Letters to the Editor
Sainsbury said it all
May 12, 2025
Peter Sainsbury said it all. I share his scepticism that Labor will get the job done, not just on climate but on preservation of nature as well. The only hope are the 11 Greens' senators who may be able to hold Labor to account and force stronger action on both climate and environment. We should remember that Labor never was an environmental party. Yes, Bob Hawke saved the Franklin, but possibly only because he read the mood of the national electorate. Almost always, however, if there is conflict between saving jobs and saving environment, Labor will go with the...
Jenny Goldie from Cooma NSW
In response to: Environment: Will Labor now protect our environment? If not now, probably never
Dan Duggan's imprisonment is a great disgrace
May 12, 2025
Greg Barns' article of May 10th 2025 titled Dreyfus leaves little legacy is very much to the point. As he points out, Dreyfus took the relatively uncontroversial step of ending the persecution of Bernard Collaery while allowing other egregious injustices to continue. The most shameful of these would surely be the continued incarceration of Dan Duggan, a US-born Australian citizen and father of six, who has been held in maximum security since October 2022 despite having committed no offence under Australian law. Outrageously, Duggan now faces the threat of deportation to the US and the possibility of spending...
Andrew Fullarton from Naarm/Melbourne
In response to: Dreyfus leaves little legacy.
Can Anthony the unready change his spots?
May 12, 2025
Peter Sainsbury’s summing up of the Albanese Government’s number one, two and three priorities, to get re-elected and from the box seat, keep the horses calmed, is a strategy that, if pursued, promises Australia will be totally unready for the impact of the looming climate upheaval. A Labor hero after his bone-crushing, come-from-behind election win, inaction on climate will leave him reviled by future generations. Having spent a lifetime earning a living dependent on the seasons, I have seen changes over more than seven decades that, quite frankly, terrify me. Apart from the geo-physical science so clearly explained in...
John Mosig from Kew, Victoria
In response to: Environment: Will Labor now protect our environment? If not now, probably never
Dreyfus has let Australia down
May 12, 2025
Greg Barns is, perhaps, rather too gentle in his assessment of Mark Dreyfus. It is not often that I disagree with anything Paul Keating says, but on the Dreyfus affair, I feel he also has ascribed rather more honour to the man than he warrants. I fail to understand how an attorney-general — no matter what his heritage may be — can blatantly ignore the messages coming from the ICJ and the ICC and still allow his government to claim that it operates within the international rules-based order, that chimerical being that appears every day (if our government is...
Richard Llewellyn from Colo Vale
In response to: Dreyfus leaves little legacy
Judaism and Zionism
May 12, 2025
What an excellent article by Sara Dowse. It's about time someone differentiated between the two. The Zionists are the violent extremists who must be condemned for their actions and intentions. A Semite, per se, is your average peace-loving Jew who, for the most part, is appalled by Netanyahu's regime. The same can be said for Hamas who don't actually have a social licence with the average Palestinian that just want to live in peace. However the actions of Israel against the Palestinians must be called out for what they are: apartheid and genocide. The Israel Zionists...
Sidney Seiden from Exmouth
In response to: Judaism and Zionism are not the same
Very helpful interpretation of the steady-state economy
May 9, 2025
Thank you to Mark Diesendorf for this very helpful piece. It stands as a clarification of many of the misunderstandings and poor interpretations of SSE in Daniel Susskind's recent (2024) book advocating economic growth, Growth- A History and A Reckoning.
Len Puglisi from 1 Balmoral Court Burwood East
In response to: The steady-state economy: Why we need it
The leopard can’t change its spots
May 9, 2025
As Ross Gittens colourfully describes, the Coalition “is like that person driving a Holden Commodore”. Gender, age and the small matter of climate change should be crucial concerns for any party. Yet Liberal values remain the same: the party “limits its intrusion into people’s lives”, is for lower taxes and keeps the nation “secure and safe” (Christopher Pyne, The Age, 7 May). And therein lies a problem: faced with the existential crisis of climate change, governments need to be at the centre of both our energy transformation and the mitigation strategies when disasters inevitably arrive. Pyne suggested that “For...
