What really changed in 2025 – and what didn’t?

In this special Year in Review episode of Pearlcast, host Catriona Jackson is joined by John Menadue, Karen Middleton and Greg Barns for a candid, wide-ranging conversation about the year’s biggest political moments in Australia and abroad, and what they tell us about the year ahead.

The panel begins with the re-election of the Labor government and its unexpectedly large majority. Rather than celebrating a mandate for reform, the discussion quickly turns to a growing sense of public disappointment. Why did a government with such political capital choose caution over courage? And what does that say about trust, transparency and integrity in Australian politics?

Attention then shifts to the Liberal–National coalition, which the panel describes as being in deep trouble. Weak leadership, ideological fracture and the corrosive influence of right-wing media are examined not just as party problems, but as risks to the functioning of democracy itself.

The conversation widens to the global stage. Is the moral authority of the West in decline? What does the rise of China mean for Australia’s future? And is our dependence on the United States – and the AUKUS pact in particular – a strategic safeguard or a dangerous liability?

The episode closes with a sharp debate over the government’s proposed social media ban for under-16s. Is it workable? Is it lawful? Or is it another example of policy driven by panic rather than evidence, with consequences we haven’t fully thought through?

Clear-eyed, provocative and deeply informed, this episode of Pearlcast takes stock of a year that unsettled old assumptions and left many big questions hanging – about power, competence and Australia’s place in a changing world.

Guests

• John Menadue – Founder and editor-in-chief, Pearls and Irritations
• Karen Middleton – Political journalist, author and columnist
• Greg Barns – Barrister, author and former national president of the Australian Lawyers Alliance

Note: This episode of Pearlcast was recorded before the tragic events at Bondi.

In this third episode of Pearlcast from John Menadue’s Pearls and Irritations, we ask a confronting question: What role did foreign powers play in the dismissal of the Whitlam government in 1975?

To help unpack this extraordinary dimension of the story, Pearls and Irritations Editor Catriona Jackson speaks to two guests:

• Brian Toohey, veteran journalist and former Australian Financial Review columnist and National Times editor who has reported on intelligence and national security for over 50 years
• John Menadue, former head of the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet under Whitlam, and Founder and Editor-in-Chief of Pearls and Irritations
  
  

Together, they explore the CIA’s long-standing hostility to the Whitlam government, the strategic significance of the Pine Gap facility, and the role of key figures within Australia’s own public service in facilitating foreign interference.

Toohey sets out evidence that US intelligence agencies drew up plans to remove the Whitlam government as early as 1974, viewing its election as a major crisis. He argues that senior Australian bureaucrats – including Defence Secretary Sir Arthur Tange – prioritised US intelligence interests over democratic accountability, withholding critical information from Whitlam while briefing the Governor-General.

Menadue, who was present at many of the key moments, recalls direct communications from the CIA to Australian intelligence and discusses the long arc of international interference in our political system.

This episode traces a disturbing theme: the vulnerability of democratic institutions when secrecy, strategic alliances and unelected power collide.

In this episode:

• The CIA’s premeditated plan to remove the Whitlam government
• Pine Gap’s secret role in the crisis
• Arthur Tange’s alleged deception of Whitlam, and briefing of Kerr
• Why Brian Toohey believes espionage charges should have been laid
• CIA involvement and a later apology from the Carter administration
  
  

Key quotes:

“The then head of the CIA wrote that the election of the Whitlam government was one of four crises he had inherited.”  Brian Toohey

“We’ve got a senior public servant misleading the prime minister of the country.”  John Menadue

“He should have been charged with espionage... he was doing it on behalf of the Americans.”  Brian Toohey

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Hosted by Catriona Jackson
Produced by Martyn Pearce

In this second episode of Pearlcast from John Menadue’s Pearls and Irritations, we return to the dramatic events of 11 November 1975 – the day the Governor-General dismissed the Whitlam Labor government.

Presenter and Pearls and Irritations Editor Catriona Jackson is joined again by two guests at the heart of the story:

• Professor Jenny Hocking, historian and author of The Palace Letters

• John Menadue, former head of the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet under Whitlam, and Founder and Editor-in-Chief of Pearls and Irritations

Together they examine the final hours and the immediate aftermath of the crisis – the shock, secrecy and constitutional impropriety that led to what John Menadue describes as a “revolt of the establishment.”

They explore the actions of Governor-General Sir John Kerr, who secretly sought advice from High Court Justice Sir Anthony Mason, while ignoring the Government’s own Solicitor‑General. They reveal how conventions were broken, Parliament was silenced, and a democratic government was removed when the crisis was on the brink of peaceful resolution.

This episode asks a confronting question: What happens when those entrusted to protect democracy decide to override it?

In this episode:

Why Whitlam and his staff never believed a dismissal was possible

Anthony Mason’s secret role – drafting dismissal instructions

Why the budget supply crisis was hours away from being resolved

How Kerr’s refusal to receive the Speaker amounted to a second dismissal – of the Parliament itself

The enduring consequences for trust in political and legal institutions

Key quotes

“I became less trusting of people with power… it hardened my views politically over the last 50 years.” John Menadue

“There’s a moral dimension to this that I find really troubling – that people behaved in such appallingly deceptive ways.” Jenny Hocking

“He paused and said: I owe history nothing.” Jenny Hocking on Sir Anthony Mason

Join us next week for Episode 3, where we examine the role of the CIA in the Dismissal.

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Presented by Catriona Jackson

Produced by Martyn Pearce

Episode 1: Prof Jenny Hocking & John Menadue

In this first episode of Pearlcast from Pearls and Irritations, we begin a powerful three-part series on one of the most consequential events in Australia’s political history: the dismissal of the Whitlam government in 1975.

To mark the 50th anniversary of Gough Whitlam’s dismissal, Editor Catriona Jackson is joined by two guests who bring unparalleled insight and lived experience to the conversation: Professor Jenny Hocking, respected historian and author of The Palace Letters, and John Menadue, former head of the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet under Whitlam and Founder and Editor in Chief of Pearls and Irritations.

Together, they explore the political and constitutional crisis that culminated in the dismissal, tracing its origins to the moment Whitlam was elected. The episode reveals how conservative forces – both within and beyond Parliament – worked to undermine the legitimacy of a democratically elected Labor government.

The panellists discuss the Coalition's struggle to accept being in opposition, how media mogul Rupert Murdoch influenced the crisis, and the personal ambitions, insecurities, and manipulation that happened behind the scenes of the greatest constitutional crisis in Australian history.

“Any democratic system depends on the willingness of an opposition to accept defeat.” – John Menadue

“What was done in ’74 forms a model for what Kerr should have done in ’75.” – Jenny Hocking

“Rupert Murdoch played an extraordinarily destructive role… I haven’t spoken to him for 50 years.” – John Menadue

For more great analysis and insights on The Dismissal visit Pearls and Irritations -  subscribe to the newsletter here. 

Hosted by Catriona Jackson

Produced by Martyn Pearce

Pearls and Irritations Editor Catriona Jackson previews Pearlcast - The Dismissal - a new three part series looking at the dismissal of the Whitlam Government.