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Public policy journal
Site URL: johnmenadue.com/
Feed URL: johnmenadue.com/feed
Posts: 57
Followers: 11
Kim Beazley bombs out
https://johnmenadue.com/kim-beazley-bombs-out/
Published: March 21, 2025 17:59
March hasn’t been one of the better months for Kim Beazley, the former Hawke and Keating Government minister, leader of the federal ALP and governor of Western Australia and now chairman of the Council of the Australian War Memorial. In the ABC’s recent 4…
Beijing gambles on plan to boost people’s spending – Asian Media Report
https://johnmenadue.com/beijing-gambles-on-plan-to-boost-peoples-spending-asian-media-report/
Published: March 21, 2025 17:58
In Asian media this week: AI, green appliances to lead shift to consumption economy. Plus: Myanmar resistance rewrites rules of insurgency; Trump closes agencies that cover China, Cambodia abuses; Widowo works on extending his influence; Japanese PM’s…
The outlook for house insurance is much worse than we’re being told
https://johnmenadue.com/the-outlook-for-house-insurance-is-much-worse-than-were-being-told/
Published: March 21, 2025 17:56
The big news on house insurance this week was the response of the insurance industry’s peak body to a parliamentary committee’s extensive criticisms of its treatment of people claiming on their policies after the massive floods of 2022. The Insurance…
Giant eight-hour battery project changes hands as storage costs plunge 40%
https://johnmenadue.com/giant-eight-hour-battery-project-changes-hands-as-storage-costs-plunge-40/
Published: March 21, 2025 17:55
A giant eight-hour battery project in New South Wales has changed hands in a deal that also confirms that battery storage costs — a critical part of the green energy transition — are still falling significantly. The California-based Energy Vault announced…
Will Walter Sofronoff be prosecuted?
https://johnmenadue.com/will-walter-sofronoff-be-prosecuted/
Published: March 21, 2025 17:54
Maybe what Lehrmann Board of Inquiry chair Walter Sofronoff KC did was “serious corrupt conduct”, as the ACT Integrity Commission alleges. Or perhaps that description is “overreach”, as former Law Council of Australia president Arthur Moses SC told The…
Israel, not Hamas, Is derailing the Gaza ceasefire and preventing the hostages’ return
Published: March 21, 2025 17:53
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu paid the asking price for Itamar Ben-Gvir’s return to the government in advance. Not out of his own pocket, of course, but with the blood of the 59 hostages whose fate could be sealed by the resumption of the war,…
The limits of diplomacy
https://johnmenadue.com/the-limits-of-diplomacy/
Published: March 21, 2025 17:52
We live in a global community, and many of us enjoy the benefits. A far greater number have no such enjoyment, existing in disadvantage; in poverty, hunger, homelessness, oppression, violence of one kind or another- preventable travesties. Worse still,…
Tensions over Taiwan
https://johnmenadue.com/tensions-over-taiwan/
Published: March 21, 2025 17:51
Ma Ying-jeou warns that William Ching-te Lai is leading cross-strait relations into “a major crisis”. Taiwanese leader William Ching-te Lai delivered a speech on 13 March, outlining 17 measures across five key areas – moves that appear more confrontational…
The Coalition MP who tried to stop the solar farm that will help save thousands of local jobs
Published: March 20, 2025 17:59
If you ever need an example of the idiocy and the ignorance behind the Coalition and LNP campaign against renewable energy in Australia, a good place to start would be the federal MP for Flynn, Colin Boyce. The LNP member has staged a relentless campaign…
Misinformation in politics: Anti-China Media Watch
https://johnmenadue.com/misinformation-in-politics-anti-china-media-watch/
Published: March 20, 2025 17:58
The ABC reveals Chinese social media is again facilitating foreign interference in our elections, Dutton is the true champion of China relations, while Chinese hospitals are overcharging Aussies for lifesaving surgery. Take note of RedNote The ABC reports…
Three reasons Victoria has joined Tasmania, SA as a beggar state
