February 27, 2026

Is algae smarter than politicians?

The world’s coral reefs are undergoing a fourth mass die-off, driven by rapidly accelerating global heating. As Julian Cribb explains, the science is clear – and the political failure to respond is not defensible.

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.

March 17, 2026

Refreshing the city – rethinking our greatest invention

Cities have shaped human life, yet rapid growth, changing work patterns and new expectations about community are forcing a rethink of how they function.

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.

March 11, 2026

Australia’s ‘middle power’ myth

Talk of Australia as a ‘middle power’ sounds comforting, but our record in Asia and in global diplomacy often tells a different story.

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.

November 7, 2025

‘New York, this city belongs to you’: Zohran Mamdani’s victory speech

Thank you, my friends. The sun may have set over our city this evening, but as Eugene Debs once said, “I can see the dawn of a better day for humanity.”

February 24, 2026

Carney and Albanese and the collapse of global order?

Ahead of Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney’s visit to Australia next month, it is time to ask will Australia embrace Carney’s call to harness middle power clout.

October 11, 2025

The Australian media is more concentrated than ever. Here are the three moments that got us here

In its announcement of the proposed merger with Southern Cross Media, Seven West described the deal as “consistent with Seven West’s stated strategic position of being in support of media consolidation in Australia”.

March 2, 2026

Regions, not postcodes: the structural reality of rural public education

Educational disadvantage in Australia is often framed as urban or socioeconomic. But across regional and remote communities, public schools operate with structurally thin staffing, services and support – and the consequences are cumulative.

November 5, 2025

It's hard to be an involved dad

Father’s Day was recently celebrated, bringing families together to thank their male progenitors for the support and (sometimes) caring love they give to their offspring.

November 4, 2025

A dangerous trifecta

Amid the world’s many troubles is the growing possibility of a combination of the bursting of a bubble, a major government and corporate debt crisis and the possibility that a popular investment strategy — lifecycle investing or borrowing to invest — will all implode at the same time.

October 6, 2025

The malignant minds taking over the American health sector

“He enjoyed showing people how he put baby chickens and mice in the blender to feed his hawks.” It was a striking description of Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., written by his cousin, Ambassador Caroline Kennedy.

March 10, 2026

Rising seas could menace a billion people this century

Accelerating sea level rise driven by warming oceans and melting ice threatens coastal cities worldwide, placing up to a billion people at risk before the end of the century.

January 19, 2026

Best of 2025 - Rising student visa refusals clash with plans to boost enrolments

After encouraging universities to expand overseas enrolments, the government has overseen a sharp fall in student visa approval rates – leaving institutions uncertain and applicants frustrated.

January 29, 2026

Trump labor department takes a page from Hitler’s playbook

Official social media from the US Labor Department now echoes the imagery, language and logic of authoritarian propaganda – a warning sign for workers’ rights and democratic institutions.

November 20, 2025

Overworked, overburdened, and burning out: Australian teachers' workloads among the worst in OECD

Australian teachers have unsustainable workloads, and government responses have done little to ease their burden.

October 8, 2025

UK polls suggest Starmer is deeply unpopular. Can he survive another year?

Having led Labour to victory last year, the premier is struggling to build trust with his voters.

December 4, 2025

America’s justification for attacking Venezuela: Part 2: fact and fantasy in the drug wars

From Vietnam to Mexico and Afghanistan, the United States’ wars on drugs have deepened violence, addiction and instability. Today, that legacy is edging closer to Australia.

November 1, 2025

The Australian moment is now

History, it could be convincingly argued, is a series of pivot points. It is rarely a progression of a sequence of events, but rather a series of critical moments where multiple pathways are made available and the eventual outcome is determined by the decisions that are made in that moment.

March 17, 2026

Sanctioned Rubio to take part in Trump’s China trip

The US secretary of state, previously sanctioned by Beijing, is expected to accompany Donald Trump on a visit to China as both sides prepare for high-level talks.

February 12, 2026

The Herzog visit and the Israelisation of antisemitism

Inviting Israel’s president to Australia in the wake of the Bondi attack has blurred the line between antisemitism and legitimate criticism of Israel, weakening rather than strengthening social cohesion.

February 4, 2026

China pushes ahead in 2026 as Trump plays catch-up

China entered Donald Trump’s second presidency wary but prepared. Experience has taught Beijing to expect volatility, but also negotiation, shaping a strategy of caution, leverage and long-term planning.

February 2, 2026

When public opinion breaks: ICE, Trump and a political tipping point

Political opinion usually shifts slowly, but history shows that certain events can force sudden, irreversible change. The killings linked to ICE enforcement may mark such a moment in the United States.

December 2, 2025

Tough talk, weak evidence: the myth of a youth crime crisis

Governments across Australia are responding to perceived youth crime “crises” with harsher laws. But national data tell a very different story – one that raises serious questions about punishment, politics and evidence.

December 12, 2025

The war that broke Israel’s global legitimacy

Israel’s actions in Gaza have trashed its global standing and, paradoxically, left Jews less safe worldwide. The long-term consequences are only beginning to surface.

October 28, 2025

A circus and a summit: Trump and Xi visit Lee

It’s now in all the media. Lee Jae-myung will meet Donald Trump and Xi Jinping next week.

December 22, 2025

Ten threats, one emergency: how to become Earth Citizens

Humanity is facing a compounding crisis driven by population growth, consumption, pollution and power. These interconnected threats cannot be addressed one by one if civilisation is to endure.

December 15, 2025

The next century will be shaped by resistance, not inevitability

Across six centuries, power has claimed inevitability while resistance has redrawn the possible. As the world enters a century defined by climate, inequality and democratic strain, the forces that push back from below may once again shape the future.

March 13, 2026

Armageddon politics and the danger of religious war rhetoric

Reports that US commanders have framed the war on Iran as part of a divine plan highlight the dangerous intersection of religious prophecy and modern military power.

February 14, 2026

Judge rebukes US defence secretary over bid to silence retired veteran

A federal judge has blocked an attempt by the US defence secretary to punish a retired naval officer and senator for speaking out, delivering a sharp rebuke to efforts to narrow constitutional protections for veterans.

Pearls and Irritations

John Menadue's Public Policy Journal