Politics by the book

TONY WINDSOR

In the New Year, Tony Windsor will publish his account of the pivotal role he had in the hung parliament of the Gillard years.

It will be crucial reading for all objective students of politics.

I am one who believes that our hung parliament of 2010-2013 showed that democracy really works, when every piece of legislation has to be carefully negotiated and every vote counted, thereby causing a large number of lazy politicians never to be able to skip parliament. Windsor, more than anyone else, made that Parliament work to the extent that 500 pieces of legislation were passed.

While we wait for Windsor’s book, Ruth Rae has written his biography. It is an informative account of his life’s journey. She is clearly a Windsor fan, but manages to objectively report on a few of his errors of judgement.

The key factor that shines through in the book is that, right from his schooldays, Tony has been an environmentalist and a foe of miners who desecrate farmlands and contaminate water. His public record shows that clearly, and is further indicated by his pioneering work in new methods of sustainable farming.

Those who claim that he deserted his natural constituency when he backed Gillard are simply right wing bigots. After all, the National Party twice rejected him as their candidate for state and federal elections because they thought he was too far to the left.

MARK LATHAM

There is certainty about any book written by Mark Latham.

It will be colourful, filled with invective, heavily laden with controversy, spiced with imaginative language and having several declarations that the world is full of scumbags. He usually gives the clear impression that the only non-sinner in the world is the author. This is true of Latham’s latest book, The Political Bubble, but it is a much better effort than his earlier ones.

This time he correctly identifies the almost total public disrespect of the political establishment and the belief of most voters that any statement by a political leader is simply spin that can be ignored. He makes a reasonable attempt to offer solutions to this problem, and this is worth more than passing consideration.

The weakness of his position is that, during his term as Leader of the Opposition, he contributed mightily to the cause of generating disrespect for politics. Nevertheless, we should recall that, two weeks out from the 2004 Federal Election, he lead Howard in the polls, only to blow it all by driving Tasmanian forestry workers into Howard’s camp in one of the extraordinary acts of political suicide I have ever witnessed.