Politics by the book

So, I found that her book is an epistle from the heart that is a very good read. It will further disturb those who developed such an irrational hatred of her, but will raise her stature in the eyes of many who have previously written her off as a failure.

It is refreshing that she admits to a range of political errors, such as appointing Rudd as Foreign Minister, where he sought a higher profile than she had. Then, she compounded the problem by making Bob Carr his successor without taking time to assess that Carr was seriously out of his depth (as his book makes clear). She also hugely alienated the business community, particularly the mining industry, when it would have taken little effort to get them onside.

My belief is that she overplayed the misogyny issue, even though I am appalled by the manner in which she was seriously and persistently insulted by viscous attacks on her gender.

Mary Delahunty has written a well-researched account of how difficult it is for a woman to be accepted as Prime Minister in Australia. Her book Gravity tells of the final year of Gillard’s leadership. I read it a few months back and felt it presented a balanced assessment of how so many treated Gillard as something less than human.

For myself, I will always hold an shakeable belief that, while she would have lost to Abbott, she would have won more seats than Rudd at the 2013 Election had she not been wrongly deposed. The action of the ALP caucus in re-electing Rudd, whom 90 per cent quite rightly despised, was the greatest and most appalling act of political prostitution of my lifetime. I hope that politics will not descend to such sordid depths again.

Be this as it may, My Story will be read for many years to come as an important contribution to Australian history.

WAYNESWAN

I enjoyed reading The Good Fight, having known Wayne Swan for more than 20 years, and negotiated pensions and other Senior’s issues with him through six Federal Budgets.

While it covers his full term as Treasurer, it is essentially his account of the Great Financial Crisis that hit the world in 2008, and explains his strategies and policies in ensuring that Australia came through it as unscathed as possible.

Indeed, Australia survived it far better than most nations and, so, we owe Wayne some acknowledgement of gratitude for this. But, as he points out himself, there will be a continuing debate on whether or not his stimulus package was more than was necessary.

His view is that it was better to overspend than to leave Australia in a similar position to that of USA, but his critics will never let him forget that it ran up a lot of debt that now has to be repaid.

I recommend that you read it. It sets-out in readable form the wide range of issues he had to take into account when faced with the GFC. After you have read them, sit down with a quiet whisky and work-out what you personally would have done if you had been in Swan’s shoes at the time.