Fiona Colin from Melbourne
In response to: The climate won’t change for the Liberals without more women and fewer oldies
Essential clarity from Sara Dowse
May 9, 2025
Sara Dowse's article is to be treasured. Please read and absorb it (and the writer's courage as well as clarity). Don't stop there, though. If each of us makes it our business to send it on, either through social media or via email, to at least 10 other people, we will have contributed something toward pushing back the relentless propaganda that is suffocating debate, silencing dissent, and excusing the grotesque elimination of the Palestinian people. Zionism is not Judaism, nor vice versa. Refuting Zionism and its supremacist claims is not antisemitic. It is an assertion of...
Stephanie Dowrick from Darwin 0800, NT
In response to: Judaism and Zionism are not the same
Tim Beal's articles in need of corrections
May 8, 2025
Tim Beal has had a number of articles republished here, wherein he attempts to propagate pro-Kremlin disinformation regarding the North Korean troops who have been fighting alongside Russian forces against Ukraine. Given that Russia recently admitted the North Korean involvement is true, should Beal not be asked to issue an apology and should his articles not be corrected to reflect the fact that his rhetoric appears to not be guided by the facts? Valery Gerasimov, chief of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces, has said. I want to point out the participation of servicemen from...
Craig Thomas from North Sydney
In response to: A contrived myth? North Korean troops battling the Ukrainians in Kurskdid-north-
Will the election deliver good governance?
May 8, 2025
Two-thirds of Australians did not vote for Labor as their first preference. It’s clear that Australians want more from their leaders. Strong and healthy leadership protects the weakest, respects differences and importantly fosters an atmosphere of collaboration – in the hope of promoting innovation and inspiring the population. True leadership is guided by foundational collective principles that transcend ego and personal point-scoring. Anthony Albanese’s disparaging comments about the Independents and the Greens, post-election, are the opposite of these principles. Narrowing the collective voice in Parliament, strategising, through opaque election preference deals, to put power in the hands...
Alyssa Aleksanian from Hazelbrook
In response to: Will Labor live up to the values of Australians?
It’s not about sex, it’s about type
May 8, 2025
We all think we like a musician, movie star or sports star. We think we know them. Often, it’s their choice to represent themselves for their own advancement and we believe the good guy, bad guy image they portray. The same applies to our politicians and, like our influencers, we seldom know them at all. For example, if you believe his wife and what's sometimes written about Peter Dutton, he “is no monster“. But it turns out many Australians don’t like him and won’t vote for him as their front man. When it comes to our politicians, we...
Bob Pearce from Adelaide SA
In response to: the-coalition-is-killing-the-liberal-party
My enemy’s enemy is my enemy
May 7, 2025
There’s no doubt that the preference strategies of both Labor and the Coalition were to reinforce the two-party system that’s preventing Australia from facing the challenges of the 21st century: the economic and social disruption of climate change. The Greens are a progressive force neither major party wishes to face. After losing ground in 2022, both clawed back ground before the new political funding model designed to hobble independents and minor parties comes into play. The reality is that the Greens, and Teal and orange Independents, have taken electorates from Labor and the Coalition by winning the confidence...
John Mosig from Kew, Victoria
In response to: What just happened to theGreens?
The Greens: Neoliberalism or MMT?
May 7, 2025
I agree with Louis Devine. But the Greens have also lost ground due to another reason: they have not summoned up the political courage to educate the public on the economics of Modern Monetary Theory. The Greens have largely excellent policies. However, they have tried, regrettably, to embed those same policies within an economically flawed neoliberal lens, which renders them as ridiculously unaffordable to a very large percentage of the population. The policies, of course, are not ridiculously unaffordable. They sit perfectly comfortably within a superior MMT lens. I would encourage the Greens to spend the next three...
Terry Gibson from Canberra
In response to: What just happened to the Greens?
Can Labor defy the fossil fuel lobby?
May 7, 2025
Yes, “What an opportunity Australia has before it”. But many hearts and minds are yet to be won in an environment where cost of living and our energy transformation (as Jim Chalmers describes it) are disconnected. Labor must convince many Australians that our smallish contribution to global CO2 emissions is worth the effort. They must communicate the advantages to national security, productivity and the forward-looking idea of a renewables superpower. Deep-pocketed forces are ranged against our transformation. International climate change-denying groups like the Atlas Network, and its offshoot Advance, will, no doubt, double down on lobbying for fossil...
