The Case for Courage by Kevin Rudd

$19.95 AUD

Category: Australian Politics | Series: In the National Interest Ser.

For some time, Australia's democracy has been slowly sliding into disrepair. The nation's major policy challenges go unaddressed, our economic future is uncertain and political corruption is becoming normalised. It's tempting, but distracting, to point to the usual list of reasons, from the declining ca libre of the political class to the growing polarisation of politics. But we can't understand the current predicament of our democracy without recognising the central role of Murdoch's national media monopoly. In Queensland, where national elections are determined, he owns thirteen of the state's fourteen newspapers. All his papers are loss-making and retained for political influence only; nationally, they act as a Liberal Party protection racket, providing zero accountability on Coalition corruption and incompetence. Together with the Liberal Party, the Murdoch media cultivates a climate of national anxiety, fear and anger through relentless campaigns on deficit, debt and the threat to Australia from ever-changing but always nefarious foreign interests. Their goal is an anxious Australia, reinforced by the latest campaign applications of political neuroscience, permanently predisposing the electorate towards the reassurance of having conservatives in power.For these reasons, there is no longer a level playing field in Australian politics. We won't see another progressive government in Canberra until we deal with this cancer in our democracy. Three more things must change for Labor to be returned to office. Labor must significantly broaden its political base; demolish the entire rationale for the conservative political project now that the Liberal Party has abandoned its position on debt, deficit and government intervention in the economy; and put forward a clear plan dealing with the challenges ahead: recurring pandemics; demographic decline; technological disruption undermining economic competitiveness and employment; the rise of China; and the continued economic and environmental devastations of climate change. All four tasks are essential. All four will require great political courage to bring about fundamental change. And now is the time for women and men of courage to act.In the National Interest is a new series in the Monash University Publishing list that is focused on the challenges Australia confronts. The series informs, influences and inspires public discourse. Showcasing experts both from within Monash and beyond, these short, thought-provoking and accessible books will address the major issues of our times, from public policy to governance and government. ...Show more

The Secret Political Adviser - The Unredacted Files of the Man in the Room Next Door by Michael Spicer

$19.99 AUD

Category: Foreign Affairs

Just who is the secret political adviser calling himself The Man in the Room Next Door? No one knows. We don't even know his name. But now the lid is about to be blown clean off, because the secret files of the world's most influential* political media adviser are published in this book. Packed with let ters, memos, texts, tweets, emails, journal entries, leaked documents, and crude doodles, these pages will reveal who The Man in the Room Next Door is, and, more importantly, his thoughts on those who employ his services, including Donald 'dangerous puffin' Trump, Boris 'posh motorboat' Johnson, and some of their least competent colleagues.The Secret Political Adviser is the evidence that anyone can be a world leader. Just as long as they're wearing the right earpiece.*fictional ...Show more

Enid Lyons, Leading Lady to a Nation by HENDERSON ANNE

$49.95 AUD

Category: Australian Politics

It's the Government, Stupid!: How Governments Blame Citizens for Their Own Policies by Keith Dowding

$44.99 AUD

Category: Politics

Governments have developed a convenient habit of blaming social problems on their citizens, placing too much emphasis on personal responsibility and pursuing policies to ‘nudge’ their citizens to better behaviour. Dowding shows that, in fact, responsibility for many of our biggest social crises — includ ing obesity, gun crime, homelessness, drug addiction and problem gambling — should be laid at the feet of politicians. He argues for a radical shift, encouraging us to stop scapegoating fellow citizens. He calls instead for us to demand more from our governments, who have the real power and responsibility to alleviate problems and bring about lasting change. Governments have developed a convenient habit of blaming social problems on their citizens, placing too much emphasis on personal responsibility and pursuing policies to 'nudge' their citizens to better behaviour. Dowding shows that, in fact, responsibility for many of our biggest social crises - including obesity, gun crime, homelessness, drug addiction and problem gambling - should be laid at the feet of politicians. He argues for a radical shift, encouraging us to stop scapegoating fellow citizens. He calls instead for us to demand more from our governments, who have the real power and responsibility to alleviate problems and bring about lasting change. ...Show more

