January 5, 2026

Best of 2025 - Taking a win from Alaska

On 15 August, US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin met in Alaska, the first head-of-state meeting between the two countries since the Ukraine War began.

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.

February 25, 2026

How John Howard reshaped Australia – and not for the better

Many of Australia’s most pressing social and economic problems can be traced to policy choices made during the Howard years, from housing and inequality to wages, tax and public services.

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.

January 28, 2026

Rivers Flow: Reflections on the Songs of Archie Roach and Ruby Hunter curated by Kim Scott

A thoughtful collection of reflections reveals how the songs of Archie Roach and Ruby Hunter continue to carry truth, memory and responsibility across generations.

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.

February 26, 2026

Iran on the brink

After decades of US-backed regime-change wars across the Middle East, Iran now stands alone. A new conflict would deepen regional instability and test Australia’s willingness to say no.

December 20, 2025

Why did Trump send his warships to Venezuela?

As US pressure on Venezuela intensifies, Washington is reviving an openly interventionist approach to Latin America. The targets extend beyond Caracas to the region as a whole.

November 19, 2025

It’s as if their lives do not matter

Many Rohingya have gone missing at sea, but this latest boat tragedy highlights ASEAN’s indifference.

November 26, 2025

Why multicultural aged care is the key to meeting Australia’s ageing challenge

Australia’s ageing population is growing faster than the systems built to support it, especially for culturally and linguistically diverse communities. A co-designed, public–private aged care model offers a practical, humane and economically sound path to meet this challenge before crisis overwhelms the system.

February 23, 2026

Deep thinking needed on AI, not shallow predictions

Confident predictions about artificial intelligence dominate public debate – but history suggests forecasting technological futures is a poor guide for policy. What matters more are the conditions that shape how AI is actually used.

February 14, 2026

From pride to fear – how police violence changed how we see Australia

Toya Adams and Laurie Shears describe attending the Sydney protest against President Herzog’s visit – and how police violence left them fearful, shocked and questioning Australia’s democratic foundations.

December 11, 2025

Blood, silence and history: questioning Indonesia’s 1965 narrative

As Indonesia prepares to release a new official national history, an Australian historian’s account of the 1965–66 mass killings threatens to reopen a long-suppressed debate about power, violence, and memory.

November 7, 2025

When truth can no longer be silenced

In Australia, secretive and remote institutions armed with increasingly restrictive laws are seriously eroding civic freedoms.

January 11, 2026

Best of 2025 - Inequality and the future of democracy

Rising inequality and declining living standards have posed a threat to democracy in several democracies, but so far not in Australia. However, the increasing inequality of wealth, driven by housing becoming unaffordable without rich parents, is a threat.

October 30, 2025

The (grossly misleading) Boyer lecture: Some things it forgot to mention

One of the lectures, entitled “ Australia is fricking amazing!” by Justin Wolfers was an ecstatic eulogy celebrating Australia’s achievements and institutions.

February 13, 2026

The Epstein case: power, institutions and the question for Australia

The Jeffrey Epstein case is often treated as an exceptional crime enabled by extraordinary wealth. In reality, it reveals how institutions respond when allegations threaten powerful people – and why Australia should not assume it would act differently.

October 22, 2025

Trump CIA intervention in Venezuela risks another US war of choice, experts warn

“Using covert or military measures to destabilise or overthrow regimes reminds us of some of the most notorious episodes in American foreign policy,” said a former adviser to Sen. Bernie Sanders.

January 13, 2026

Best of 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.

February 11, 2026

Capital gains tax reform could reshape Australia’s housing market

As debate over capital gains tax returns to parliament, longstanding concessions are again under scrutiny for their role in driving housing speculation, inequality and intergenerational imbalance.

January 18, 2026

Best of 2025 - Making First Nations prisoners visible in Labor politics

Despite Western Australian Labor’s rhetoric on equality and Closing the Gap, incarcerated First Nations people remain politically invisible. Without formal representation and lived-experience voices in party deliberations, meaningful reform is impossible. The 2027 State Labor Conference is the moment to change that.

January 6, 2026

Best of 2025 - Brave new world

As Australia’s newly elected government seeks to navigate the shoals of President Donald Trump’s new world after the election on 3 May, it will behove us to think beyond our tariff concerns and AUKUS and focus on Southeast Asia.

December 16, 2025

A just transition can remake Australia if we choose to think bigger

Australia’s shift to renewable energy is a rare chance to redesign our economy and improve wellbeing, equity and social cohesion. A truly just transition would reshape much more than the energy system.

