Letters to the Editor
World trade rules need fixing
April 28, 2025
Freer world trade and rules to support it have lifted hundreds of millions of people out of dire poverty on the Asian side of the Pacific. Freer trade has benefitted millions of Australians by way of cheaper prices, but it has also reinforced the view that the planet’s resources are unlimited, and we have some sort of human right to consume far more than other people. On a planet with eight billion others, we are resource greedy in our energy use, in our habitual waste of materials, and in our ability to look the other way when natural environments...
Neil Hauxwell from Moe Victoria
In response to: China's two 'secret weapons' in the tariff war
Lest we forget to remember
April 28, 2025
Douglas Newton’s poignant words speak to the truth of war: it’s the political leaders who declare it and it’s the people who die and suffer as a consequence. I know ANZAC is special to Australians, but I stopped going to the dawn service when I found myself standing behind a bunch of teenage boys wearing Australian flags as superman capes. They were at a ceremony honouring those who fell fighting against the very nationalism they were personifying. As a multicultural society, I’d like to see the fallen of all nations respected in the march, including those against whom...
John Mosig from Kew, Victoria
In response to: Anzac voices - voices of warning
Some further funds for schools
April 28, 2025
If I were the relevant minister, I would make the tax-deductible donations to schools' building and library funds be put into a central pot to be shared equally between all schools around Australia. Otherwise, end the tax-deductibility of such donations. Why should private schools' extravagant and lavish facilities essentially be subsidised by taxpayers (through foregone revenue) while public schools have barely serviceable ones? There's nothing stopping private school parents and alumni donating to upgrade their schools' facilities – just not at the opportunity cost of everyone else.
K M from Canberra
In response to: A school debate that didn’t happen
Clarity in delegations of government power
April 28, 2025
May I add a thought to Andrew Podger’s suggestions? A number of federal public servants exercise enormous power over us as their fellow citizens. This power is often delegated, by a minister, or a more senior public servant. So there should be an easily accessible website which contains a full list of current delegations, the name of the delegate, the start and end date of the power, and the legal extent of the power. After the Scott Morrison multiple ministry episode, the same should apply to the certificates of ministerial appointment issued by the governor-general. Does the legal...
Geoff Taylor from Perth
In response to: If I were the minister assisting the PM on the public service
Neighbours in our global neighbourhood
April 28, 2025
Thank you, Abul. Again, you've kept us up-to-date with the latest developments on an issue vital to Australian responsibility. This helps us become sensitive to our immersion within the massive people movements of our globe and also those in our immediate South West Pacific neighbourhood. Yet, we are left with the question of why the parties, whose endorsed MPs will maintain control of both government and Opposition benches in Parliament, remain so stringently silent about these complex affairs of our neighbours and neigbourhood. Why aren't the issues you describe so well raised? Are they afraid of admitting a lack...
Bruce Wearne from BALLARAT CENTRAL
In response to: Why has there been no discussion of asylum-seekers in this campaign?
Author credentials
April 28, 2025
First, welcome to P&I. You are now editor of a very valuable site and I wish you well. I have noticed that there has recently been articles published like the one above where the author is not identified. I believe it is important to know the identity of all of the entries so that we can understand the position from which they write.
John Thompson from Seymour, Victoria
In response to: Various
Greens policies: extreme or widely supported?
April 28, 2025
Michael Keating writes, the Greens are too extreme for many voters. It is reasonable for him to highlight this as it does seem to be a common sentiment. But how true is it? First, assuming that there are some voters who think that the policies of the Greens, or at least some of them, are too extreme, I’d like to see rigorous research that clarifies which policies such voters are referring to and how many believe that each one is too extreme. My prejudice, which I’d be happy to see disproven by evidence, is that most people who say...
Peter Sainsbury from Sydney
In response to: A minority Labor Government's policy agenda – Part 1
Minority government, methane and that pledge
April 28, 2025
The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, through their Doomsday Clock, identifies nuclear weapons, climate change, and disruptive technologies as the three most significant threats to humanity. So, given the absence of climate change from the election, Michael Keating’s conclusion that “it should be possible for a minority Labor Government to reach agreement on improved policies affecting government integrity and procedures, the environment and climate change” is encouraging. But Keating is mistaken to write, “fossil fuels only create emissions when burned, not when they are dug up.” Both the gas and coal industries leak methane (fugitive emissions) and in...
Ray Peck from Hawthorn, Vic
In response to: A minority Labor Government's policy agenda – Part 1
Employment services system not fit for purpose
April 28, 2025
This is one of the most lucid comments on the employment services I have seen. It sets out precisely what the problems are and how they might be resolved. It is an indictment of both Labor and the LNP (and particularly the former as the supposed party of the workers) that neither has ever seemed to have analysed these problems (or maybe they have and shoved the results in too hard or too inconvenient cupboard). Let's hope that someone in the major parties reads this and starts proposing changes to the current situation.
Hans Rijsdijk from Albion Park Rail
In response to: if-i-were-minister-for-employment-services-no-more-bastardry-dressed-up-as-polic
Do fossil fuels only create emissions when burned?
April 28, 2025
Michael Keating writes many great articles: but I am nitpicking here! He wrote, But fossil fuels only create emissions when burned, not when they are dug up. I beg to differ. Both in onshore and offshore contexts, the extraction process itself, before the gas is used by customers, leaks a surprisingly large proportion of the gas targeted. This varies by location and technology used, but is rarely negligible. I suggest a fact-check!
David Gray from Perth, WA
In response to: A minority Labor Government's policy agenda – Part 1
A real vote-changer
April 24, 2025
I have been concerned about the lack of realistic choices in this election. The interchangeable nature of the big two for me means this article is a vote changer. If there were more widespread knowledge of what is happening with our defence spending/industry, I believe more people may change their vote. Oh well, it’s only two weeks and then Albo and Dutts can go back their shared biweekly home BBQ and their jokes about the naïveté of the electorate.
Bob Pearce from Adelaide SA
In response to: aukus-is-more-than-nuclear-submarines-and-t
Take the UK and US out of AUKUS
April 24, 2025
“Trump thinks this is about trade. China knows it’s about sovereign independence, resisting the foreign bully and its determination to never again be at the mercy of foreign powers.” This is a lesson Australia could well learn. It has never detached itself from the apron strings of the UK or the US. It has always been content to hide behind its sporting achievements.
Bob Pearce from Adelaide SA
In response to: https://johnmenadue.com/post/2025/04/china-fightcan/
The right to protest is gone
April 23, 2025
As we sit back and watch our right to protest being eroded by both parties, only our vote is left. In this farce of an election, where most independents are preference-gathering, disgruntled, ex-members of the big two (really one), it is difficult to find out the policies/leanings of the rest. What will it take to motivate apathetic voters to get up and vote for change? An informal vote is not an answer and should not be encouraged. Once again, as in times of crisis, the right has resurrected the ever-present suggestion of conscription. Maybe that will be enough...
Bob Pearce from Adelaide SA
In response to: beyond-fear-and-false-choices-why-loyalty-t
Desperation, thy name is...