What Is to Be Done: Political Engagement and Saving the Planet by Barry Jones

$35.00 AUD

Category: Australian Politics

A sequel to the prescient bestseller, first published in 1982, that alerted the public to the likely impacts of information technologies and the emergence of a post-industrial society. When Sleepers, Wake!was first released in Australia, it immediately became influential around the world: it was read by Deng Xiaoping and Bill Gates; was published in China, Japan, South Korea, and Sweden; and led to the author being the first Australian minister invited to address a G-7 summit meeting, held in Canada in 1985. Now its author, the polymath and former politician Barry Jones, turns his attention to what has happened since -- especially to work, class, social relationships, and climate in the digital age -- and to the challenges faced by increasingly fragile democracies and public institutions. Jones sees climate change as the greatest problem of our time, especially because political leaders are incapable of dealing with complex, long-term issues of such magnitude. Meanwhile, technologies such as the smartphone and the ubiquity of social media have reinforced the realm of the personal. This has weakened our sense of, or empathy with, 'the other', the remote, the unfamiliar, and all but destroyed our sense of community, of being members of broad, inclusive groups. In the post-truth era, politicians invent 'facts' and ignore or deny the obvious, while business and the media are obsessed with marketing and consumption for the short term. What Is to Be Done is a long-awaited update on such challenges of modernity.     ...Show more

A Cry From The Far Middle by P. J. O'Rourke

$29.99 AUD

Category: International Politics

P.J. O'Rourke says we've worked ourselves into a state of anger and perplexity, and it's no surprise because perplexed and angry is what America has always been all about. This uproarious look at the current state of the United States includes essays like 'The New Puritanism - and Welcome to It,' about the upside of being 'woke' (and unable to get back to sleep); 'Sympathy vs. Empathy,' which considers whether it's better to have an idea of how people feel or to bust their skulls to get inside their heads; 'A Brief Digression on the Additional Hell of the Internet of Things' because your juicer is sending fake news to your FitBit about what's in your refrigerator; and many more. A couple of extra perks include a quiz to determine where you stand on the spectrum of 'Coastals vs. Heartlanders' and a 'An Inauguration Speech I'd Like To Hear:' ask not what your country can do for you. Ask me how I can get the hell out of here. Featuring extensive coverage from the 2020 campaign trail, this is P.J. at his acerbic best.   ...Show more

Australian Foreign Affairs: Friends, Allies and Enemies; Asia's Shifting Loyalties; Aust by Jonathan Pearlman

$22.99 AUD

Category: Foreign Affairs

The tenth issue of Australian Foreign Affairs examines the new alliances, blocs and rivalries that are emerging across the Asia-Pacific as countries adjust to the changing balance of power in a changed world. Friends, Allies and Enemies looks at Australia’s diplomatic options as loyalties shift in an in creasingly turbulent region. Head of the National Security College at the Australian National University Rory Medcalf on the past, present and future of the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue Associate Professor in American Politics Tim Lynch on George Friedman's The Storm Before The Calm and where the United States is standing. Emeritus Professor of Strategic Studies Hugh White on how Australia's alliances will fare in an Asia shaped by pandemics and power rivalries. Regular feature The Fix, on how to solve a key Australian foreign affairs challenge Award-winning writer Richard Cooke dissects key foreign policy terms Correspondence on AFA9: Spy vs Spy ...Show more

Cathy Goes to Canberra - Doing Politics Differently by Cathy McGowan

$29.95 AUD

Category: Australian Politics | Series: Biography Ser.