https://johnmenadue.com/three-reasons-victoria-has-joined-tasmania-sa-as-a-beggar-state/
Published: March 20, 2025 17:56
The Commonwealth Grants Commission’s annual updates of its recommendations as to how the revenue from the GST should be carved up among the states and territories almost always contain a few surprises – pleasant for some, and unpleasant for others, since…
New report reveals Islamophobia in Australia reaching crisis levels
https://johnmenadue.com/new-report-reveals-islamophobia-in-australia-reaching-crisis-levels/
Published: March 20, 2025 17:55
The Islamophobia Register Australia officially launched its latest report, Islamophobia in Australia Report 5, on 13 March in Sydney to mark the International Day to Combat Islamophobia. The event was hosted by the Register’s executive director, Dr Nora…
Federal-state politics: Western Australia’s election – why we need proportional representation
Published: March 20, 2025 17:54
Because what is bad for the Coalition is usually good for Australia, Labor’s thumping win in Western Australia must be seen as a good outcome, but it points to a problem in our system of representative democracy. Democracies shouldn’t produce…
Queensland’s autocratic ALP premier and Australia’s only Communist Party MP: The St Patrick’s Day bash
Published: March 20, 2025 17:53
History and politics buffs should either be made aware, or be given cause to remember, that in Brisbane, on St Patrick’s Day 1948, Australia’s only Communist Party MP, Fred Paterson, was almost murdered by a Queensland policeman, almost certainly at the…
Gazan Ark: Reproductive violence and the right to life and death
https://johnmenadue.com/gazan-ark-reproductive-violence-and-the-right-to-life-and-death/
Published: March 20, 2025 17:52
While the biblical story of Noah’s Ark is certainly not the only ancient account of a devastating flood (the preceding Sumerian Epic of Gilgamesh, for example, includes a story of the gods sending a great flood on earth), its basic plot of wrath,…
Democracy and our avoidable crises: Politicians disingenuous or undeterrably self-interested
Published: March 20, 2025 17:51
Home ownership has almost become an impossible dream in Australia and other Western capitalist countries. Governing authorities struggle in vain to stem the unrelenting increase in prices of land for domestic dwellings. It is probable that the struggle is…
A five-minute scroll
https://johnmenadue.com/a-five-minute-scroll-108/
Published: March 20, 2025 02:28
How long will the Australian Government ignore the murders in Palestine? Michele O’Neil asks who can think this is an act of defence. Francesca Albanese wants the conversation to be about international law, not what indicted leaders say. A US journalist…
Trump is surveying Australian academics about gender diversity and China – what does this mean for unis and their research?
Published: March 19, 2025 17:58
Shortly after taking office, US President Donald Trump issued executive orders banning federal funding on so-called “woke” research. This is part of his broader ban on all diversity, equity and inclusion policies, grants and programs in the US Government.…
Much argy-bargy on the way to next week’s off-again, on-again budget
https://johnmenadue.com/much-argy-bargy-on-the-way-to-next-weeks-off-again-on-again-budget/
Published: March 19, 2025 17:57
According to the business press, Anthony Albanese was desperately hoping for an early election so he could avoid next week’s budget and the drubbing he’ll get when Treasurer Jim Chalmers is forced to reveal projections of a decade of budget deficits. If…
Geopolitics, Australia-China-US relationship and its impacts on Australian-Chinese voting priorities
Published: March 19, 2025 17:56
The recording to the UTS ACRI panel discussion can be accessed via this link: With a 20% tariff (this includes an additional 10%) imposed on Chinese imports by the Trump Administration, the Chinese Government has remained defiant and hit back by announcing…
The MAGA answer to DEI is a return to the golden days of exclusion
https://johnmenadue.com/the-maga-answer-to-dei-is-a-return-to-the-golden-days-of-exclusion/
Published: March 19, 2025 17:55