April 23, 2025
An excellent article. Hits the nail on the head. Too timid and too worried about shadows rather than being bold. The events of the last few days, with Peter Dutton now practically mounting a scare that China is going to blockade us with its military, are getting so extreme it put me in mind of a bolder Labor leader heading into the 1983 election. When Malcolm Fraser stated, If Labor wins this election, your money will be safer under the bed, Hawke, to great laughter, responded: Under the bed? But there's no room, isn't that where all the communists...
Wes Mason from Gisborne
In response to: Crossbench pressure will lift and improve Albo's game
Vance’s mental mindloops
April 23, 2025
One can only wonder at J.D. Vance’s mental mindloops in arranging an audience with the late Pope Francis. He seems unaware of the monstrous behaviour of his regime in consigning his fellow human beings to CECOT (Centro de Confinamiento del Terrorismo or Terrorism Confinement Centre) in El Salvador, a country named, ironically, after Jesus Among the prisoners deported (with Protestant US politician Kristi Noem in front of them, seemingly approving their incarceration without trial), were many of his fellow Roman Catholics. Pope Francis also, like so many of us including the US Conference of [Catholic] Bishops, cared deeply about...
Geoff Taylor from Perth
In response to: Pope Francis dies at 88 after final appeal for Gaza ceasefire
Appeasing Israel is a Faustian bargain
April 23, 2025
The article referred to is a direct, powerful exposition of the situation to which we have devolved in the face of the relentless Israeli destruction of Palestinians. Human decency has been supplanted by the lust for electoral success. While this is less than surprising for the LNP — despite the actual humanity displayed back in the days of Fraser et al — it is a massive abandonment of the basic principles that once were a part of the Labor credo. We have a mountain of irrefutable evidence in the history of Germany post-World War II that a state...
Richard Llewellyn from Colo Vale
In response to: Silence is no response to slaughter, so at least recognise Palestine
The map says it all
April 22, 2025
Before even reading this article, I found the map said it all. The Union Jack trumped the Southern Cross. If a third/fourth-generation Australian like myself finds it offensive, think how the non-Anglos in our multicultural country feel, Understand why, after leaders like Howard, Abbott etc, we still have that flag and the LNP selects Dutton for their next PM. Now read the article. Vote as you see the flag. It’s a democracy.
Bob Pearce from Adelaide SA
In response to: one-side-two-or-many-how-to-develop-ties-wi
Remember J-Tariff?
April 22, 2025
J-Tariff was an off-peak circuit which charged a cheaper rate to encourage the use of electricity during low demand, largely at night. When coal-powered alternators were unable to shut down, they were run during uneconomical periods of low demand. Now the uneconomical times are during the day and the power providers want to charge the solar providers (householders) to add to the grid. I doubt if they are charging corporate solar providers. Providers have never had more flexibility in the electronic and telecommunications control of equiptment eg J-Tariff had mechanical/electrical time clocks. In the age of capitalism...
Bob Pearce from Adelaide SA
In response to: baseload-power-is-functionally-extinct
Election sleight of hand
April 22, 2025
Describing Kim Beazley as “well meaning“ pretty much describes the way he has fooled his way through his public life, second only to Anthony Albanese who, if he pulls off a win, will surely be the great Australian “nice guy but...” (not that I’m any fan of Peter Dutton). Everything about this election, from the constant guessing when it would be held to the sad passing of the pope has been about keeping the voters in the dark. We have seen publicly-funded electioneering by the major parties for 12+ months before the election was announced with all the talk...
Bob Pearce from Adelaide SA
In response to: the-great-election-silence
Make a profit. Trust me, I’m from the private sector
April 22, 2025
The wall between the public sector and the private sector has been well and truly broken . The crossing of that line is at the core of every crisis Australia/the world is now facing. Everything from the health crisis to the climate crisis is a result of the blurring of this line. Failing to understand this most basic principal of society is at the core of every issue we now face. Put simply, the job of the private sector is to make a profit and the job of government is to govern for the good of all society....
Bob Pearce from Adelaide SA
In response to: if-i-were-health-minister
Men as primary child-carers
April 22, 2025
My husband and I swapped primary earner roles when the youngest of our three children was 18 months old. It took me a long time to realise they existed in practical silence. No chatter that women do instinctively with children, teaching language and communication. My youngest is now a silent man. I agree with sharing responsibilities, but some parental eduction is required to make well-rounded humans.
Paulette Jones from Redland Bay
In response to: There is no future without children
How about public housing, Minister Pawson?
April 17, 2025
Housing Minister Hal Pawson is certainly ready to get on with the job! However, I am surprised that his approaches to solving the appalling unavailability of adequate rental housing are all market-based: expanding Build to Rent and increasing rent assistance. I'm no economist, but it seems to me that government helping renters to pay excessive private rents is a convoluted way of solving the problem. I hope such a competent minister will not be afraid to consider public housing as an important element of housing provision. Surely, we have learnt that market mechanisms cannot solve every problem? The...
Richard Barnes from Canterbury 3126
In response to: If I were housing minister…
The Enemy
April 17, 2025
Thank you for reposting Peter Varghese's AFR article, which I wouldn't otherwise have seen. Could you also please pursue some other perspectives? With his strong international affairs credentials I hesitate to question what I have missed or failed to grasp in the underpinning narrative about The Enemy to us, that is China. It's not as if we are located where Taiwan is, for example, or even — say — Singapore which hasn't seemed to have taken sides. I struggle to understand the underlying animosity towards China in a discussion of next steps in what he says is becoming a...
K M from Canberra
In response to: The Trump effect is a wrecking ball, and we’re in the blast zone
Politics with Michelle Grattan
April 17, 2025
After many decades of listening to the reds under the bed sub-text in Australian journalism, it is totally refreshing to see that others more capable than me can see the reality that our interests, in all aspects, are those of our region. If only such common sense was displayed, in what to my mind is a totally discredited Australian media outlook that is Sino-phobic and completely blind to the hysteria, lies and machinations of our good friend, the US. Their interests should certainly not be ours.
Robin Wingrove from WA
In response to: Politics with Michelle Grattan
'Temu Trump' strikes yet again!
April 16, 2025
There have been times in the past when I thoroughly disagreed with a lot of what Ross Gittins wrote. This is not one of those occasions. His article explains exactly why Peter Dutton should not ever be let near the nearest Canberra roundabout to The Lodge. Dutton's pathetic claims on 15 April about the Indonesian revelations, suggesting it is a failure on the part of the prime minister, the defence minister and the foreign minister not to know about a questionable report in an aviation journal, when even the Indonesian defence minister and/or foreign minister were unaware, is...
Wes Mason from Gisborne
In response to: Memo to Dutton - Good Economic Managers don't try to panic the punters
National security in the years ahead
April 16, 2025
I have concerns that Australia is moving in the wrong direction. I feel we should replace AUKUS with a more future-based military need, which I feel is not against China. Australia has skills that are not being utilised to develop drone technology, for instance, as well as anti-drone technology. My concerns about buying from the US is that American equipment is usually so poorly designed. Also, any foreign-designed software system is often built with backdoors that enable the equipment to be disabled. (The Ukranians discovered this during their drone attack on Russian shipping). I feel Australia needs to...