Whenever anyone tells you that only the big parties or star candidates have a chance of winning a seat in federal parliament, just say 'Cathy McGowan'. Running as a community-backed independent candidate, Cathy won the previously safe Liberal seat of Indi in 2013 and again in 2016 and passed Indi on to another independent in 2019 - a first in Australian history. Cathy tells how thousands of ordinary men and women in north-eastern Victoria got together, organised themselves and made their voices heard in Canberra. ...Show more

Democracy in Times of Pandemic - Different Futures Imagined by Miguel Poiares Maduro (Editor); Paul W. Kahn (Editor)

$37.95 AUD

Category: Politics

The COVID-19 pandemic has presented an important case study, on a global scale, of how democracy works - and fails to work - today. From leadership to citizenship, from due process to checks and balances, from globalization to misinformation, from solidarity within and across borders to the role of expe rtise, key democratic concepts both old and new are now being put to the test. The future of democracy around the world is at issue as today's governments manage their responses to the pandemic. Bringing together some of today's most creative thinkers, these essays offer a variety of inquiries into democracy during the global pandemic with a view to imagining post-crisis political conditions. Representing different regions and disciplines, including law, politics, philosophy, religion, and sociology, eighteen voices offer different outlooks - optimistic and pessimistic - on the future. ...Show more

Game of Mates by Cameron Murray; Paul Frijters

$32.95 AUD

Category: Australian Politics

James is our most mundane villain. His victim is Bruce, our typical Aussie, who bleeds from the hip pocket because of James' actions. Game of Mates tells a tale of economic theft across major sectors of Australia's economy, showing how James and his group of well-connected Mates siphon off billions from the economy to line their own pockets. In property, mining, transport, banking, superannuation, and many more sectors, James and his Mates cooperate to steal huge chunks of the economic pie for themselves. If you want to know how much this costs the nation, how it is done, and what we can do about it, Game of Mates is the book for you. ...Show more

How to Win an Election by Wallace, Chris

$29.99 AUD

Category: Australian Politics

   The 2019 Australian election produced a surprise result showing, not for the first time, that every election is there for the taking – including the next one. Here are the ten steps to winning an election. We have a democracy that performs relatively well, but many Australian elections are very clo se. So-called ‘unloseable’ elections are lost, reminding us that every election is a real contest. In this indispensable book drawing from years of close-up observation and analysis, historian and political journalist Chris Wallace draws out the ten essential steps to winning an election.The learner’s error, she argues, is to grasp onto a couple of factors – so-called ‘conventional wisdom’ - without considering a full suite of winning factors and tracing the connections between them. Wallace notes that even when a couple of factors are significant in an election scenario, small improvements elsewhere can make the difference between winning and losing if performance and professionalism are maximised across the board.How to Win an Election is not a book designed to change your political opinion. It is a crucial resource for future political campaigns to ensure credibility, competence and accountability. Most of all, it is for party supporters and voters who can cast their vote knowing it has been backed by the best possible efforts to create change.'Elections in Australia are often decided by remarkably tight margins – a few thousand votes shift in some key seats and you get a different outcome. The campaigns parties run are complex and yet need to coalesce around strong, simple core messages. From the inside they are high-wire acts, often winner-take-all-bets. Chris Wallace brings original thinking and clarity to understanding the dynamics of elections and offers practical suggestions on how to win — including some that could probably only have come from an astute outsider.' — Geoff Walsh, ALP National Secretary (2000–2003), former adviser to Prime Ministers Bob Hawke and Paul Keating and Premiers Steve Bracks and John Brumby, veteran of nine Australian election campaigns and journalist ...Show more

Make the Liberal Party Great Again by John Ruddick

$14.99 AUD

$29.99 (50% off)

Category: Australian Politics

A manifesto for Liberal Party supporters around Australia. In this timely book, John Ruddick calls for the Liberal Party of Australia to be brought not so much into the 21st century but rather into the latter part of the 20th century. The principal parties in almost all comparative democracies have in t he last century become significantly more open, transparent and democratic than either of Australia¿s principal parties. Ruddick has been at the forefront of democratic reform within the Liberal Party for three decades. Make the Liberal Party Great Again is the culmination of his efforts and a call to arms. The book argues the Liberal Party should abandon the conflicted party room ballot to select the Liberal Party candidate for prime minister and introduce historic democratic reform that will invite all paid up Liberal Party members to have a vote on the most consequential decision the party makes. It¿s far from radical ¿ its actually the Westminster norm in the 21st century. ...Show more