John Menadue AO eminent former public servant, ambassador and businessman – now independent founder, publisher and Editor in Chief of the online public policy journal ‘Pearls and Irritations‘ – offers an in depth conversation about how Australian public policy is making us more vulnerable in dangerous geopolitical times, by compromising pursuit of our sovereign interests, power and diplomatic capacity in favour of over reliance on our alliance with America and its interests.
We discuss the Americanisation of our public policy capacity and processes in the name of national security and the compliance of the mainstream, legacy media with particular attention to the AUKUS nuclear submarine deal, relations with china and Australia’s neglect of attention to our region and our place within it.
Republished from Mix Cloud, August 2024
John Menadue is the Founder and Editor in Chief of Pearls and Irritations. He was formerly Secretary of the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet under Gough Whitlam and Malcolm Fraser, Ambassador to Japan, Secretary of the Department of Immigration and CEO of Qantas.
Michael Lester is a public policy economist with a career in Commonwealth and State agencies, World Bank and OECD. His interests include innovation, environment, and governance. He presents programs on community radio.