Doug Foskey from Tregeagle
In response to: The Trump effect is a wrecking ball, and we’re in the blast zone
Time to end public-private partnerships in the health sector
April 16, 2025
Good to hear Hamish McDonald on ABC Radio Sydney on 16 April running through with Stephen Duckett the many and various steps that have to be taken for the public sector to acquire Northern Beaches Hospital from Healthscope. Healthscope have offered to dissolve their ownership, but there is a Canadian investor who will no doubt want their money back. But how about we stop doing this with public-private partnerships? How about, instead of getting the ambulance to the bottom of the cliff, we start at the top and don't go into these PPP arrangements in the first place?...
Jennifer Haines from Glossodia, NSW
In response to: If I were Health Minister
Tobacco, not alcohol, causes most harm in Australia
April 15, 2025
Ross Fitzgerald correctly asserts that alcohol is a significant sources of illness, trauma, premature death and social distress for users and people close to them. However, in terms of its harm, alcohol is not by far Australia’s most dangerous drug. While the proportion of the Australian population that smokes tobacco has fallen dramatically, tobacco is still the drug which causes the most illness and premature death. In terms of disease burden in Australia (as measured with DALYs which combines premature death with years living with a disability), in 2024 tobacco was the top behavioural risk factor and alcohol was...
Peter Sainsbury from Sydney
In response to: For an alcoholic, abstinence is the surest path to long-term recovery
Not enough children or too many people?
April 15, 2025
In this article, the Edgars assume that by having more children we can maintain society as it is today. In the seventies when the Paul R. Ehrlich published The Population Bomb there were 2.5 billion people on Earth. It was a time of massive famines in Africa. Ehrlich warned that we had reached the limit of what the natural world could support without borrowing from the future. Young women, like I was then, concerned for others and the planet, adopted the meme replacement only. My husband and I had two children. It was considered immoral to have more...
Robyn Friend from Launceston
In response to: There Is No Future Without Children
Clues to a Dutton Government
April 15, 2025
Jack Waterford, while fairly critical of Peter Dutton, omits the latest clue to the nature of a Dutton-led Australia. Jacinta Price, full of confidence, announced to a campaign rally on 12 April that the Coalition would Make Australia Great Again. Dutton decided to go for broke at the ensuing press conference and gave Price free rein. She doubled down, saying ideologically-driven Labor was ruining the country, she would do an “audit” of government waste and “reset” the curriculum. Price openly aligns with far-right group Advance, which is committed to Australia being “centred once more on the founding freedoms of...
Fiona Colin from Melbourne
In response to: Federal Election: A different type of beauty contest
Population – it's all in the numbers
April 15, 2025
I am seeing an imbalance in articles extolling the virtues of immigration to Australia. There is no doubt that we benefit in so many ways, culturally, socially, via innovation, investment and economically. However, there appears to be little consideration of the cost of an increasing population. The question is, what is the right number and mix? World population growth is the single biggest contributor to greenhouse gasses and global heating. Growing populations encroach on prime agricultural land, they require more water and energy. They displace wildlife and reduce the areas available for outdoor recreation. Growing populations require a massive...
Geoff Rohan from Canberra ACT
In response to: If I was Immigration Minister I would develop a population plan: Abul Rizvi
Belgrano, war crime?
April 14, 2025
I'm not defending any war or actions, wish we could end them all today. However, the sinking of the Belgrano has never been declared a war crime except by a few groups of anti-war protesters. Even the captain, Hector Bonzo, stated years later, It was not a war crime but an act of war.
Jerry Cartwright from Perth
In response to: submarines-are-not-instruments-of-peace-a-q
Lack of transparency at Four Corners
April 14, 2025
Reading Marcus Reubenstein's article made the penny drop. I watched the Four Corners program and had felt very uncomfortable with the overly hawkish reporting. Where was the balance, I thought. In fact, the ABC had omitted to let the viewers know that this was an American production (PBS), was from last year and had been edited. Shame on the ABC.
Einion Thomas from Woombah NSW 2469
In response to: ABC has Four Corners with just one angle: Anti-China Media Watch
Australia unlikely to hold inquiry into AUKUS
April 14, 2025
Years ago I had the opportunity to make a submission to the UK inquiry on Iraq headed by Lord Chilcot. Our own government never held one. Today readers of P and I have the opportunity to make submissions on AUKUS to the UK parliamentary inquiry, as our own parliament has shown no signs of opening up the debate. Here is the portal. Good on the SMH for pushing for an Australian inquiry, but don’t hold your breath.
Geoff Taylor from Perth, WA
In response to: AUKUS turning point – Sydney Morning Herald calls for review
Trump's days in the White House may well be numbered
April 14, 2025
I do not believe Donald Trump is going to be in office for very long. Vance is being quiet because he suspects this to be the case. Yes, Australia needs to get rid of AUKUS and buy military weapons from a range of suppliers, including Japan and the EU. We need weapons for defence, not ones that help us join the US in more wars. As soon as Labor wins the election, they need to start taxing mining companies that are getting our resources free. The money needs to be used to build housing and lots of it....
Louise O'Brien from Sydney Australia
In response to: Trump
New defence minister needed after election
April 14, 2025
It is good to see the persistent P&I campaign on this key strategic and economic matter bearing fruit. I would say that the recent public interventions by Malcolm Turnbull and Paul Keating were also crucial. Reviewing AUKUS is now clearly on the mainstream agenda for the next government. We need a new defence minister as part of a desirable post-election reshuffle. Richard Marles is too compromised; he is a US defence industry mouthpiece now.
Tony Kevin from Canberra
In response to: AUKUS turning point – Sydney Morning Herald calls for review
The end of genuine, independent analysis on Syria in P&I?
April 11, 2025
Many Australians may agree with Barb Dadd’s views on Syria as they have been pushed by the mainstream media for 14 years. However, that should not be a reason to give them an airing on P&I when John Menadue, P&I’s founder, has made a point of wanting to tackle the issues swept aside by mainstream media. He wrote, Consistently, Pearls and Irritations publishes informed analysis and commentary on issues that matter to Australians… If you google Pearls and Irritations + Syria, you will find a long list of articles on Syria by analysts such as Dr Jeremy Salt (former...
Susan Dirgham from Melbourne
In response to: Where is Assad now? And why do the world's worst men get away with it?
It's time to rethink socialist principles amid the ruins of neoliberalism
April 11, 2025
Most of the social problems we now face in this country have slowly evolved since the rise of neoliberalism. I say slowly evolved because neoliberalism has profited by leaching the fat from government-built projects of the past e.g the PMG, Telstra and the NBN. How many times can one government-built institution be sold off? (I’m told the retrieval of the copper PMG network is still profitable) How many times can these privatised companies come back with their hands out to fix no reception black spots? In South Australia, the them LNP premier bought a variety of electricity supply companies...