Fiona Colin from Melbourne
In response to: Australia lays out red carpet for rapid green energy transition
Useful information about China's role
May 7, 2025
Jocelyn, thank you for this useful addition to our collection of thoughts for understanding China's role in our area. Personally, I receive considerable information from the US site — Yale Forum on Religion and Ecology — especially items and talks by Professors Mary Evelyn Tucker and John Grim. These two make multiple trips to many cities in China, and speak to very enthusiastic audiences. Their talks include such topics as ecological civilisation – a perspective largely absent from our public forums, but a concept included since about 2018 in the Chinese Constitution.
Len Puglisi from 1 Balmoral Court Burwood East
In response to: Who's afraid of big, bad China?
Albo, how does it feel to be the best of a bad bunch?
May 7, 2025
What happened to the Greens? They maintained their primary vote, which is no reason to be pleased and slightly less reason to be pleased than Labor. But they had considerably more reason to be pleased than the Libs. After the big three/four have finished analysis of the results and decided that it was all someone else’s fault (Trump will do), collectively patted themselves on the back and shifted the Parliamentary furniture, they should have an independent Parliamentary inquiry. This inquiry should look into what’s so wrong with our democracy that the best of a bad bunch should win...
Bob Pearce from Adelaide SA
In response to: what-just-happened-to-the-greens
Dodgy election deals
May 7, 2025
More needs to be exposed about these three major election scandals that were, by design, allegedly targeted to deliberately unseat the Greens and Independents and narrow our collective voice to parliament: The redrawing of electoral boundaries and abolishing of an independent seat for MP Kylea Tink. The deceptive preference deals made between Labor and Liberals to pool their votes to unseat Independent and Green candidates. The doubling of election funding for major parties and virtually nothing for the other minor candidates. These were strategies deliberately and deployed to concentrate power in one of the two...
Alyssa Aleksanian from Hazelbrook
In response to: What just happened to the Greens?
The Greens vote
May 7, 2025
If you look at the raw numbers, the drop in the Greens vote was only marginal, although given the preferential system, it had an impact. I suspect part of the reason for the drop in the Green vote was, based on pre-election polling, the perceived closeness of the contest between Labor and the LNP. In such circumstances, it is not uncommon for voters to play it safe and opt for a major party. I suspect, given it is unlikely that Labor will lose the next election, there will be a surge in the Greens vote.
Brian Bycroft from Evans Head NSW
In response to: What just happened to the Greens?
An activist crossbench?
May 6, 2025
It was certainly an uninspiring campaign. But why has Jack Waterford not complained about that which will stop the crossbench being the activist crossbench [which] can supply the pressure to do more, better that he would like? I refer, of course, to the dishonesty that has been used by the Liberals and their associated entities to peg back Community Independents. Policies, you can discuss. But it's all too true that mud sticks. Nearly 40 Community Independents stood in 2025. As I write, some old Community Independents have been returned, others wait on a knife edge. We will have...
Margaret Callinan from Hawthorn
In response to: Dutton defeated in unexciting and uninspiring battlefield scrap
It's not war
May 6, 2025
Genocide is taking place in Palestine and Australia is showing moral cowardice. Calling for a ceasefire is water off a duck's back to Netanyahu. Recognising Palestine infuriates him to the extent we try to placate him. Treading gently in the name of community cohesion is to be complicit and allows the supporters of genocide to remain comfortably complicit also. The press is guilty. No protest at the targeted murders of their fellow journalists. Printing errors of fact in news, opinion and letters pages enables further killings. Australia must act. We actively supported BDS when South Africa was an...
Margaret Callinan from Hawthorn
In response to: P&I authors expose Israeli atrocities, but with what effect?
We cannot be bystanders
May 6, 2025
Should we merely continue to do the same for another year, another year? asks Stuart Rees in his passionate, timely (past time) article, writing of the ethnic cleansing in Gaza and beyond. He then suggests, correctly in my view, An alternative is to push P&I towards being mainstream. In that way, a confident prime minister might feel obliged to display his much-vaunted Australian kindness to all the people of Palestine. This push self-evidently requires a renewed and consistent effort beyond the pool of P&I writers, however accomplished, and beyond those who bring us P&I day in and out....
Stephanie Dowrick from Darwin 0800
In response to: P&I authors expose Israeli atrocities, but with what effect?
Where are Australia's religious leaders?
