Was there ever anything more predictable, and more shameful than the detached and independent — and, of course, apolitical — decision by federal Environment Minister Murray Watt that damage caused to Aboriginal Australian heritage values could not weigh as heavily as the economic interest of Woodside’s Northwest Shelf project, worth billions of dollars, potentially trillions? (more…)
Category: Politics
-
Malaysia keeps fractious ASEAN family together
Kudos to Malaysia. Putrajaya has just finished hosting the 46th ASEAN summit in Kuala Lumpur over six days. Judging from the attendance, statements and declarations, the summit was a great success. (more…)
-
The US dual economy: trending toward the periphery
Over the past 45 years, the United States has experienced deepening economic divisions between the rich and poor. (more…)
-
Chinese jet shoots down France’s best fighter. NZ and Australia should pay attention
For the first time in history, the US and the Western world face a genuine peer competitor in China.
-
Pushing back with new urgency against neoliberalism
The era of unchallenged neoliberal dominance appears to be over, but it is too early to declare neoliberalism dead. (more…)
-
Sea change in attitudes to Israel and Gaza
Profound changes in both public and elite opinion are often slow to occur but — once they start — they can shift dramatically and quickly. (more…)
-
Labor’s climate talk a lot of hot gas
The North West Shelf Extension is the textbook example of everything wrong with Australia’s gas policy. Its approval comes off the back of a dangerous myth that more gas means cheaper prices for Australians. (more…)
-
Message from the editor
In my first week as editor, back in mid-March, when open shoes were still viable in Canberra, I said that we at Pearls and Irritations do not pretend to be disinterested observers. (more…)
-
It is time to take our indifference to the Gaza horror seriously
It is time to take our indifference seriously. I remember having a heated discussion with classmates when I was in my first year of high school. We had just had a history lesson on the rise of Nazi Germany and the murder of over six millions Jews, intellectuals, and communists. We were arguing about how many Jewish people we could have “rescued” from the gas chambers and what we would have done if we had been alive then, how we would never have let that slaughter happen. (more…)
-
Tariff shockwaves: Indonesia’s export strategy under fire
While trade negotiation between Indonesia and the US is still underway, the archipelago must reassess its non-tariff measures to address US concerns while ensuring fair trade practices and maintaining economic stability. (more…)
-
Where’s Tony? Minister for the arts keep low profile
When glancing across the faces of the new Albanese ministry, you’d be forgiven if you couldn’t name the minister for the arts. (more…)
-
New Zealand cribbed Australian defence documents
New Zealand officials drew heavily on Australian defence documents to produce the 2025 Defence Capability Plan, which indicates the country’s intended military acquisitions and development for the next 15 years. (more…)
-
Israel-Gaza: Has Albo finally found his backbone?
Every day since 7 October 2023 Israel has killed, on average, 92 Palestinians. It has injured and maimed countless thousands more. (more…)
-
Bridging now to next – seeking to rise from the ashes of the Voice referendum
During this Reconciliation Week (27 May – 3 June), with the theme Bridging Now to Next, the nation is aware that there is still unfinished business on the national agenda when it comes to the due recognition of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians. (more…)
-
Thirty-five richest Republicans set to ‘line their own pockets’ while taking food, healthcare from millions
“The Trump tax scam is a grift for the ultra-rich, including those who are in charge of passing this legislation themselves, and a betrayal to hardworking Americans everywhere,” said the head of Accountable.US. (more…)
-
Environment: Freshwater systems and grasslands, forgotten nature and climate heroes
Human activities are pushing many freshwater fish toward extinction globally and in Australia. (more…)
-
Jerry Falwell and the Christian culture wars
In May 1979, Jerry Falwell invited a select group of Christian conservative leaders to a strategic planning retreat at his Lynchburg, VA, estate. (more…)
-
Sydney Harbour Bridge walk – unsuspected joy and hope
At the end of reconciliation week it is time to look back at a extraordinary event. While Aboriginal people remained quiet and uncomplaining, most of our leaders showed very little interest in them. And “average Australians”, they believed, were right behind them. Didn’t social media and talkback radio prove that? (more…)
-
Gaza: The day of reckoning is coming
The attacks by Hamas on 7 October 2023 licensed the very worst psychopathic tendencies, both within Israel and among its uncritical supporters throughout the diaspora. (more…)
-
‘A big deal’: Bowen says hosting COP31 will lift Australia’s standing and help accelerate renewables shift
Australia’s bid to co-host the United Nations COP31 climate talks in 2026 with Pacific nations has been described by Climate Change and Energy Minister Chris Bowen as a “remarkable opportunity” to restore Australia’s international climate leadership and help shape the global clean energy conversation. (more…)
-
Brian Schmidt on securing Australia’s sovereign research capability
Brian Schmidt and Richard Holden addressed the National Press Club jointly this week. The following are full transcripts of the speeches.
Let me take you back to February 1940 to the University of Birmingham. World War II had just broken out, and 38-year-old Marc Oliphant, an Australian-born physicist, who went on later in life to found the ANU Physics department and the Australian Academy of Science, had just had his lab invent the modern microwave resonant cavity, that could create incredibly intense radio-waves in a device of a size such that you could hold it in your hands. (more…)
-
Richard Holden on securing Australia’s sovereign research capability
Richard Holden and Brian Schmidt addressed the National Press Club jointly this week. The following are full transcripts of the speeches.
The Economic Value of Ideas
Beginning in the 1990s, economists developed a framework for articulating the economic value of ideas. (more…)
-
Freer movement: Pacific priorities for Labor in its second term
Is the Labor Government going to take aid more seriously, and think more globally, in its second term? (more…)
-
Australian whistleblower David McBride’s appeal rejected
The Australian Government whistleblower is headed back to jail with no end in sight to his incarceration. He is serving nearly six years for leaking documents to the media exposing Australian war crimes in Afghanistan. (more…)
-
Fiji politics: Generational change is neither optional nor easy
As Fiji inches toward the 2026 general elections, the nation stands at a pivotal juncture. (more…)
-
Beyond the sensible centre: A critical reflection on political imagination in the 21st century
The “sensible centre” is the most overpopulated address in Australian politics today. (more…)
-
Why Australia should recognise Palestinian statehood
The question for the Australian Government is, how can we most constructively persuade Israel to change course? (more…)
-
In the name of humanity, the barbarism in Gaza must stop
Over the last 18 months, the world has witnessed undiluted militarised cruelty targeting the entire population and the supportive natural habitat of Gaza – with not so much as an ounce of mercy or compassion, let alone justice, or sensitivity to issues of ecological viability. (more…)
-
Green light for gas: North West Shelf gas plant cleared to run until 2070
In a decision surprising very few people, Australia’s new environment minister Murray Watt has signed off on an extension for the gas plant at Karratha, part of the enormous North West Shelf liquefied natural gas project. (more…)