Bob Pearce from Adelaide SA
In response to: It’s time to rethink socialist principles amid the ruins of neoliberalism
Trump is like a bee in a bottle
April 10, 2025
Re Wang Wen’s article today. The tariff war has seemingly been more or less staved off for 90 days for most countries except for China, only hours after being activated. In which time, according to Donald Trump, US$2 billion has already been collected. Why the pause? Well, according to Trump, “[he] thought that people were getting a bit yippy, a little bit afraid.” “It looked pretty glum, I guess they say it was the biggest day in financial history. He said: ”I know what the hell I’m doing”. “No other president would have done what I did. ”World...
Geoff Taylor from Perth
In response to: Will there be a war between China and the US?
Was Assad really responsible for chemical attacks on his own people?
April 10, 2025
This article begins with the following unproven allegations: Remember Bashar al-Assad? The man who crushed his own people under a mountain of rubble and fear? Who turned peaceful protests into mass graves, dropped barrel bombs on neighbourhoods, and used chemical weapons on children? Seymour Hersh, among many, many others, including UN investigators, who refused to sign the trumped-up report on the so-called chemical attacks, have proven that the lies about Assad were equal to the charge that Saddam had WMDs. Why does Pearls and Irritations publish these US claims, crap and propaganda?
Dieter Barkhoff from Melbourne
In response to: Where is Assad Now?
Perhaps reading the truth might answer some of Barb’s questions
April 10, 2025
No doubt Barb Dadd writes with the best of intentions but linking Bashar al-Assad to some of the world’s worst villains is wide of the mark. Assad was a victim of the United States' wrong-headed desire for regime change to benefit its national resource exploiters to the detriment of the host country. To that end it armed rebel Muslim extremist groups and set them to undermine the Assad regime. Russia supported Assad (who headed a secular Christian country). But with the aid of US weaponry, the Muslim extremists were able to oust Assad, replacing his regime with a...
Richard Creswick from Virginia, via Darwin
In response to: Where is Assad now?and why do the worlds worst men get away with it?
Article fails to address its title
April 10, 2025
I am surprised that John Stace's article fails to consider informed media commentary about the degree of involvement of the Israeli military in the events immediately following the Hamas breakout and attacks which occurred on 7 October, 2023. There was no mention of the Israeli military's Hannibal doctrine or of the role of the military's helicopter gunships in the violence which occurred after the attacks commenced, or of their impact on Israeli party-goers attending the rave event that had been curiously relocated to the very edge of Gaza and inadequate security offered for the event. There was no...
Bruce Foskey from Blackwood, Vic
In response to: Was Israel Complicit in the 7 October 2023 Massacre?Article
Trump’s irresponsible insouciance
April 9, 2025
Bob Douglas’ article raises the existential threats facing us. Yet Trump has just boosted coal and is ending any US green plan. His latest statement that [any resulting sea level rise] will increase the amount of waterfront property is just mindblowingly stupid and callous. In parts of the Pacific, it threatens to sink all property.
Geoff Taylor from Perth
In response to: Can our human species be rescued?
Is this WIN News article true?
April 9, 2025
I have not seen any confirmation of the veracity of this article in the mainstream media. I have checked Snopes who also cannot trace its veracity. If it is actually happening, why isn’t it all over the media? I would really like to know the truth and not some dreamt-up thought bubble analysis. Editor's note: Not sure what you consider to be a reliable publication, but you can read a similar story on Bloomberg. There has been a genocide going on in the Gaza Strip for more than a year, but one does not see coverage...
Jaqui Fitch from Sydney
In response to: US LNG crippled as Australia seizes US$1.5B trade overnight
If I were Albanese...
April 9, 2025
If I were Anthony Albanese, I would say that Peter Dutton has no policies of his own, that all his policies are copied from Trump and that you only have to look at the US to see what will happen in Australia if Dutton is elected. If I were running as an independent, I would promise to cut all ties with the US, cancel all contracts and accords, and remain friendly, but not friends. Before you ask why should Albanese have the same policy, remember this is a small target election. But I would adopt the independent position...
Bob Pearce from Adelaide SA
In response to: if-i-were-the-minister-for-health
Should we now look to join BRICS?
April 9, 2025
Now that ANZUS is superseded and presumably AUKUS is as dead as can be, we should be looking for a group of friends who are more naturally connected to Australia. Geographically – Indonesia, Malaysia,Thailand, Vietnam. Trade – China, and India. British background – South Africa Perhaps we are more naturally associated with BRICS and now is a good time to open some diplomatic dialogue about Australia joining this organisation. It would presumably take about five years for such work to bear fruit. BRICS appears to be a very tolerant organisation so we should fit in rather nicely....
Graham Revill from Chelsea, Victoria
In response to: Keating says Trump’s tariffs mean death knell for NATO and ANZUS
Donald Trump and climate change
April 8, 2025
While we are all seriously concerned about Donald Trump's tariff war, we need to take even more seriously, his recurrent war against climate change action. His withdrawal for a second time from the global agreement on climate change action, and his interest in the promotion of company profits (including fossil fuel companies), should be deeply concerning to our nation’s leaders. The world is already suffering deeply, from droughts, floods and fires, that are influenced by fossil fuel emissions. Our two major Australian political parties are divided on climate change action. While one is committed to renewables and batteries, with...
Em Prof Bob Douglas AO from Bruce, ACT
In response to: Trump’s tariffs deliver a harsh truth for Australia
Members of RCEP are worst hit by tariffs
April 7, 2025
All but three of the countries you cite as being mostly heavily affected by US tariffs, are members of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership, which includes China and Australia. We’ll just have to put more effort into that. There is also still APEC, but I guess the US’ membership of that is effectively ended by Trump, and Russia’s membership is problematic.
Geoff Taylor from Perth, Western Australia
In response to: A message from the editor
Never get between bullies in a fight
April 4, 2025
I agree that climate is a major game and sinking archipelagos (Indonesia etc) are a major issue. To paraphrase the leader of the opposition, will they be swimming to a crowded north or empty south? It’s all very nice to say that in every war game attended, the US lost but there is no mention of how allies (friends) in a bully brawl are the first to suffer. If it came to a nuclear war, the main players will not bomb each others. if they do so it will only be as a last resort. Australia will be...
Bob Pearce from Adelaide SA
In response to: In every China-US war game scenario I've seen, America has lost
On the subject of tariffs
April 4, 2025
What is the position on tariffs on the supplies (I presume) Australian businesses sell to the multitude of US bases and embassy in our country on our soil? I understand their embassy is considered to be on their soil. I think Australia has no jurisdiction over their ships and subs and don’t know about their troops barracked in our bases and Pine Gap. What they eat there is top secret, though I believe there once was a booming market in US muscle cars coming in via a secret installation near Alice Springs. .