May 6, 2025
I am deeply disturbed by an item I saw on SBS’s news service this week concerning the plight of the people in Gaza and the effects of the Israeli Government’s blockade of all relief to them, including food, water and medicines. The report showed several severely emaciated children with sunken eyes, matchstick-like limbs and clearly visible rib-cages, suffering from severe starvation and malnutrition. That such suffering by innocent children should be the result of the deliberate and illegal (under international law) actions and policies of the Israeli Government outraged me. The Netanyahu Government is clearly an immoral and...
John Annison from Victoria
In response to: The Israeli blockage of aid to Gaza
Dutton was considered unfit to be leader in 2018
May 6, 2025
In 2018, Peter Dutton engineered Malcolm Turnbull's exit as leader. He and his supporters went out for a long night of Chinese food, 12 hours before the vote. Next day Dutton was completely surprised by Scott Morrison. The reason is now well-known – most Liberal MPs did not consider Dutton as an electoral winner. He never changed! He was a divisive policy-free player in 2018 and nothing changed for the 2025 election, except that he chose to imitate some of the worst aspects of Trump, and then ran a shocker of a campaign, now being blamed on the...
Bill Brown from Holt, ACT
In response to: A Campaign with Only One Contender
Fewer from the entitled class will want to enter politics
May 5, 2025
As David Solomon writes, one of the main reasons for the “thumping” of the Liberal Party was its “negativity” and failure “to present and defend its policies in time.” On ABC radio, Liberal Senator Hollie Hughes criticised the party’s leadership and lack of policy development, noting that despite submitting draft proposals in October, “we never heard anything about anything back from anybody”. As Solomon notes, this echoes past failures. Major policy documents like Hewson’s Fightback! and Howard’s Future Directions also lacked internal consultation with the parliamentary party or even the party’s own policy committee. The role of...
Ray Peck from Hawthorn
In response to: Libs on life support after thumping
Kooyong shenanigans
May 4, 2025
As Sonia Randhawa writes, we need to re-imagine and strengthen our democracy. It is certainly needed in Kooyong. We’ve had legal battles between the Boroondara City Council and the Liberal Party over signage; neo-Nazis and Brethren trying to pass themselves off as Liberal Party volunteers; and one male Liberal voter taking a Monique Ryan handout from an elderly, female volunteer, tearing it up in front of her face, and throwing it on the ground. He refused to apologise. After taking the prized Liberal seat in 2022 from the previous Coalition Treasurer, Josh Frydenberg, the Libs have had Ryan in...
Ray Peck from Hawthorn
In response to: It's time for politics to grow up
A working vision for Australia
May 4, 2025
Gareth Evans has joined with other P&I contributors in lamenting a lack of vision for Australia. He concludes with an ambition for Australia to be seen as a good international citizen – as a decent country. I think this is too vague to be effective. I recommend Australia: a trusted, respected and independent middle power in a healthy and peaceful world”. This is a vision statement that Australia can be proud of. It's an open statement allowing a wide spectrum of political contest and community behaviour. It is a simple statement that provides a guide for evaluating political...
Robert Crewdson from Melbourne
In response to: Being a good international citizen in a Trumpian world
A balanced economy, not a balanced budget
May 4, 2025
Both the major parties (and even the Greens) embrace economic neoliberalism. This sees the federal government acting like a household, with household-like budget constraints. And on this view, budgets should therefore be balanced, or even in surplus. This, however, causes private debt to increase, which in turn causes the cost-of-living crisis, such as we have now. We need instead to change focus and to balance the economy, not the budget, with carefully targeted deficits, even deficits in perpetuity, if necessary. Despite neoliberal scaremongering, it is a fact that our currency-issuing federal government is not like a household. It...
Terry Gibson from Canberra
In response to: Who will better manage the economy? Neither.
Civil courage
May 4, 2025
A significant Australian who attended the funeral of Pope Francis was Julian Assange. Francis wrote to him and offered him asylum in the Vatican. Gutsy.
Michael Breen from Robertson NSW
In response to: John Menadue's article on Pope Francis
A new display of courage for the Labor Government
May 4, 2025
The YouGov poll prediction has been right, with a stunning majority for Labor. The party must not squander the opportunity to do some of the hard things while they have the political capital: recognise Palestine and stop aiding the murders in Palestine, phase in property tax changes, go for a step change in efficiently produced prefab housing, work on an ATSI treaty, move from a monarch, ensure an ombudsman who properly balances their access to expensive legal advice against the legal deficit of most appellants, a more effective and open NACC, end remaining multinational tax avoidance, and inadequate resource royalties....
