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A portrait of one of Australia's longest-serving prime ministers, this biography goes behind the public image to find neither the strong-willed man of principle his supporters like to imagine nor the cunning opportunist painted by his foes. The discussion covers Howard's suburban middle-class upbringing and his success at implementing his polices, concluding that although the image of the ordinary bloke has helped his enduring popularity, heandmdash;like George Bushandmdash;possesses a number of uncommon strengths that have made him one of the most formidable leaders in Australian political history.
Without fear or favour, How Good is Scott Morrison? examines the trials and tribulations of our 30th prime minister. Investigating Morrison's unlikely rise to the liberal leadership and his miracle electoral win, van Onselen and Errington put his leadership under the spotlight. Covering Morrison's disastrous management of the catastrophic bushfire season that was highlighted by the extraordinary statement, 'I don't hold the hose, mate,' and the decision to holiday while the country burned, How Good is Scott Morrison? shows his resolve and the redemption the government's response to the pandemic brought him. Right now, Scott Morrison seems unassailable and sure to win the next election, but what exactly is his vision for Australia? A pragmatist rather than an ideologue, he is a deeply Pentecostal religious man but he doesn't wear his faith as a badge of honour. So what does he really believe in? When the history of this period is written, Morrison will certainly be seen as an election winner but will he be viewed as having had the courage and vision to change Australia for the better, or the worse?
This book introduces the dynamics of the Australian political system. It sets out the key concepts and institutions of democratic politics and demonstrates how the actors and institutions of Australian politics interact and develop.
Tony Abbott came to office lauded as the most effective leader of the opposition since Whitlam, but the signs of an imperfect transition to the prime ministership would soon emerge. Why did Abbott fail to grow into the job to which he had aspired for decades? Backbenchers complained about the leader's office, the lack of access, front benchers leaked about cabinet processes to the media. His long apprenticeship in religion, journalism and political life prepared him for neither the mundane business of people management nor the commanding heights of national leadership. Public goodwill evaporated after a tough first budget the government failed to explain. Inside the Liberal party individual ambitions and a succession of poor polls produced increasing concern that the next election was lost. As a result, the horse named self-interest won yet again.
Media and Politics 2e offers a thorough introduction to the politics of the Australian media, particularly the effect that Australia's liberal democratic tradition has on the operation and structure of the media, and in turn the effect of the media on politics. It examines the development and evolution of the Australian media, as well as the key debates and controversies which have shaped the domestic media landscape in the last decade. It seeks to explain the dynamics of contemporary media policy and technology while using an approach that locates such changes in enduring principles of political power and institutional behaviour. The book maps outs the key institutions, ideas and actors which influence the operation of the Australian media i.e. the legal and bureaucratic framework, the regulators, the interest groups and the public, providing a strong framework to understand the relationship between media and politics in Australia.
How can we strengthen the capacity of governments and parties to manage arrivals and departures at the top? Democracy requires reliable processes for the transfer of power from one generation of leaders to the next. This book introduces new analytical frameworks and presents the latest empirical evidence from comparative political research.
Why does Australia go through cycles of public policy boldness and timidity? The COVID-19 crisis has shown that the Australian political system has much more tolerance for policy innovation than appeared to be the case on the evidence of the previous twenty years. As another election approaches, though, the signs are that both major parties are keen for a return to policy caution. In Who Dares Loses: Pariah Policies, Wayne Errington and Peter van Onselen explain the political constraints on policymakers and the ways in which they are changing. The obvious comparison to the policy urgency of COVID-19 is climate change, where successive governments have failed to rise to the challenge. Framing...
Paul Keating and John Howard altered the nation’s body-clock. Between them, they dominated 30 years of power, as both treasurers and prime ministers. Typically, they have been seen only as antagonists with competing visions of Australia and its place in the world. In The Longest Decade, however, George Megalogenis argues that they also deserve to be seen as the twin architects of the political, economic, and social revolution that took Australia through a period of trauma and recovery, and then on to an era of unprecedented affluence. Strangely, both men also had the opportunity to retire on top — Keating in 1994 and Howard in 2006 — yet both stayed too long. Based on exclusive intervi...
For more than forty years, Laurie Oakes has reported on politicians and politics, the ruthless drive for power, the emotion and cold calculation, the wheeling and dealing, the backstabbing and the brawling, the triumphs and the failures and the betrayals. His weekly columns since 1987 (mostly in The Bulletin and now in the Daily Telegraph and th...
Political Lives is an intimate history of image-making and image-breaking in national politics. What was the story behind Bob Hawke’s famed biography? Why does Paul Keating think biographies of serving politicians are ‘like Polaroids of a busy life’ while John Howard considers them a big mistake? Where is the ‘missing’ Menzies biography? Why are our early prime ministers largely absent from historical memory? Chris Wallace writes Australian political history anew through this account of prime ministers, their biographies and their biographers. Lively and astute, the book takes us into their motivations and relationships, some well-known and some hidden, and in doing so shows us Aus...