a powerful exploration of colonial violence, language, land and survival.

October 25, 2025

Indonesia’s security depends on educating the minds behind its machines

Indonesia is investing in its regional influence — purchasing new fighters, drones, frigates and billions in defence contracts — while allowing its classrooms to deteriorate.

December 2, 2025

Indonesia’s Gaza peacekeeping bid raises more questions than answers

Indonesia has offered to send up to 20,000 troops to Gaza as part of an international peacekeeping force. The proposal highlights shifting regional politics – and unresolved concerns about military power, credibility and human rights.

December 5, 2025

Is the focus on NAPLAN’s ‘top’ schools a good idea?

This year’s NAPLAN results reveal encouraging stories of student progress, but headlines about ’top’ schools risk oversimplifying how improvement really happens – and what parents should take from the data.

October 29, 2025

The unvanquished will: Gaza’s triumph of spirit against the architecture of genocide

For the last two years, my social media algorithm has been relentlessly dominated by Gaza, particularly by the voices of ordinary Gazans, displaying a blend of emotions that centres on two core principles: grief and defiance.

December 2, 2025

AI and the news: how it helps, fails, and why that matters

AI is reshaping the news ecosystem in the fields of search, fact-checking and personalised feeds. If used well, it can support journalism and strengthen democracy.

December 1, 2025

Trade and tariffs: how reciprocity turned into retaliation

Tariff powers once tightly constrained by Congress have steadily migrated to the US presidency. That shift is reshaping global trade – and exposing countries like Australia to greater economic coercion.

October 13, 2025

Fifty years of political economics at Sydney University – what has it meant for us?

Earlier this year The Journal of Australian Political Economy published a _special issue_ devoted to recollections and implications of 50 years of Political Economy courses at Sydney University.

November 8, 2025

Computer still says no to Queenslanders wearing seatbelts

The ACT Government has just announced that from 3 November, “ACT traffic cameras will detect and issue infringements for seatbelt offences".

October 7, 2025

7 October 2023: shocking yes, surprising no

A new book on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Road to October 7 - a brief history of Palestinian Islamism, by Erik Skare, shows how the seeds of the Gaza war were sown over decades.

December 3, 2025

Global campaign amplifies call for the release of jailed Palestinian leader Barghouti

An international campaign is calling for the release of Palestinian political figure Marwan Barghouti, arguing his freedom could reshape Palestinian politics and revive peace efforts.

November 4, 2025

The left wins the Irish presidential election in a landslide

Catherine Connolly (born 1957) only became involved in active politics in 1999. Michael D. Higgins, the outgoing president of Ireland (2011-2025), encouraged Connolly to join the Labour Party and stand for election.

November 18, 2025

‘My Viceroy’ - Part 5

“I thought it no bad thing that the public in Australia and, perhaps, also those in other monarchical Commonwealth countries, not excluding Britain, should have been reminded that the Crown possessed reserve powers.” Sir John Kerr to the British High Commissioner to Australia, December 1975.

October 27, 2025

Australia’s role in the F-35 supply chain – what a tangled web we weave!

The government’s ducking and weaving about military exports to Israel went up a whole new notch this month, arguing in _Senate estimates_ that just because something was shipped from Australia, doesn’t mean it was exported from Australia.

November 29, 2025

Why false beliefs feel safer than the truth

People clinging to falsehoods is not a failure of intelligence, but a deeply human attempt to protect emotional stability in an overwhelming world.

October 18, 2025

Harm reduction is ubiquitous and effective so why doesn’t Australia use it for tobacco?

Harm reduction policies are widespread, and generally work, are safe and cost-effective.

November 20, 2025

UN approval of Gaza ‘Stabilisation Force’ slammed as ‘Denial of Palestinian self-determination’

CodePink said the plan “will leave Palestine in the hands of a puppet administration, assigning the United States, which shares complicity in the genocide, as the new manager of the open-air prison.”

November 14, 2025

Rising electricity prices have nothing to do with renewables

Electricity prices are elevated, but anyone who claims renewable energy has driven the rise is either uninformed or is deliberately lying.

November 17, 2025

Victoria’s ‘adult time for violent crime’ reforms will not solve the youth crime problem

The Victorian government has announced a new youth justice reform package. The package is punitive in its nature, focused around an “adult time for violent crime” measure for several offences.

October 8, 2025

7 October 2023: Return of the Hannibal Directive and the genocide starts now – Part 2

By noon on 7 October 2023, news of Palestinians taking hostages grip the attention of Israel’s top military and political leadership who are gathered in the “Pit”, the Kirya bunker in Tel Aviv.

December 12, 2025

The real winners of Australia’s under-16s social media ban

Australia’s social media ban for under-16s is sold as child protection, but its most tangible effect is a transfer of power away from global platforms and back to legacy media interests.

October 11, 2025

An Australian chemist just won the Nobel Prize. Here’s how his work is changing the world

The 2025 Nobel Prize in chemistry has been awarded for the development of metal-organic frameworks: molecular structures that have large spaces within them, capable of capturing and storing gases and other chemicals.

December 13, 2025

Frankie Goes to Bethlehem: myth, music and the power of love

In 1984, Frankie Goes to Hollywood released a reverent nativity ballad that revealed how myth, music and Christmas still speak beyond belief.

October 16, 2025

Vanity, defence or just wanting to show off?

For a demagogue, what could be more stirring than to take the salute on a raised dais as thousands of armed men and women march past like robots in perfect synchronisation?

November 10, 2025

Young people are increasingly being killed or injured on e-bikes. It’s time for governments to act

In the span of just a few days, two children were killed in separate e-bike crashes in Queensland – one on the Sunshine Coast and another on the Gold Coast.

November 1, 2025

Yes – he's a dictator

The latest polling from the Public Religion Research Institute provides a stunning reflection on how Americans now regard Trump.

October 20, 2025

India’s American dream in tatters

The last couple of months have exposed the humiliating realities of the subordinate alliance that India has been gradually sliding into with the US over the last three decades.

October 17, 2025

Family violence and migrant women – a better way

Nashita Pasha 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 15, 2025

Nobel Peace laureate calls for US bombing of her country

Within hours of being named the Nobel Peace laureate for 2025, María Corina Machado called on President Trump to step up his military and economic campaign against her own country, Venezuela.

Pearls and Irritations

John Menadue's Public Policy Journal

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