Geoff Taylor from Perth
In response to: Major YouGov poll has Labor easily winning a majority of seats in election
Palestine, Israel and truth
May 1, 2025
I applaud Pearls and Irritations and John Menadue for the forthright bravery of the piece 'Never again' not only for Jews, but for Palestinians and all humanity. Yes, it will stir outrage, and accusations of antisemitism. But whatever our loyalties or religious and political affiliations, we desperately need journalism that probes, does not cower in the face powerful interests, and tells complex and tragic truths directly and uncompromisingly.
Morag Fraser from Melbourne, Victoria
In response to: Never again-not-only-for-jews-but-for-Palestinians and all humanity
A timely wake-up call
May 1, 2025
What a pleasure to read editor-in-chief John Menadue’s 27 April ANU lecture on the question of Palestine and Israel’s criminal (genocidal) measures against it, Such is the dominance exercised over global media by pro-Israel forces that it must call for courage on Menadue’s part to be so forthright in insisting on the attribution of major criminal responsibility. Appropriate to the title “Pearls and Irritations”, Menadue offers a pearl. That in doing so he has irritated many is plain from the response to date. Furthermore, however shocking, Menadue is on the side of international law. The International Criminal...
Gavan McCormack from Canberra, ACT
In response to: 'Never again' not only for Jews, but for Palestinians and all humanity
The indestructible pillars of bipartisanship
May 1, 2025
That will never change because at different times it suits both (all) of them. Whenever we talk (only talk) of reform, this one never even gets a mention.
Bob Pearce from Adelaide SA
In response to: Neoliberalism causes cost-of-living crisis
Bravo, John Menadue
May 1, 2025
I just want to join with many others in congratulating John Menadue on his fine speech in support of Palestine and humanity at the ANU. John's clear principled stand makes me proud to be associated with P&I. As for the response of The Australian newspaper, I wonder whether there is anyone on their staff with a grasp of such a fundamental (and conservative) tenet as respect for one's wise elders.
Richard Barnes from Melbourne
In response to: 'Never again' not only for Jews, but for Palestinians and all humanity
Time to end colonialism and for our govt to assert itself
May 1, 2025
After 40 years of working in the South Australian public service, I have no doubt that neoliberalism has been a failed experiment. The major indicator is that the roles of the public and private sector have become so entwined that it is hard to tell them apart. In very basic terms, the role of the private sector is to make a profit and the role of governments is to regulate for the good of Australia and Australians. Australia, for all its multiculturalism, remains a colony of the UK and, more recently, of the US, as demonstrated by AUKUS...
Bob Pearce from Adelaide SA
In response to: the-us-has-never-been-a-reliable-ally-of-au
P&I speaks the truth about the genocide in Gaza
May 1, 2025
Pearls & Irritations has become indispensable for penetrating the misinformation of the mainstream media. It confirms Noam Chomsky’s analysis of the “necessary illusions” and thought control in our “free” press. With the genocide in Gaza, the importance of Pearls & Irritations was aptly described by George Orwell: We have now sunk to a depth at which restatement of the obvious is the first duty ... If liberty means anything at all, it means the right to tell people what they do not want to hear. In times of universal deceit, telling the truth will be a revolutionary act.
Peter Slezak from Sydney, NSW
In response to: 'Never again' not only for Jews, but for Palestinians and all humanity
Will there be people available to do the caring?
May 1, 2025
Thank you Professor Kathy Eager for outlining the issues facing older people and the incoming government which will implement aged care reform. One issue facing older recipients of aged care packages is finding people to carry out the care. Here is an example from one older person. This 89-year-old woman has been informed she can have someone to clean the home she shares with her older and ailing husband. Big sigh of relief you might imagine. However, there are no cleaners available in her area. Why? She has learned that the cleaners have all gone to NDIS, which...
Janet Grevillea from Lake Macquarie
In response to: Aged care reform in 2025:An agenda for the next Australian Government
Very well said
May 1, 2025
Let’s welcome John Menadue’s angry words about the Murdoch press and others who have been able to treat the genocidal turpitude of Israel’s atrocities in Gaza with Nelsonic blind eyes. Although these people may now be getting off lightly, the time will surely come when ignominy will pay them a terrible visit, and the sooner the better.