October 28, 2025

More defence spending, please – just not on the military

Donald Trump has pushed the Australian and other governments to increase defence spending. Defending society from threats is important, but there’s more to it than soldiers and weapons.

December 4, 2025

Malcolm Fraser: a decent man committed to an independent Australia

Personal experience and recent reflections challenge the popular caricature of Malcolm Fraser, revealing a former prime minister increasingly willing to defy orthodoxy in defence of sovereignty, justice and independence.

October 10, 2025

Journos as heroes and villains - 'The Hack' reviewed - Part 2

The Hack is rare among films and television programs for showing journalists doing journalism to other journalists.

January 31, 2026

China’s swift ousting of Zhang Youxia is a sharp warning on party purity from Xi

Seemingly risky move to oust two generals ahead of Communist Party congress and PLA centenary sends a message about anti-corruption drive.

October 24, 2025

Australia has amongst the highest teacher shortages in the OECD

A new OECD report reveals that Australia’s education system is facing a diabolical staffing crisis**.** Since 2018, teacher shortages have soared leaving Australia among the worst-performing nations in the OECD.

October 14, 2025

Trump’s sham peace plan

There will be no peace in Gaza. Only the temporary absence of war.

January 18, 2026

Best of 2025 - Our politicians continue to fail us on immigration policy

As One Nation rises by recycling anti-immigration rhetoric, both major parties are fumbling their response – missing the chance to offer a clear, credible and principled long-term plan.

January 16, 2026

Best of 2025 - What Washington really thought of Whitlam before the dismissal

The cloud of American involvement in the events of November 1975 is unlikely to ever clear. Especially while US presidential libraries continue to block access to critical documents that might shed light on the shenanigans.

February 3, 2026

Mexico’s political transformation: the revolution isn’t being televised

Mexico’s government has delivered falling violence, rising wages and broad social reform. Yet its record has attracted remarkably little attention in the English-language media, even as external pressure from the United States intensifies.

February 18, 2026

How elite private schools distort Australia’s teaching workforce

Fees charged by elite private schools go on rising. But who is paying the price?

January 30, 2026

Historic EU-India trade deal to slash auto tariffs, double bloc’s India exports by 2032

Brussels diversifies away from China and US risks, while the pact makes India a more attractive place for European firms to sell vehicles and fuel growth.

November 26, 2025

Conservatism, denial and the climate crisis: why short-term thinking is holding us back

Human societies are generally conservative, averse to substantial change – and they are getting in the way of the necessary intervention on climate change and emissions reduction.

January 5, 2026

Best of 2025 - The ABC's public comment guidelines: A 'crackdown' on management, not workers

The ABC’s new public comment guidelines, which replace its existing “personal use of social media” policy and follow the debacle of the Antoinette Lattouf affair, have been portrayed by rival media organisations as “a crackdown”, “a gag order”, “a hit” on ABC employees, and other such alarming epithets.

December 1, 2025

How soybeans became a fault line in China’s food security

China now buys 60 per cent of the world’s soybeans. That dependency shapes its food security strategy – and its trade battles with the United States.

October 29, 2025

From illusion to real peace: Trump’s test in Gaza and Ukraine

Real peace demands Palestinian statehood, Ukrainian neutrality and the courage to defy the war lobby.

November 19, 2025

Pope Leo and transparency in child sexual abuse cases

If the Catholic Church wishes to change a culture of secrecy, leadership has to come from the top.

November 6, 2025

Practical, equitable … cute? Labor’s free solar plan sparks call for more electrification and flexibility

The federal energy minister’s plan to make electricity free for three hours in the middle of each day for customers on the default market offer has made a big splash in the energy world, and sparked calls for more electrification and demand flexibility.

February 16, 2026

Australia’s political and media elites are losing control of the story

Australia’s political and media establishments are struggling to adapt to a world where narratives can no longer be tightly managed. And attempts to restore authority through censorship, moral panic and regulation are deepening public alienation rather than restoring trust.

December 17, 2025

AUKUS meets reality – UK ‘all in’ a mess (Part 2)

Australia is betting on a British program plagued by delays, underinvestment and workforce shortages – a gamble that risks leaving the country without any sovereign submarine capability.

November 11, 2025

Environmental reforms: Opportunities that must not be missed

The Australian Parliament has another opportunity to reform laws that will address the huge array of issues confronting the degradation of Australia’s environment.

Pearls and Irritations

John Menadue's Public Policy Journal