Pearls and Irritations

Pearls and Irritations is an Australian platform dedicated to sharing ideas from a progressive and liberal viewpoint, prioritizing themes of peace and justice. We offer well-researched analysis and insights on important topics for Australians, concentrating on areas such as politics, public policy, international relations, defense and security, the economy, media, the arts, and religion.

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Humanitarian data drought: The deeper damage wrought by US aid cuts

1 week ago | johnmenadue.com | Will Worley

April 17, 2025 “We have to be extra honest, this is a challenge; it’s not easy to find a solution.”From household health surveys on the ground to satellite images taken from space, the vast information networks that inform the humanitarian system are teetering on the brink of “collapse” as a result of the US Government budget cuts.
Trump: a ridiculous ego and incredibly ignorant

1 week ago | johnmenadue.com | Michael Keating

The analysis underpinning Donald Trump’s tariff policy is fatally flawed. Thus, it will fail to achieve its objective of restoring the living standards of his MAGA supporters. Since Trump announced increases in tariffs on imports, most of the media commentary has been about the impact on different countries’ economies, and Australia’s in particular.
Memo Dutton: Good economic managers don’t try to panic the punters

1 week ago | johnmenadue.com | Ross Gittins

A problem in economics is that you can’t use the economy to experiment. But as economists realised some years ago, sometimes the economy presents you with circumstances that constitute a “natural experiment”. This happened last week, and Peter Dutton flunked the test.
Giving birth to the new international order

1 week ago | johnmenadue.com | Jeffrey Sachs

The multipolar world will be born when the geopolitical weight of Asia, Africa, and Latin America matches their rising economic weight.
If I were housing minister…

1 week ago | johnmenadue.com | Hal Pawson

If I were housing minister in the next Parliament, and if I could secure the PM’s backing to squarely face up to the overdue need for fundamental housing reform, I would have a busy schedule ahead. That schedule would necessitate some hard choices and electoral risks that are exceptionally hard for governments to entertain in today’s political and media environment.
The effect the Greens will have as a ginger party

1 week ago | johnmenadue.com | David Solomon

The Greens no longer aspire to be a party of government. They have become what is best described as a “ginger party”, a political party that tries to influence the direction and policies of the Labor Party. “Ginger groups” have been around for many years. They are formal or informal groups that exist and are organised within a political party, that try to influence its direction, its leadership or activities – generally to make it more radical.
Federal election: A different type of beauty contest

1 week ago | johnmenadue.com | Jack Waterford

Opposition Leader Peter Dutton is fighting this election as if it were what some of my sisters in journalism would call a dick-measuring competition. On many of the key issues, he invites voters to assume that he is firmer, stronger and tougher. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is, by implication, smaller, weaker and (dare we say it, as Dutton has) more limp-wristed.
Why cap the number of university students from abroad?

1 week ago | johnmenadue.com | Jason Middleton

Having been unable to pass legislation, the Albanese Labor Government (as it likes to be called) decided in 2024 to use the “slow student visa process” to reduce international student numbers because of the problems they cause in taking houses and jobs from Australians. The Dutton Coalition proposes to reduce international student numbers even further. But what is the logic of reducing numbers?
Probing Thatcher’s role in Golden Temple massacre

2 weeks ago | johnmenadue.com | Phil Miller

Phil Miller reports on efforts to spur the Labour Government to investigate British complicity in a massacre of Sikh pilgrims by Indian troops 40 years ago. A senior Labour MP has called on the government to hold an “independent inquiry” into British complicity in a massacre of Sikh pilgrims by Indian troops 40 years ago.
Federal election: Time to hold MPs accountable for stance on genocide

2 weeks ago | johnmenadue.com | Greg Barns

Israel’s slaughter of Palestinians in Gaza, and now its seizing of their land is the worst example of genocide since the horrors of the genocides of Darfur in Sudan in 2003 and Rwanda in the 1990s. Candidates running in the 2025 federal election, particularly those in marginal seats, must be held accountable for their actions and attitudes concerning the conduct of one of Australia’s closest allies.