Paddy Gourley from Canberra, ACT
In response to: Message from the editor-in-chief: Genocide is not newsworthy in The Australian
Truth about Australia finally revealed
May 1, 2025
The Indonesian media garners and recycles news on its southern neighbour, largely from the Oz legacy press. Till now, few readers across the archipelago would have known of our lively independent journalism, so it was generous of The Australian to give Pearls and Irritations a free plug. John Menadue's powerful commentary might have gone unnoticed, but for the pro-Israel Murdoch media making a meal out of his ANU speech. In doing so, the paper has revealed to the secular Republic, with more Muslims than any other state, a truth about our nation. A writer of John's...
Duncan Graham from Perth, WA
In response to: Message from the editor-in-chief: Genocide is not newsworthy in The Australian
Neoliberalism causes cost-of-living crisis
May 1, 2025
Both the major parties (and even the Greens) embrace economic neoliberalism. This sees the federal government acting like a household, with household-like budget constraints. And on this view, budgets should therefore be balanced, or even in surplus. This, however, causes private debt to increase, which in turn causes the cost-of-living crisis, such as we have now. We need instead to change focus and to balance the economy, not the budget, with carefully targeted deficits, even deficits in perpetuity, if necessary. Despite neoliberal scaremongering, it is a fact that our currency-issuing federal government is not like a household. It...
Terry Gibson from Canberra
In response to: Who will better manage the economy: Labor or the Coalition?
At last, some honesty on Gaza
May 1, 2025
John Menadue’s lecture to an ANU audience on 27 April is the best statement I have yet seen on the appalling genocide unfolding in Gaza and the West Bank. The personal historical perspective gives it added weight, history which most commentators have been determined to ignore. John’s honesty stands in stark contrast to the Israeli Government/Zionist propaganda which the bulk of Australia’s mainstream media have almost exclusively fed to the community since the Hamas attack on 7 October 2023. Bias for which the MSM should hang their heads in shame. And then there is the utter hypocrisy of...
Ian Dunlop from Gordon, NSW
In response to: Never Again” not only for Jews but for Palestinians and all humanity.
Taking aim at Israel's hypocrisy
April 30, 2025
Thank you, thank you, thank you, John Menadue for the text of your speech delivered at the Palestinian rally at the ANU on 27 April – “Never Again” not only for Jews,Israel's awful hypocrisy but for Palestinians and all of humanity. Disappointing, but not surprising, that it didn’t find its way in the mainstream media. Like most of our politicians, they are cowering under pressure from Israel and its enablers, here and abroad. Your piece says it all, and is arguably the finest ever delivered on the awful hypocrisy and complicity on the part of Western governments when...
Sara Dowse from Canberra, ACT
In response to: 'Never again' not only for Jews, but for Palestinians and all humanity
Truth telling
April 30, 2025
Thank you for the journal, your frank and fearless reporting, and your leadership.
Bob Beadman from Darwin
In response to: Message from the editor-in-chief: Genocide is not newsworthy in The Australian
Timely reminder of mainstream media's propaganda
April 30, 2025
John Menadue’s article on 30 April, in response to The Australian’s disgraceful excuse for journalism on the matter of Israel’s destruction of Palestine, is a timely reminder of just how much propaganda masquerading as news Australians are exposed to. In its distorted and inflammatory coverage of a “Vote for Humanity” event at ANU on 27 April at which Menadue spoke, The Australian has helped perpetuate the carnage in Gaza and the oppression of Palestinian people. Just as the practice of medicine itself (and much, much more) is under direct attack in Gaza, with more than 1000 healthcare workers...
Sue Wareham from Cook, ACT
In response to: Message from the editor-in-chief: Genocide is not newsworthy in The Australian
Hitting the right spot
April 30, 2025
John Menadue should be commended for displaying the sort of courage, outspokenness and commitment to international law and human rights that is so conspicuously absent in the mainstream media and among our political representatives. His many articles in Pearls and Irritations, and his recent speech at the ANU, are reminders of what political courage looks like in an era of political cowardice and complicity in cruelty. He calls out the endless atrocities perpetrated against the Palestinian people for what they are – a genocide. He is unequivocal about the complicity of silence that surrounds Australia’s response to what...