Bob Pearce from Canberra
In response to: Keating says Trump’s tariffs mean death knell for NATO and ANZUS
It is time to take BRICS seriously
April 4, 2025
Thank you for Paul Keating’s article. For me, I wonder, can I buy from Australia’s Antarctic Program a robotic penguin made in Heard Island, now subject to Trump’s new tariff on electrical and mechanical equipment from that place? But seriously, he is quoted saying today in The Guardian that he now expects other nations will come crawling to him. That is not a successful approach to a bully. By the way, has Trump actually formally withdrawn the US from the WTO, which would seem to be a prerequisite to his announcement on tariffs yesterday? A very recent P and...
Geoff Taylor from Perth
In response to: Keating says Trump’s tariffs mean death knell for NATO and ANZUS
Rigging the US market
April 4, 2025
Ever since markets have existed — over 5000 years — unscrupulous individuals have known how to rig them. The usual trick is to drive prices up, sell out to promote a crash, then buy in at disaster prices – and get very rich. Amazingly, America, that cynosure of smart business, does not seem to get the Trump gameplan: it is to crash the US economy so his billionaire mates can swoop in and snap up the best pieces at bargain basement prices. Stock exchanges usually have strict rules against this behaviour – but there is no law that...
Julian Cribb from Canberra, ACT
In response to: Trump’s tariffs mean death knell
Has the world gone mad?
April 4, 2025
Paul Keating is right to question thevalidity of any treaty with the US. There’s every indication that America, socially and economically, is now in the grip of a pirate gang of fanatics hellbent on assaulting any order that sits outside their credulous world image and shown they’ll plundering what they can from whomever they can, even their fellow Americans, in total disregard of the consequences. The evidence is clear. Scattergun targeted tariffs have overturned the global economic barrow. Internal descent has been punished financially and government functionality dismantled. Trumpian puppeteers have control of social media, and the constitutionally authorised...
John Mosig from Melbourne
In response to: Keating says Trump’s tariffs mean death knell for NATO and ANZUS
The failure of Peter Slezak's words
April 3, 2025
Peter Slezak writes, In fact, there has never been any antisemitism at our rallies, at universities or anywhere in Australia in my lifetime. Peter knows very well that there is, and was, antisemitism in Australia, but he chooses, not merely to discount it, but to reject it entirely. If he was speaking at a different rally and had said, In fact, there has never been any Islamophobia at our rallies, at universities or anywhere in Australia in my lifetime, people in the Muslim community would be shocked at the ignorance of such a statement. Perhaps that's the...
Harold Zwier from Melbourne
In response to: Peter Slezak’s speech to the University of Technology Sydney rally on 26 March
Reject fearful militarism
April 3, 2025
Gareth Evans writes I totally accept that defence planning always has to be based on worst case assumptions. This voter doesn't accept that. I reject preoccupations with power and weapons. To varying degrees, I fear, loathe and despise them. I like it that Evans puts his argument in tension with decency and prudence, but he doesn't include ethics, neutrality or pacifism. Too many Labor pollies have gotten their jollies from guns and being power hungry.
Henry Sheerwater from Taroona
In response to: Pursuing Australia’s national interests in a ‘Might is Right’ world
Albanese should have left before it’s too late
April 1, 2025
The thing that Labor should have learnt from the US election is to jump ship early, get out before you're told to go (not that Dutton has the charisma of Trump) , and take the subs with them. Albanese and Marles should have stood aside for Chalmers and Plibersek straight after the failure of the Voice vote. Albanese, the loyal workhorse, and Marles, a tin soldier more worried about how his ADF uniform looks than working, neither capable of being dynamic leaders, should have walked all over Dutton, the broken dynamo from the past. But they haven’t! That...
Bob Pearce from Adelaide SA
In response to: labors-in-with-a-fighting-chance-but-mu
Only global government can save us from ourselves
March 31, 2025
Growing up in the sixties, under the threat of nuclear annihilation, our mantra was we’re not here for a long time, we’re here for a good time. It is our generation, and our offspring, who now govern our planet and its major institutions. We’ve never lost that mantra. As Julian Cribb shows, in the decades since we have, through our unsustainable consumption and lack of concern for the environment which hosts us, so damaged our environment that it could become virtually uninhabitable. The rapidly shrinking glaciers, which provide so much of the fresh water on which we, and other...
Chris Young from Surrrey Hills, Victoria
In response to: Delete the Earth
Columbia's capitulation costs
March 31, 2025
This capitulation by US universities will surely have them plummetting down the global rankings.
Andrew Nichols from Dunedin, Aotearoa
In response to: Ivy League Convulsions - will we be next?
Australia buys Brooklyn Bridge (submarines )
March 31, 2025
This informative story in The Guardian makes one wonder how a spirited tabloid might have headlined it. Perhaps, “Slippery US submarine team collects the loot, then delivers a ‘sorry Bruce’ message to Down Under chumps. Have I got a deal for you? I've got a vote for the party that dumps the deal.
Bob Pearce from Adelaide SA
In response to: trashed-74
The need for submarines
March 31, 2025
Peter Briggs presents a strong case for the value and advantage of nuclear submarines over conventional submarines as well as their advantages for an island nation. However the article needs to be read in the context of what is critical to the security of this country and how best to address that. The greatest immediate threat to our security is the impact of global warming and Australia's defence resources should be focused on that. Nuclear submarines are not likely to be part of Australia's naval defence fleet until the 2040s, if ever. Meanwhile, we face extreme weather events which...
Les Mitchell from Port Macquarei NSW
In response to: Why does Australia need submarines? By Peter Briggs
Why Australia needs Australian submarines
March 31, 2025
A convincing article. I’m convinced, Now convince me why they need to be nuclear. Where do we store the waste? Why we need to buy them from the US? Most importantly, why have we waited until the locally made product was so far past its use-by-date that we find ourselves in our current dilemma? Looks to me like our ADF and politicians have got it very wrong, given a lifecycle of 25 years before major refit. That’s five LNP and three Labor governments and a lot of generals who haven’t done their well-paid jobs.
Bob Pearce from Adelaide SA
In response to: why-does-australia-need-submarines
Pacifism and neutrality
March 31, 2025
I particularly like Marcus Rubinstein's sceptical stance regarding expectations of war, and especially the calls Australia should respond with armaments. I have read with concern the reports of China's intentions regarding imminent invasion of Taiwan. I feel pity for those who could be invaded, and living in apprehension, and wonder about the extent of China's war pose. Could it possibly be as bad as the US? No, says Rubenstein. I know that only neutrality and pacifism could make me proud to be Australian. Peter Briggs's argument for AUKUS is laudable for its quiet rationality, but it recreates and...
Henry Sheerwater from Taroona
In response to: Anti-China Media Watch
Hooray for Barb Dadd!
March 31, 2025
Yes indeed, mainstream politics and politicians aren't working, and we the people might could should withhold payment. But take it a little further, perhaps? Party politics is largely broken, and Lib and Lab parties have long existed in order to hold power. Hence, Anthony Albanese said early in this term, I intend to be in power a long time and Keir Starmer undermined Jeremy Corbyn and then triumphantly declared, Labour is not the party of protest. Party politics has destroyed democracy all over the world. Party politics is illegitimate and due to be abolished. Vote independent!
