With the head of the United Nations preparing to step down, Jeremy Cordeaux used this Garage edition of the Court of Public Opinion to ask a bigger question than who succeeds him: why, he wondered, is Australia still paying nearly $100 million a year to belong to the organisation at all?
A Changing Of The Guard
The occasion was the coming departure of Secretary-General António Guterres. Jeremy noted the speculation over the succession — talk that the next leader should be South American because it’s supposedly “their turn,” and talk that it should be a woman, given the role never has been. Is that really how it works, he asked — taking it in turns?
The horse-trading over the top job, in his telling, only sharpened his doubt about the institution’s seriousness and relevance.
What Is It Actually For?
Jeremy went back to first principles. The UN’s founding purpose, he reminded listeners, was to prevent wars, settle disputes and keep the peace — mediator and peacekeeper. Established in 1945, it was an institution Australia helped shape from the outset; he recalled Doc Evatt’s prominent early role.
But by Jeremy’s measure, it has not done that core job — preventing wars, settling arguments — for more years than he could remember. An institution built to keep the peace that no longer keeps it, he argued, has drifted a long way from its reason for being.
The Hundred-Million-Dollar Question
Then came the figure. It costs Australia, Jeremy said, nearly $100 million a year to belong to the United Nations. For that sum, he argued, the country too often gets criticism rather than benefit — lectured, in his view, by an organisation it helps fund.
Why would we do it, he asked. The mix of a heavy annual cost and, as he sees it, little return prompted his blunt suggestion that it may simply be time to go — or at least time to have the debate.
Relevance In Question
Jeremy framed it as a question worth airing rather than a settled verdict. But his scepticism was plain: an institution that no longer meets its founding mission, yet costs the public purse $100 million a year, deserves hard scrutiny.
He promised to return to the theme and invited listeners to weigh in. For Jeremy, it fit a pattern he presses often — asking of every large public expense the same plain question: what, exactly, is the taxpayer getting for the money?
Listen To The Full Episode
Catch the complete Garage edition of The Court of Public Opinion, recorded live around the dining room table.
Watch The Full Episode
The Court of Public Opinion streams live every Friday from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. (ACST), right here at jeremycordeaux.com. Download the podcast anytime on your favourite podcast app, and join the conversation with your calls and comments.
