An intimate and eye-opening account of Michelle Grattan’s travels through ‘the wool track’ of western New South WalesIn Back On The Wool Track, Michelle Grattan traces the footsteps of pre- eminent journalist and war historian C.E.W Bean. In 1909, Bean was commissioned by the Sydney Morning Herald to write a series of articles on the wool industry in western New South Wales. The articles were later compiled into a book and published as On The Wool Track which went...

Is trust between the government and Australians broken? The country's leading institutions have been ranked among the least trusted in the world at a time when the economy has experienced twenty-seven years of economic growth. This has all happened since the 2016 federal election under the revolving prime ministerships of Malcolm Turnbull and Scott Morrison's first term. Turnbull was the fourth sitting prime minister in a decade to be removed by his own party. What role do these politicall...

Understand Aussie politics and make your vote count!Australian Politics For Dummies gives you a helping hand as you get to grips with the good, the bad and the ugly of Australian politics. Seasoned political punters and voting novices alike will find fascinating facts and top thrills in in this essential guide. Master the ins and outs of elections, parties and policies. In no time, you'll be discussing and debating the biggest issues with ease. Down under,...

Leading thinkers on the policies and leadership of the Morrison Government from 2019 to 2022Australia has rarely endured as many difficulties as it did during the COVID-19 pandemic-dominated Morrison Government’s term of office, from its surprise 2019 election win to the 2022 poll. How did government perform? How did policy and administration fare during this tumultuous political period? Was Australia’s national government resilient in the face of the massive pande...

Australia’s leading voices on politics and policy examine the first Albanese Government.From the narrow election victory to the commanding majority secured in 2025, this book traces the Albanese Government’s first term, navigating economic turbulence and a shifting international landscape. What were the policy hits and misses? What was the impact of the unsuccessful Voice referendum? And how did the government manage key reforms?Edited by John Hawkins, Mich...

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 calibre 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 natio...

In this urgent essay, George Megalogenis argues that Australia risks becoming globalisation’s next and most unnecessary victim. The next shock, whenever it comes, will find us with our economic guard down, and a political system that has shredded its authority.Megalogenis outlines the challenge for Malcolm Turnbull and his government. Our tax system is unfair and we have failed to invest in infrastructure and education. Both sides of politics are clinging defensively to an old mo...

Scott Morrison wants to spend a lot more money on defence, the business community wants more spending on infrastructure and education, an ageing population wants better health and aged care, and young Australians want more action on climate change and affordable housing. Each problem requires more public spending, but for decades Australians have been told that the less government spends, the better their lives will be.Furthermore, while spending more money will be essential to fun...

**Longlisted, Australian Political Book of the Year Award 2022**Why is education in Australia failing?Where did we go wrong, and how do we fix it?The Gonski Review seemed like a breakthrough. Commissioned by Prime Minister Julia Gillard and chaired by leading businessman David Gonski, the 2011 review made clear that school education policy wasn’t working, and placed a spotlight on the troubling and growing gap between the education...

Is lobbying, particularly by ‘lobbyists for hire’, resulting in a distortion of the democratic process? Does business, with its highly sophisticated and well-resourced lobbying operations, have an undue influence on decisions by politicians?The book assess the impact of lobbying on the UK political system, the extent to which it shapes the political decision-making process and the extent to which this influence is beneficial or malign. The book outlines various lobbying groups and ...

Austerity, a response to the aftermath of the financial crisis, continues to devastate contemporary Britain.In The Violence of Austerity, Vickie Cooper and David Whyte bring together the voices of campaigners and academics including Danny Dorling, Mary O'Hara and Rizwaan Sabir to show that rather than stimulating economic growth, austerity policies have led to a dismantling of the social systems that operated as a buffer against economic hardship, exposing austerity to be a form of...

This book is a plea for system change in Australia, referring to the various systems that underpin and shape governance. As the 2013 federal election approaches the many flaws in the system of government in Australia are again evident. However, they do not themselves form the focus of the election debate. During the last years the tone and quality of the parliamentary debate has become the focus of attention though. Most people dont like the combative style that is on display on a daily ba...