November 10, 2025

Venezuela’s oil, US-led regime change and America’s gangster politics

The flimsy moral pretext today is the fight against narcotics, yet the real objective is to overthrow a sovereign government and the collateral damage is the suffering of the Venezuelan people. If this sounds familiar, that’s because it is.

January 28, 2026

China’s ambitions are narrower than Washington thinks

China’s foreign policy priorities are driven more by domestic stability and long-standing sovereignty claims than by ambitions to dominate the global order.

December 1, 2025

Trump wants Australian data on migrant crime

Donald Trump’s demand for Australian data on migrant crime risks reviving discredited narratives that stigmatise migrants, distort evidence and do real harm to vulnerable communities.

October 11, 2025

‘We must keep the pressure on’: Humanitarians say ceasefire doesn’t erase Gaza genocide

“This much-needed and welcomed ceasefire does not change the simple fact that Israel has just committed a genocide in Gaza,” wrote the co-founder of European Jews for Palestine.

February 9, 2026

Climate sceptics dominate the noise, not the numbers

Despite political denial and media distortion, majorities in Australia and the United States accept climate change is real, human-caused and demands action.

October 7, 2025

‘Ban Israeli football’: Scholars urge UEFA to bar Israel over Gaza horrors

In a letter, legal experts have underscored the killing of Palestinian footballers and a UN panel’s finding that Israel is committing genocide.

November 5, 2025

Gen Z uprisings in the Global South

Here are seven theses to begin to understand the protests that young people have led across the world and perhaps channel them in a progressive direction.

November 13, 2025

Mamdani’s victory bought hope to Gaza

Zohran Mamdani is a Ugandan-born Muslim American politician, outspoken supporter of Palestine, and the new Mayor of New York City. His victory there is a symbolic moment that reflects a deeper shift in American awareness toward global justice, especially the Palestinian cause.

January 29, 2026

The Supreme Court should ignore Trump – tariffs haven’t rescued the US economy

Donald Trump’s claim that tariffs have “rescued” the US economy relies on selective data, economic misunderstanding, and a dangerous conflation of trade policy with national security.

December 20, 2025

What the Bondi Beach tragedy reveals about Australia’s political faultlines

In the aftermath of the Bondi Beach attack, grief was quickly accompanied by political demands that blurred the line between combating antisemitism and suppressing dissent, with troubling consequences for social cohesion and civil liberties.

December 14, 2025

Trembling before the religion of AI

We like to think we have moved beyond religion, yet our reliance on AI reveals a new metaphysics shaped by imagination, projection and fear. Adrian Rosenfeldt explores how digital systems have taken on the psychological role once held by the divine.

December 6, 2025

Australia’s school bureaucracy is growing faster than classrooms

Administrative staffing in Australia’s public education system has grown far faster than student enrolments or teacher numbers. Unless governments act, promised school funding risks being absorbed by bureaucracy rather than improving learning and wellbeing.

January 19, 2026

Best of 2025 - How the Albanese government kept “jobs for mates” alive

The Albanese government promised to end political patronage in statutory appointments, but has instead chosen a non-binding framework that preserves ministerial discretion and limits accountability.

November 30, 2025

Ita Buttrose reflects on her life in media – well, some of it

Ita Buttrose’s memoir celebrates resilience, leadership and public service, but avoids reckoning with controversies that shaped her later career, writes Denis Muller.

November 16, 2025

‘Oh, the fog lying like a blanket over this sad town’: The Mushroom Tapes sees the humanity in an inhumane story

The Mushroom Tapes opens with a blunt refusal to accept a murder trial as spectator sport:

October 12, 2025

Bruce Beresford’s The Travellers blends opera and the outback in a heartfelt story about homecoming

Famed Australian director Bruce Beresford loves opera. If you weren’t aware of this before watching his new film, The Travellers, you most likely will be by the time the credits roll.