Dr Richard Hill from Gold Coast, Queensland
In response to: 'Never again' not only for Jews, but for Palestinians and all humanity
Intellectual and moral clarity
April 30, 2025
Words cannot express my gratitude to John Menadue for his indefatigable and invaluable work against the genocide of Palestinians. At a time when the compliant media has reacted with either deafening silence or lies, John has continued to speak up, with exceptional intellectual and moral clarity. When dealing with the so-called Israel/Hamas war, mainstream media is replete with distorted framing and deceitful reporting. The so-called journalists have dehumanised Palestinians and manufactured consent for the genocide. We are fortunate to have Pearls and Irritations and other sources of independent journalism.
Sawsan Madina from Sydney, NSW
In response to: Message from the editor-in-chief: Genocide is not newsworthy in The Australian
Exceptional leadership from John Menadue
April 30, 2025
Should “vested interests” alone decide what's newsworthy? We have John (and the late Susie) Menadue to thank for the very existence of P&I where not only public policies can be aired, or thoughtful opinions about them, but also critical global matters – and their consequences. Could Susie and John possibly have anticipated how essential P&I would become to serious readers as we face the most devastating moral failure of our time (along with failing adequately to slow global warming)? A failure fully enabled and endorsed by Western powers and media? The coverage that P&I has given to...
Stephanie Dowrick from Darwin CBD, NT
In response to: Message from the editor-in-chief: Genocide is not newsworthy in The Australian
Will 2025 be the canary in the climate coalmine?
April 30, 2025
Our planet is heating more rapidly than expected, with 2024 proving, contrary to most expectations, warmer than the El Nino-powered 2023. There will be many reasons why this is happening, including ever-increasing carbon pollution, reduced sulphate cooling and the shrinking global icecaps. If, as David Spratt predicts, 2025 is warmer again, then this will portend a dangerous trend accelerating our environmental deterioration. Urgent action would be required on a global scale. In that case, COP31, in 2026, will hold critical significance. Should Australia, with the Pacific Islands, win the right to host this event we will have the...
Chris Young from Surrey Hills, Vic
In response to: 2025 is the crunch year in the scientific contest about accelerated warming
Woe is me
April 30, 2025
I am a very ordinary man aged 83 and for the life of me I cannot understand the savagery evident in this world, not only Israel against the Palestinians, but also in the Sudan, Russia and Ukraine. Humanity has been weighed in the balance and found wanting. We forget that if a man gaisn the whole world but loses his soul, he is a loser. I weep for the parents whose children have been murdered in the name of a God who doesn’t seem too concerned. Israel has just celebrated the Passover which, at its core, is a...
Brian Robertson from Maleny QLD 4552
In response to: Message from the editor in chief
If I were mentor to Albanese or Dutton...
April 29, 2025
Alison Broinowski succintly offered a heartfelt picture of clarity and courage related to Australia's alternative posture in the world. Meanwhile the voters, more or less resigned to reactive mediocrity from our leaders, will munch on their democracy sausages on Saturday and vote indifferently for Tweedledum and Tweedledee. Where has the Australian vision gone Albo and Dutto? Can you pick a single onshore item related to climate, generational inequality and student debt, long-term power generation, real housing solutions or future disaster management goals that anyone will remember you for after you cash in your super? After the speeches...
Donald Clayton from Bittern Victoria 3918
In response to: If I were Foreign Minister...
Trump can stop one war today
April 29, 2025
John sums up the issue of Palestine deftly Yesterday, Donald Trump made another forlorn plea to Vladimir Putin to stop the war in Ukraine. Yesterday also saw a young Palestinian boy flung through the air by an Israeli bomb on his house, killing everyone in his family but him and his mother. He was seen sitting shellshocked mere minutes later in the rubble that had been his house. This is the war that Trump does have the power to stop today. What is it about him that makes him unable to be moved by the sight of...
Geoff Taylor from Perth
In response to: 'Never again' not only for Jews, but for Palestinians and all humanity
John's passion and scrupulous honesty!
April 29, 2025
My respect for John Menadue continues to grow daily as his transparent honesty, compassion and courage evident in speaking the truth are a beacon of light in an ever darkening world!!!
Les Macdonald from Balmain NSW 2041
In response to: 'Never again' not only for Jews, but for Palestinians and all humanity
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