When the New York Times reported on a tense Cabinet meeting in the White House, it became clear that one of the few members to take on the DOGE boss, Elon Musk, was Sean Duffy, Trump’s new transportation secretary. Although a number of cabinet secretaries…
Australia-China relations: A question of trust
https://johnmenadue.com/australia-china-relations-a-question-of-trust/
Published: March 19, 2025 17:54
Let’s restore the trust in China that we once enjoyed. This was the key message I presented to an online forum titled Does China Threaten Australia’s Peace and Security hosted by the Australian Peace and Security Forum on 18 March. Following is a condensed…
Deeper causes of the present genocide
https://johnmenadue.com/deeper-causes-of-the-present-genocide/
Published: March 19, 2025 17:53
Czeslaw Milosz, lawyer, poet, acclaimed author, Nobel Prize winner for Literature 1980, and central figure in the Polish resistance during the Nazi occupation 1940-45, wrote this: ‘This book was written in 1951/2 in Paris when the majority of French…
Words under occupation
https://johnmenadue.com/words-under-occupation/
Published: March 19, 2025 17:52
In our post-truth world, the art of messing with words has been perfected. When the Ramallah-based Ishtar Theatre issued a global call to creatives of all disciplines to join the cultural intifada in solidarity with the Palestinian people, I responded by…
Homeless shelters are needed urgently
https://johnmenadue.com/homeless-shelters-are-needed-urgently/
Published: March 19, 2025 17:51
Governments are not grasping the urgency to provide immediate relief in temporary accommodation for those caught up in homelessness. Political discourse is almost solely focused on providing affordable and social housing. But making good on these promises…
A five-minute scroll
https://johnmenadue.com/a-five-minute-scroll-107/
Published: March 19, 2025 02:23
The world awakens to the news that Israel has broken the ceasefire and now continues its bombardment in the Gaza Strip. Francesca Albanese states we cannot bear witness to global leaders doing nothing. Al Jazeera comments that the ceasefire did not…
To recover Australia’s sovereignty, vote strategically
https://johnmenadue.com/to-recover-australias-sovereignty-vote-strategically/
Published: March 18, 2025 17:59
There is a democratic tool at our disposal which is poorly understood and generally used ineffectively. That tool is Preferential Voting. Strategic Preferential Voting can strengthen our democracy by ensuring we are better represented in parliament. We now…
Pine Gap – No price could ever be right
https://johnmenadue.com/pine-gap-no-price-could-ever-be-right/
Published: March 18, 2025 17:58
To the horror of the Australian defence and foreign policy establishment, Senator Jacqui Lambie had a characteristically sharp and to the point response to Donald Trump’s imposition of a 25% tariff on Australian steel exports to the United States. Speaking…
Is Dutton a ‘strong’ leader? Is Albanese a ‘weak’ leader?
https://johnmenadue.com/is-dutton-a-strong-leader-is-albanese-a-weak-leader/
Published: March 18, 2025 17:57
Peter Dutton portrays himself as a strong leader, capable of standing up to bullies abroad while contrasting himself to weak leaders at home. His stentorian posturing is underpinned by a grimly reactionary imagination. Meanwhile, Anthony Albanese quibbles…
Coalitions of the deluded: Starmer’s Ukraine peace plan
https://johnmenadue.com/coalitions-of-the-deluded-starmers-ukraine-peace-plan/
Published: March 18, 2025 17:55
UK Prime Minister, Sir Keir Starmer, has been getting ahead of himself of late. At Lancaster House earlier this month, he first proposed to some 18 leaders that a “coalition of the willing” might be cobbled together to protect Ukrainian territory should…
The West’s ‘international community’ and the other 85% of humanity
https://johnmenadue.com/the-wests-international-community-and-the-other-85-of-humanity/
Published: March 18, 2025 17:54
“A leader leads by example, not by force.” Sun Tzu, The Art or War Empires are prone to self-delusion, particularly those at their apogee and even more so in their decline. Such is undoubtedly the case with the imperialist and colonialist Western empire…
A letter to us all: What kind of democracy do we want?