October 14, 2025

Keating welcomes changes to taxation of super

Yesterday the Government made some key changes to its superannuation tax scheme, after struggling to get the plan through the Senate. Paul Keating says the changes restore confidence in the retirement savings system.

October 26, 2025

‘Another unlawful extrajudicial killing’ as Trump expands boat-bombing spree to Pacific

“This is illegal and endangers America,” said one critic of Trump’s boat-bombing campaign.

October 15, 2025

How the Coalition’s right read the opinion polls

A superficial reading of the polls suggests the Liberal Party should move to the Trumpian right. This is a stupid and dangerous idea.

January 8, 2026

Best of 2025 - Blaming China won’t keep the lights on – or pay the power bill

Sky News is back on the beat with a familiar headline: “The $20,000-per-person climate tax: Cost of Australia’s green agenda to become astonishingly clear this week when new emissions targets are set.”

December 8, 2025

The quiet collapse of ‘plant-based’ fashion materials

For years, plant-based fashion materials were promoted as a sustainable breakthrough. Their rapid collapse tells a more sobering story – not about plants, but about hype, scale and transparency.

November 26, 2025

Ukraine and Europe’s weakness exposed as US and Russia again negotiate behind Kyiv’s back

Ukraine now faces military pressure, political scandal and wavering Western support – a mix that could trigger a dangerous self-fulfilling crisis.

November 1, 2025

Trump's IMO veto exposes Australia's maritime blind spot

Protecting Australia’s sovereignty was a central justification for Anthony Albanese’s critical minerals deal with Donald Trump.

February 12, 2026

Japan's dramatic election result carries dangers

Japan’s ruling party has secured another overwhelming victory. But beneath the spectacle lies a troubling mix of demographic denial, fiscal illusion and rising geopolitical risk.

February 25, 2026

Water bankruptcy is no longer a future threat

Across large parts of the world, water demand now permanently exceeds supply. This is not a temporary crisis but a condition of irreversible scarcity driven by overuse, climate change and population pressure.

January 24, 2026

Cultural “cohesion” becomes censorship, and a festival falls apart

Adelaide Writer’s Week was derailed after the withdrawal of an invited speaker, triggering mass author withdrawals and a board resignation. The episode raises hard questions about free speech, institutional courage, and the politics of Israel and Gaza in Australia’s cultural life.

December 16, 2025

Font of all knowledge? Of Rubio, Rupert and playing to type

A curious US culture-war memo about typefaces becomes a sharp lesson in readability, newspaper craft, and how badly those lessons have been forgotten in Australian journalism.

January 12, 2026

Best of 2025 - Shameful distortion that lies at the heart of US conservative politics

The news of ceasefire and release of hostages in Gaza is cause for great rejoicing and for giving credit where it is due. But the big questions remain: where to from here, and how did the world allow this to happen in the first place?

January 11, 2026

Best of 2025 - 7 October not a day to abuse protesters

When it comes to the domestic political fallout from the Gaza conflict, there are no more reliable and uncritical friends of Israel than Victoria’s Premier Jacinta Allan and her New South Wales counterpart Chris Minns.

January 21, 2026

Vale Geoff Miller

Geoff’s career as an Australian diplomat and senior public servant spanned over 40 years and later as a writer and commentator for a further 25 years. He was to become one of our most knowledgeable and articulate analysts of Australia’s relations with Asia.

February 4, 2026

The smouldering wreckage on Capital Hill – part 2

The Liberal Party faces a structural dilemma – it cannot govern without the Nationals, yet governing with them pushes it further from the voters it needs. As support for the major parties erodes, Australia is edging towards a more fragmented political future.

January 6, 2026

Best of 2025 - Mamdani’s victory bought hope to Gaza

November 15, 2025

Gaza woman blinded in Israeli strike opens bakery to subsist and hope

Despite her injury, Warda Abu Jarad has started baking cookies and bread to help provide for her family.