Henry Sheerwater from Taroona
In response to: Who’s really the boss? Taking back control of government
Hegseth’s tatts and the Christchurch shooter
March 31, 2025
The five-minute scroll 105 notes the bombing of Yemen. Some years ago the Christchurch shooter killed 51 Muslim worshippers. His inscriptions in Georgian channeled 400-year-old battles against Muslims in eastern Europe. At the beginning of this week of 24 March, 53 were killed in Yemen by US air weaponry. US defence secretary Pete Hegseth reportedly has tattoos including one channeling the 1000-year-old Crusader fight against Muslims, and one with the word “kafir”, meaning an unbeliever in Muslim eyes. In an “accidentally” released Signal message, he was shown to be ordering actions which would inevitably cause similar killings, but...
Geoff Taylor from Perth
In response to: A five minute scroll
Climate security risks abound
March 28, 2025
Thank you to David Spratt for highlighting the issue of Climate Change and National Security. As independent Senator David Pocock has suggested, the government sitting on the Office of National Intelligence’s Climate Risk Assessment report since early 2023 is “recklessly negligent” (“Exclusive: Secret briefings on climate national security risk”, The Saturday Paper, 15/3). The public deserve to be informed and have the ability to hold the government accountable to act on such reports. Commendably, independent MP Dr Monique Ryan recently hosted what was considered to be the first public forum about Climate Change and Security in Australia. Former Chief...
Amy Hiller from Kew
In response to: Government refuses to articulate 'frankly terrifying' security risks
Queens and WA land rights
March 28, 2025
David Lee’s article brings back memories of what could have been from just over 40 years ago. Senator Susan Ryan got a bill through the Senate for land rights in Queensland in 1982-3. Here in WA we in the Aboriginal Treaty Support Group crafted a land rights act for WA based on Senator Ryan’s bill. Senator Michael Macklin, Australian Democrats, was having it prepared by parliamentary counsel and announced in the Canberra Times in November 1982 so that it would be introduced. The WA Burke government introduced a much watered down bill in the mid-80s, but it failed to...
Geoff Taylor from Perth
In response to: Gove and the native title revolution
The democratic police state of Australia
March 28, 2025
For whatever arguably good reason these laws are passed they eventually apply to any other good cause that the public may be protesting about. Any curtailing of our right to peaceful protest moves us closer to the dictatorial/fascist states we see on our nightly news and the violence that invariably follows them. We have sufficient laws about damage, graffiti, violence and freedom of speech without politicising everything and every opinion. My concern is not that we have too many public servants, it’s that we have too many politicians with nothing better to do than pass laws only...
Bob Pearce from Adelaide SA
In response to: behind-australias-antisemitism-hoax
American attitude to China
March 27, 2025
Jimmy Stewart made many movies. In 1960, he made The Mountain Road, set in China in 1944, when America was supposedly helping China against Japan. Stewart's character slowly developed an antipathy to the people he was helping and the final scenes escalate as the innocent Chinese villagers become collateral damage in his attack against Chinese brigands. (Yes, some Chinese fought anyone with whom they crossed paths). Some say it was Stewart's anti-war movie, but I cannot help but notice comparisons with American attitudes to Asians, especially Chinese, today. A lot of collateral damage can be expected if a...
Ian Bowrey from Hamilton South
In response to: Australia-China relations: A question of trust
What did you do in the war, Daddy?
March 27, 2025
We boomers asked our fathers what they did in WWII. How many children of this generation will ask their parents what they did during the Palestinian genocide when the major victims of WWII did their level best to wipe Palestine and Palestinians off the map? I suggest there won't be any equivalent of the many Holocaust memorials. Not enough people care to see that the same and worse is happening now, committed by the descendants of those memorialised in those museums. They won't want to be shamed in the future. We haven't made a mark on our government...
Margaret Callinan from Hawthorn VIC 3122
In response to: The last chapter of the genocide
What budget? What democracy?
March 27, 2025
If nothing else, the recent events and behaviour of both major parties proves to me that we don’t live in a democracy and never have and that there is little point in a budget. The weeks leading up to the budget should be parliamentary leave without pay. What point is a budget when without any transparent discussion in Parliament the then prime minister can sign off on $300 billion and counting that wasn’t included in their own last budget? How can the present prime minister actively pursue the commitment of Australian troops to a peace-keeping force or the...
Bob Pearce from Adelaide SA
In response to: the-fundamental-problem-at-the-heart-of-defence-policy/
Future of Americans loyal to Trump working in DIO
March 26, 2025
Jack Waterford presents a masterly piece of analysis. In P and I on August 3, 2023, Mike Scranton described the setting up of the Combined Intelligence Centre (CIC-A) within DIO, which includes US intelligence analysts. Well, Alan Kohler in ABC online on Monday called the Trump presidency a regime. We have our Australian Government Personnel Security Adjudicative Standard, which among other items includes loyalty to Australia. In view of the loyalty of US citizens to Mr Trump and the rapid changes for the worse in both US internal and external policies, what should happen about the American analysts...
Geoff Taylor from Perth
In response to: We can’t unscramble the AUKUS and ANZUS eggs
Titanic struggle for the climate
March 26, 2025
The World Meteorological Organisation’s just-published ‘State of the Global Climate 2024’ report makes sobering reading. While the world is not yet beyond the possibility of holding global warming to 1.5 degrees, achieving this will need a co-ordinated global effort. The report shows many climate risk markers at dangerous levels. The WMO say that they ‘are intensifying efforts to strengthen early warning systems and climate services to help decision-makers and society at large be more resilient to extreme weather and climate’. At the same time, as Bruce Thom reported, Donald Trump is reversing American climate policies, downsizing the National...
Chris Young from Surrey Hills, Vic
In response to: ‘Never happened before’: WMO finds past 10 years have been 10 hottest on record
Five-minute scroll provides invaluable information
March 26, 2025
I would like to commend the Pearls and Irritations team that gives us A five-minute scroll. I often find the information given invaluable. Today was no exception. I also call on the international community to do more to prevent the erasure of the Palestinian people in the West Bank and Gaza. Apathy and indifference kills. Albert Einstein pointed out that the world will not be destroyed by those who do evil, but by those who watch and do absolutely nothing.
Beverley Dight from Canberra
In response to: A five-minute scroll
I’m forever blowing thought bubbles
March 25, 2025
Where do our First Nations People fit into this discussion? They may well want to send us all home with our First Nations/Australian dual citizenship. Would it require a referendum to fix and how much is budgeted by our superior economic manager leader of the oppose everything party?
Bob Pearce from Adelaide SA
In response to: dutton-has-no-idea-about-the-constitution
Dutton has no idea about the Constitution
March 25, 2025
Peter Hughes' excellent article in response to the usual thought bubble that emanates from Peter Dutton's 'pea brain amply illustrates why the latest is a horrible idea. In response, one has to ask how this would manifest itself as an amendment; Would it add another sub-paragraph to s51 or would it (like the failed Communist Party referendum of the 1950s, equally ill-considered) be a new section 51A and exactly what would it say? If the point is to stop antisemitism or anti-islam or similar persecution, would it mention these by name? If it were to focus on the...