https://johnmenadue.com/a-letter-to-us-all-what-kind-of-democracy-do-we-want/
Published: March 18, 2025 17:53
In Goldstein, we’ve met them. You’ve likely encountered them too – those entitled, aggressive voices who seem to believe democracy is theirs to command, not ours to share. They’re the ones who stand too close, snapping photos and videos without permission,…
Does Jesus need a barber? The question is a trap
https://johnmenadue.com/does-jesus-need-a-barber-the-question-is-a-trap/
Published: March 18, 2025 17:52
Western media usually tags Indonesia as having more Muslims than any other country. That’s statistically true – but lesser known is that 11% of the 284 million don’t follow Islam. The constitutionally secular republic has more Christians than Australia.…
Submitting to, or trying to placate, bullies never works
https://johnmenadue.com/submitting-to-or-trying-to-placate-bullies-never-works/
Published: March 18, 2025 17:51
Europeans are doing it, the great bruiser Doug Ford is doing it, Mark Carney is gearing up to do it – even Keir Starmer is doing it. But it’s a dance our very own prime minister isn’t doing. Whatever reputation as a factional bruiser Albo might once have…
A five-minute scroll
https://johnmenadue.com/a-five-minute-scroll-106/
Published: March 18, 2025 00:28
As media campaigning ramps up for the forthcoming election, Peter Dutton avoids the question of his polling while Media Watch reveals the Liberal Party connections of Freya Leach and Juice Media produces a satirical clip on majority government. On global…
Government refuses to articulate ‘frankly terrifying’ security risks
https://johnmenadue.com/government-refuses-to-articulate-frankly-terrifying-security-risks/
Published: March 17, 2025 17:59
The Albanese Government has jammed itself by trying to not talk about the greatest threat to Australia’s future, but has now opened itself to the charge of playing politics with security issues. The absurdity was on full display in a front-page story last…
ANZUS and NATO are kaput and Trump doesn’t care
https://johnmenadue.com/anzus-and-nato-are-kaput-and-trump-doesnt-care/
Published: March 17, 2025 17:57
Anthony Albanese and Peter Dutton have proven too gutless, so far, to speak frankly to Australians about the implications of the imposition of new tariffs by the US, the first of many, to be imposed on Australia. They have expressed some ritual regrets and…
EU welcomes its first dictatorship
https://johnmenadue.com/eu-welcomes-its-first-dictatorship/
Published: March 17, 2025 17:56
Democracy has just been overthrown in an EU nation for the first time ever – with the tacit backing of the European Union itself. Buckle up: if the pre-emptive coup in Romania is allowed to stand, this means that the EU has torn up its own rule book and…
It’s the banks, stupid
https://johnmenadue.com/its-the-banks-stupid/
Published: March 17, 2025 17:55
Why does Australia continue to have a rampant cost of living crisis? That’s the $300 billion question. The hard men of Australia’s economic press claim it’s because of inflated wages and low productivity. Yet evidence suggests it’s mainly because of our…
The Manichean moment is over
https://johnmenadue.com/the-manichean-moment-is-over/
Published: March 17, 2025 17:54
If Donald Trump has done nothing else, he should have convinced Australian strategic thinkers that the long-standing mantra of China-bad/America-good is no longer appropriate. It is testimony to how deeply held such views are within Canberra’s policymaking…
Figuring out China: It’s still complicated
https://johnmenadue.com/figuring-out-china-its-still-complicated/
Published: March 17, 2025 17:53
I visited Beijing in December for the first time since COVID, at the invitation of Renmin University and the Beijing Municipal Government. As well as attending the major conference they were hosting, I was keen to catch up with members of the network of…
Timor-Leste and its Australian critics: A credibility gap exposed
https://johnmenadue.com/timor-leste-and-its-australian-critics-a-credibility-gap-exposed/
Published: March 17, 2025 17:52
Damien Kingsbury’s recent piece, Timor-Leste appears to abandon sustainability, recycles tired tropes from Australian academics bent on safeguarding Canberra’s interests in the Timor Sea. From bugged cabinet rooms to relentless critiques of Timor-Leste’s…
Empathy, culpability and madness
https://johnmenadue.com/empathy-culpability-and-madness/
Published: March 17, 2025 17:51
Is Trump mad? If declining to share the joys and troubles of the whole human race, to decline a seat at humanity’s common table is a form of madness – then yes, Donald J Trump is mad. What is madness? To order the confinement of a person for their safety…
A five-minute scroll
https://johnmenadue.com/a-five-minute-scroll-105/
Published: March 17, 2025 00:30
It is 22 years since Rachel Corrie was killed by the Israeli military as she defended a Palestinian home against a bulldozer. Adam Bandt on ABC’s Insiders says the priority should be to end AUKUS. Bombing continues in Yemen where Ansar Allah is maintaining…
Despite recent increases, JobSeeker still leaves people below the poverty line. Here’s why that affects us all
Published: March 16, 2025 17:59
Over the past two years, there has been some progress in improving the JobSeeker payment. But payment levels remain below the poverty line. That’s according to Australia’s Economic Inclusion Advisory Committee’s 2025 report, released a fortnight ahead of…
A message from the new editor, Catriona Jackson
https://johnmenadue.com/a-message-from-the-new-editor-catriona-jackson/
Published: March 16, 2025 17:57
It is day one for me as editor and I want to express my thanks to editor-in-chief John Menadue and board members Michael Keating, Mike Gilligan, Joe Camilleri and Jocelyn Chey for placing their trust in me. I will do my best to repay it in full. I am also…
A massacre in Sharifa
https://johnmenadue.com/a-massacre-in-sharifa/
Published: March 16, 2025 17:56
The residents of the Syrian village of Sharifa lay in puddles and rivulets of blood. Some died with arms outstretched; others seemed to clutch protectively at their chests. Most had been executed with shots to the head and two women had their faces blown…
The Australian: tool of the Alliance for Responsible Citizenship?