October 25, 2025

‘Pro-Trump propagandists’ take over Pentagon Press Corps after signing loyalty pledge

Critics called the department’s announcement “deeply weird and awful”, “so Orwellian”, and “real textbook fascism beginning to end".

November 25, 2025

Where will the aged care workforce come from?

CEDA’s report on how to fix the aged care worker shortage claims migration is key – but a closer look at the data reveals a very different picture. Before we reach for new visa schemes, we need to focus on the workers already here: most are permanent residents or citizens, and many want more hours. The answers are hiding in plain sight.

February 2, 2026

What the ‘mother of all deals’ between India and the EU means for global trade

The European Union and India have finalised a sweeping free trade agreement after two decades of negotiations. The deal is as much a strategic signal as a commercial one.

December 5, 2025

Trump’s drug war on Venezuela reeks of hypocrisy

Donald Trump’s campaign against Venezuela is less about drugs than power, exposing deep hypocrisy in US policy and raising uncomfortable questions for Australia about its alliance.

January 17, 2026

Best of 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.

December 10, 2025

Governments are hiding data and threatening democracy

From being custodians of public knowledge, governments are turning to architects of manufactured ignorance. Amid disappearing evidence, citizens are struggling to hold power to account.

November 28, 2025

ASIO’s $12.5 billion espionage bill doesn’t add up

ASIO says espionage cost Australia $12.5 billion last year. But that figure relies on assumptions, speculative scenarios and opaque data that raise serious questions about credibility.

February 22, 2026

Reconciliation begins with education

Eighteen years after the National Apology to the Stolen Generations, the failure of the Voice referendum exposed how little many Australians know about the violence that followed colonisation – and why education remains central to reconciliation.

February 16, 2026

Handshake diplomacy with Prabowo won’t secure shared values

Australia’s new security treaty with Indonesia is heavy on symbolism but light on substance. As President Prabowo Subianto tightens his grip on power, warm rhetoric from Canberra risks obscuring growing democratic regression and human rights abuses.

December 17, 2025

Can AI help save local journalism without hollowing it out?

As local news outlets shrink and news deserts grow, artificial intelligence could deepen the crisis or, if used carefully, help sustain public-interest journalism at the community level.

October 8, 2025

The RBA says changing rates won’t raise house prices. I wouldn’t be so sure

The Reserve Bank has always denied that its manipulation of short-term interest rates to slow or hasten the growth in demand for goods and services plays any part in worsening the cost of home ownership. But I doubt this.

February 26, 2026

How consultocracy became a national security blind spot

Espionage today is less about weapons than insider access to economic policy. Australia’s muted response to the PwC scandal reveals a serious failure to treat economic intelligence as a core national security asset.

January 30, 2026

Record demand, record renewables – and the lights stayed on

Extreme heat pushed electricity demand in South Australia and Victoria to record levels. Wind and solar did the heavy lifting, easing pressure on the grid and curbing price spikes.

January 10, 2026

Best of 2025 - Chris Sidoti's prescription for action on Palestine

At the National Press Club this week with Ben Saul, Chris Sidoti argues that recognition of Palestine is important, but that Australia must also comply with international law obligations, including acting on arrest warrants from the International Criminal Court.

February 17, 2026

Sobriety, friendship and the quiet power of Alcoholics Anonymous

Alcoholics Anonymous has helped millions of people stop drinking. Drawing on his long friendship with Barry Humphries and the experience of Anthony Hopkins, Ross Fitzgerald reflects on sobriety, friendship and what sustained recovery makes possible.

October 23, 2025

Takaichi’s victory is a milestone on the road to a new party system in Japan

In the Liberal Democratic Party presidential election held on 4 October 2025, Sanae Takaichi defied widespread expectations by defeating Shinjiro Koizumi, who had been considered the frontrunner. Former prime minister Taro Aso is being lauded as instrumental in supporting Takaichi’s upset victory.

Pearls and Irritations

John Menadue's Public Policy Journal