An impressive achievement of David Kemp’s first of five volumes on the history of Australian Liberalism, The Land of Dreams, How Australians Won Their Freedom 1788-1860, is his confident assessment of the interaction between Australian and British debates, personalities and writings, as well as the shifts of moods associated with political change.
As Australian labour history goes, Robert Murray’s The Split (1970) on the tumultuous splits in the mid-1950s, is only rivalled by H.V. Evatt’s Australian Labour Leader (1942), a sympathetic account of the life, disillusionment and failures of one of the movement’s pioneers, one-time NSW Labor Premier William Arthur Holman who ratted on the ALP in 1917.
I cannot give you an update on the lunch I’m afraid. I’ve just been told to keep going. I can assure you however that if when I ran for General Secretary of the Labor party in 1983, if I’d been victorious, you’d all have a three-course meal! [Audience laughter]
John (“Johno’) Richard Johnson, shop assistant, union leader, politician, raffler of puddings, chocolates, Melbourne Cup sweeps – anything for a quid for the ALP – passed last Wednesday morning from a world which had long failed to understand him.
Michael Danby is a passionate man, unusual for today’s breed of careful, calculating, uncontroversial politicians. He takes up causes. His exuberance can stun, occasionally his choice of words eviscerates. There is something unnerving about a character that calls on the rest of us to think.
The Show, sub-titled Another Side of Santamaria’s Movement, is authored by Mark Aarons with the assistance of John Grenville, a one-time enthusiast and activist in, turned fierce opponent of, Bob Santamaria’s anti-communist campaign.
Race Mathews new book on Catholic influence – once prominent now largely faded – on the ALP in Victoria is a fascinating story.
Santamaria: A Most Unusual Man, Gerard Henderson’s biography of Bartholomew Augustus Santamaria (1915-1998) is well researched, controversial, and insightful. The first book-length biography of Santamaria, the subtitle A Most Unusual Man immediately suggests that the work is no hagiography.
Kep Enderby, QC, barrister, civil libertarian, politician and judge, is best known for his role as federal Attorney-General in 1975, advising the prime minister Gough Whitlam at the time of the Dismissal.
Tanya Plibersek’s push to compel all Labor MPs to a binding vote in support of same sex marriage is a sincere stance emanating from personal conviction. Her passionate conviction, nonetheless, does not trump the conscience of others. That is why her unreasonable position must be rejected by the ALP, regardless of where individuals stand on the marriage issue.