Wes Mason from Gisborne, Victoria
In response to: Devaluing Australian citizenship
The population has exploded
March 25, 2025
In his rambling complaint about forecasting, Stan Glaser overlooks one salient detail: Ehrlich, broadly, got it right. When he wrote The Population Bomb in 1967 there were 3.4 billion humans and today there are 8.2 billion. The bomb exploded by 241%. However, in 1967 nobody foresaw the success of the Green Revolution in sustaining the boom in numbers. Ehrlich predicted famine, because that was what was happening in overpopulated countries at the time – but not the success in doubling the world food supply. His book was intended as a caution — as it still is — of...
Julian Cribb from Canberra, ACT
In response to: The science of being absolutely wrong
The state with power to grant citizenship
March 25, 2025
Peter Hughes' article warns, cogently, against Dutton's thought bubble about giving ministers power to strip Australian citizenship from criminal dual nationals who have served their time. One aspect of citizenship law that Hughes only alludes to is the fact that a person's right to citizenship is determined solely by the country granting citizenship. Consequently, a minister deciding to remove the citizenship of a dual national cannot be sure the person actually remains a dual national. It is quite possible the other country has already taken its citizenship from the person. In that event, the minister would be...
Paul Fergus from Croydon NSW
In response to: Devaluing Australian citizenship
A better way to determine our defence needs
March 25, 2025
Paddy Gourley presents a superb novel idea: Australian defence spending should be calculated on the basis of a careful definition of the kind of country we want to be, a clear-eyed analysis of our strategic circumstances and the risks it poses and an assessment of the extent to which those risks can be negated or satisfactorily minimised by military power used in concert with whatever reliable allies are prepared to associate themselves with us. The world's greatest warmonger and seller of arms, currently involved in genocide in Palestine and led by a deranged president, should not participate in any...
Margaret Callinan from Hawthorn VIC 3122
In response to: Kim Beazley bombs out
Stuart, be more precise, please!
March 25, 2025
As far as we are aware, among the cohort currently sitting in the federal parliament, only two independents (Lydia Thorpe and Fatima Payman) and the Greens MP and Senators have clearly taken a principled stand in support of the Palestinians, calling for a boycott of the Israeli State in all areas (economic, military, cultural, academic, sport) and appeared as speakers in the frequent pro-Palestinian rallies. So Stuart Rees — rather than only advocating a vote for humanity, for human rights, for support of candidates who uphold the rulings of the International Court of Justice that a plausible Israeli genocide...
Michel and Anne Beuchat from Balwyn North
In response to: A moral precipice challenge – Vote for humanity
Atrocious defence of Falun Gong
March 25, 2025
I cannot believe you would publish this utter garbage. The man is such a liar and his characterisation of Jerry is defamatory. To suggest Jerry is too stupid to be able to research what falun gong, the epoch times and the new tang dynasty are an insult to your readers. I'm astounded you gave this China hater the oxygen to spread this poison. The CCP? Only racists and bigots refer to them by that. If you can't find the countries name as the PRC or their political party, the CPC, then you know the person is being vengeful. ...
Dean Smith from Melbourne
In response to: Defending-human-rights-will-win-the-hearts-of-the-chinese
US Israel game plan support from Israeli newspaper
March 25, 2025
Further to Stuart Rees and Margo Reynolds’ incisive article, it is chilling to read an Israeli newspaper opinion on the weekend which recommends a “political solution” envisaging the total depopulation of Southwest Palestine. Further, it advances the view that those two million people can easily be accommodated elsewhere.
Geoff Taylor from Perth
In response to: A moral precipice challenge-vote-for-humanity
Albert Roman on Falun Gong
March 24, 2025
I read the recent article by Albert Roman with a sense of deja vu, as, back in 2021, when P&I published a piece I submitted providing the other side of the widely promulgated West Good-China Bad narrative I was described, in a counter article, as an entitled expatriate totally out of touch with the real people of Hong Kong, words not disimilar to those used by Roman to describe Jerry Grey's status as a long-term resident of PRC. And just as Painter who had enjoyed a short period in HK and so considered himself to be an expert on...
Bob Rogers from Hong Hong
In response to: Defending human rights will win the hearts of the Chinese people
Last week it was antisemitism, who’s next?
March 24, 2025
Last week it was antisemitism, this week it is Islamophobia. A new poll must have been released. One of them is being driven by a group of racist white supremacists among us.
Bob Pearce from Adelaide SA
In response to: new-report-reveals-islamophobia-in-australia-reaching-cr
Can Barrow make AUKUS-SSN as well?
March 24, 2025
Paddy Gourley mentions again the cost of the USUKA (Aukus) subs. According to Sky yesterday, reporting on Keir Starmer’s visit to the UK’s nuclear sub factory at Barrow, “the visit highlighted ongoing challenges facing the UK's aging nuclear submarine fleet, which has been forced to extend its typical three-month patrols to much longer durations due to maintenance delays and the postponed delivery of replacement vessels. The current fleet has now exceeded its intended 25-year service life.” So where, when and how does the AUKUS-SSN work fit in? Or are we going to give Britain too a three quarters of...
Geoff Taylor from Perth
In response to: Kim Beazley bombs out
Pool the national risk
March 24, 2025
Ross Gittins’ suggestion for some form of a regional diaspora for flood-prone centres like Lismore might be technically correct. The Insurance Council of Australia wants $30 billion spent on mitigation. Even if both were immediately implemented by government, they are still long-term programs. Property owners need premium relief now. The unsustainably punitive premiums reflect the insurance industry’s targeting large regions with small populations to bear the brunt of costs, a methodology dictated to us by international reinsurers. The federal government Australian Reinsurance Pool Corporation originally established to provide reinsurance for terrorism events post 9-11 was expanded to pick...
John Devaney from Townsville
In response to: Outlook for House Insurance is much worse than we're being told
The very model of a modern major linguist
March 24, 2025
Paddy Gourley's incisive article, of course, teases the memory of us old lags: Beazley was nick-named Bomber in his time as defence minister. It was a rather good fit; just as Biggles was for Nelson and Poodles for Pyne. All of them have gone on to bigger and better things, one way or another. Paddy is absolutely en pointe that Beazley's defence (see what I did there??) of his attachment to several armament manufacturers is somehow linked to a safer defence of Australia, is irrelevant to the matter at hand – and it is irrelevant to the purpose...
Richard Llewellyn from Colo Vale
In response to: Kim Beazley Bombs Out
Diplomacy
March 24, 2025
John White's article in linking Trump, Putin and Netanyahu shows no regard to the relevant histories. The history of the Ukraine conflict goes right back to the break-up of the USSR and many events since then: eg Putin's 2007 Munich speech, Minsk 1 and,2 and Istanbul and Boris Johnson. Netanyahu presides over the horrific and ongoing attempt to exterminate the Palestinian people. He and his government are better described as Zionist. There are many Jewish people opposed to their actions. To imply that the US and Russia are now aligned is untrue – there is brinkmanship going on...