https://johnmenadue.com/the-australian-tool-of-the-alliance-for-responsible-citizenship/
Published: March 16, 2025 17:55
The Australian has made itself the newspaper of the Alliance of Responsible Citizenship. This reflects the fact that Australia’s Right is part of a transnational network of networkers. It also conveys that these figures aim to shape the thinking of…
It is time to put the nation on the couch
https://johnmenadue.com/it-is-time-to-put-the-nation-on-the-couch/
Published: March 16, 2025 17:55
Imagine if we took the psychological health of our nation seriously. Not the health of individual citizens — though that is vital — but rather if we took the mental health of the nation seriously. What would it look like and is it even possible to do that,…
Anatomy of a public meeting: genocide a key election issue
https://johnmenadue.com/anatomy-of-a-public-meeting-genocide-a-key-election-issue/
Published: March 16, 2025 17:54
Sunday evening in a crowded Glebe Town Hall in Sydney, the audience came to hear speakers address several objectives to “make candidates” attitude to genocide a key election issue, hold politicians accountable for genocide, vote for humanity”. Sponsored by…
It’s time the Australian War Memorial was removed from the influence of international arms companies
Published: March 16, 2025 17:54
Last week the ABC Four Corners program “Sacrifice“ highlighted the harsh reality that we have lost control of the Australian War Memorial, which is dedicated to remembering the many thousands of Australian lives impacted by war. This investigation exposed…
Smart appliances, smarter economy: Reviving China’s growth through innovation
https://johnmenadue.com/smart-appliances-smarter-economy-reviving-chinas-growth-through-innovation/
Published: March 16, 2025 17:52
Describing my grandfather as frugal is an understatement. Over the years, I have watched him patch and mend, prolonging the life of everything from leaky kettles to threadbare armchairs. My attempts to convince him to part with aging household items were…
Sultanistic or neo-fascist? President Trump and 21st century ideology
https://johnmenadue.com/sultanistic-or-neo-fascist-president-trump-and-21st-century-ideology/
Published: March 15, 2025 17:59
In trying to understand US President Donald Trump, the proposition has been put that he is sultanistic. In many respects, Trump’s second presidency does appear to be “sultanistic”. Sultanism requires all individuals, groups and institutions to be subject…
US-Europe relations flipped by Trump
https://johnmenadue.com/us-europe-relations-flipped-by-trump/
Published: March 15, 2025 17:58
For most of the post-World War II period, relations between Europe and the United States have followed a consistent pattern regardless of changes in government on both sides of the Atlantic. According to Noam Chomsky, “a leading theme throughout the Cold…
Environment: The folly of focusing on net zero
https://johnmenadue.com/environment-the-folly-of-focusing-on-net-zero/
Published: March 15, 2025 17:57
Governments and corporations have been tricking the public by focusing emissions reduction attention on net, rather than real, zero. Reducing methane emissions would reduce global warming quickly and cheaply. Bring back our swamps. Climate bureaucracy…
Slaughterhouse Syria
https://johnmenadue.com/slaughterhouse-syria/
Published: March 15, 2025 17:52
The terrorists set loose on Syria more than a decade ago were slaughtering Alawis, and now they are systematically slaughtering them again – in their thousands. “Christians to Beirut, Alawis to the grave.” That was the cry when they were members of armed…
When patients are harmed in hospital, issues aren’t always fixed to avoid it happening again
Published: March 15, 2025 17:51
Recently, the media has reported several cases of serious “adverse events”, where babies, children and an adult experienced harm and ultimately died while receiving care in separate Australian hospitals. When a serious adverse event occurs, hospitals…