John Mateljan from Geraldton
In response to: The Limits of Diplomacy
Response to Binoy Kampmark's article
March 24, 2025
I enjoyed reading Binoy Kampmark's article. I thought it was spot on. Brave-sounding talk by Australian Big Men about Australian participation in another Coalition of the Willing, as Kampmark notes, Particularly, in Australia’s case, such a foolhardy promise shows that governments are willing to contemplate sending troops to conflicts they ill-understand and have no direct strategic value to them. As others have said, any such plan would need UN Security Council approval, which would be highly unlikely, given Russia's veto power in the UNSC. Unlike the USSR (which did not turn up to veto a proposal for UN participation...
Richard Morris from Sydney NSW
In response to: Coalitions of the deluded: Starmer’s Ukraine peace plan
Another original thought bubble
March 24, 2025
In the quest for my vote: the party that links the solar feed-in tariff to the wholesale price of electricity would go a long way to getting my vote and I don’t have solar panels. And it will have an effect on the solar panel take-up rate and the cost of living for the 30% of households with exisiting panels, although some may see it as middle class welfare
Bob Pearce from Adelaide SA
In response to: dutton-blames-renewables-for-rising-power-prices-but-bil
Peter Sainsbury's weekly articles
March 24, 2025
I don't know if a letter to the editor is the appropriate way to do it, but I couldn't see how else to contact you. I just wanted to let you know that I've been reading P&I for some time and I think Peter Sainsbury's weekly articles are extraordinarily good. Please pass on my thanks to the author.
Paul Rees from Brisbane
In response to: https://publish.pearlsandirritations.com/environment-building-nuclear-involves-killing-more-peopl
To recover Australia’s sovereignty, vote strategic
March 24, 2025
If the aim is to have independents in government at any cost, then I would agree with the strategy of giving preferences to any and all independent candidates ahead of the major parties. However the aims and behaviours of some independents are heinous compared to the behaviour of the majors. Giving them a higher preference would be to accept that I'm OK if they get elected. I cannot see how that would be a good strategy.
Danny Stevens from Kenmore Queensland
In response to: To recover Australia’s sovereignty, vote strategically
Beazley a lackey of the US imperium
March 24, 2025
Paddy Gourley's excellent article shows Kim Beazley to be another lackey of the US imperium. Given his key role in Gillard agreeing to the rotation of US troops through the NT, I have often wondered if he is a CIA asset. But then I think they don't need to appoint him covertly as he is already on the payroll of the US war industry. No longer revered if he ever was.
Malcolm Spry from Point Piper
In response to: Kim Beazley bombs out
Scratch one in the race whom to vote for
March 24, 2025
I'm yet to decide whom to vote for! I do know who I won't be voting for! I won’t be voting for the party that has no original policies, the party that only mimics the policies trumpeted out of the US. I will be voting for the party that puts Australia and Australians first and I’m still to decide on that.
Bob Pearce from Adelaide SA
In response to: to-recover-australias-sovereignty-vote-strategically/
Admiral Barrie and Australia's best interests
March 22, 2025
Admiral Barrie is no left-wing radical. He is a former chief of the Australian Navy. Many consider him the bad boy of Operation Sovereign Borders as he was the leader of that for a number of years. But he is a careful strategic thinker in Australia's interest and any politician should take note of what he is saying. He is not the only one saying it. I have seen and heard comments from others of his generation in the public service who are saying that Australia should move away quickly from our former relationship with the US and look...
Jennifer Haines from Glossodia
In response to: To recover Australia's sovereignty
Who is Australia?
March 21, 2025
“With, China, its values differ from ours and we may well feel that our own (imperfect) democracy is preferable to Chinese socialism.” Is it? Do the systems actually differ so much? It could be argued that Medicare is a socialist system, as are the PBS , NDIS, superannuation and even our tax system. How often do we hear: “Why should I contribute to someone else’s medical bills?“ “They should pay more tax“; They are bad economic managers, and will increase taxes“; “We support Medicare“. These are a source of constant conflict between the parties, a diversion, and these...
Bob Pearce from Adelaide SA
In response to: Australian-China-relations-a-question-of-trust
This article misses the obvious
March 21, 2025
The author has also missed the obvious: that the Australian and Chinese foreign ministers met at the G20 summit to clear the air. Also that the Chinese Ambassador to Australia, when interviewed by Channel 7 in Perth, said the flotilla circumnavigating Australia was for friendly purposes. I find the authors comment One of the most frustrating aspects of 'dealing' with China is the importance of what is not said very unfriendly. You don't deal with people. You converse with them. Also I have found from conversing with the Chinese, such as when I have had coffee with a...
Beverley Dight from Canberra
In response to: China flotilla reporting misses the obvious
Trump behind UN official’s death
March 20, 2025
I note the first two entries in this scroll. Why do writers keep saying it is Israel without including the US? Trump is clearly an accessory to the killing of the UN worker, and all the others in Palestine since the ceasefire. It has been clearly stated by Al Jazeera that Netanyahu got Trump’s nod. A nod from the US, supposedly a guarantor to the ceasefire, as are Egypt and Qatar. It is time the UN moved its headquarters from the US to neutral territory.
Geoff Taylor from Perth
In response to: A five minute scroll 108
Homeless problem
March 20, 2025
The homeless problems discussed in this article are entirely manageable by the government (state or federal). One of the (federal?) ministers recently said unequivocally that the decision of where to spend money is a matter of priority. Money can, of course, only be spent once. Providing shelter to the homeless is obviously not a priority (as is bringing the unemployment benefits above the poverty level). Writing it like this, one would think, would raise outrage. What more can be important than providing shelter for those who cannot afford it but need it? But no, barely a comment is...
Hans Rijsdijk from Albion Park Rail
In response to: Homeless shelters are needed urgently
Rebuttal to Martin Hardie's claims
March 20, 2025
Martin Hardie may wish the best for Timor-Leste. But rather than address Dili’s lack of economic sustainability, he makes critical factual mistakes. Timor-Leste’s Petroleum Fund pays for most government spending and drives the economy. The $18.5 billion fund no longer receives oil revenues and has a finite life, as the 2024 budget statement states. Hardie claims: “Dogma casts the fund as a sacred idol, not to be touched for development, only preserved for some distant future.” He is wrong. Sustainable withdrawals are meant for budget expenditure and are a legislated requirement. This pays for development of the...
Damien Kingsbury from Melbourne
In response to: Timor-Leste and its Australian critics: A credibility gap exposed
Australia-China relations: A question of trust
March 20, 2025
Jocelyn Chey’s comment on Australia-China relations published in P&I on 20 March is among the best I have seen on the subject. I found myself in agreement with every word, but would like to draw attention to two points specifically. One is the importance of trust in the relationship. Some specialists say trust does not matter in bilateral relations, what matters is interests and practicality. While this is quite rational in terms of a “realist” international relationship, the human element is, for me, what makes a relationship special. Personally, I look back on and value friendships and cultural exchanges....
Colin Mackerras from Brisbane, Queensland
In response to: Australia-China Relations: A question of trust