Politics by the book

This indelibly prints in our minds the chilling memory that, at a point in our history, a majority of voters gave serious thought to actually electing Latham as our Prime Minister. 

MUNGO MacCALLUM

It is interesting, from time to time, to take a break from current politics and go back to an earlier era that was controversial so as to compare it with the situation today.

To assist us with this, Mungo MacCallum has written another delightfully irreverent political classic called The Whitlam Mob, and I regard it as essential reading.

Each chapter is about one the main characters in the Whitlam and Fraser teams of the 1970s, and he does a credible job of outlining the strengths and weaknesses of each one. Of real interest is that he tells us at the end of each chapter what happened to each one of them after he or she left politics. Some of them made a greater contribution to national life after they departed Parliament than they did while they were in it.

As you would expect, the opening chapter is a warts and all assessment of Gough Whitlam. He suggests that history will regard him as one of the giants of political reform in Australia, and also one of the most controversial.

Importantly, MacCallum also makes the valid point that Whitlam towers above anyone on the Australian political scene today, whether ALP or Liberal. He was a class act.

DISTINGUISHED OTHERS

A large pile of political books have arrived on my shelf awaiting some reading time. There are some to which I will happily give priority.

Top of the list is John Howard’s book on Menzies. I grew up in Menzies’ time of power and regarded him as a giant, not only in physical stature and his immense ability as an orator, but by the respect with which he was held, even by those who voted against him. He looked and acted like a Prime Minister, something that can’t be said about most of those who followed him.

I enjoyed Howard’s previous book Lazarus Rising, and I reckon that this one, The Menzies Era, may be better, as he told me on many occasions of his great respect Menzies as a statesman.

Then, I will read Greg Combet’s book, Fights of my Life, which covers not just his work as a Cabinet Minister, but his role in the great waterfront dispute with Chris Corrigan. I have always regarded Combet as Prime Minister material, but his health has declined considerably in recent years. When you read the Gillard book, you will note that, in the dying days of her reign as Prime Minister, she called Combet and offered to stand aside to allow him to run against Rudd, but he declined for health reasons. Had he run, Bill Shorten would have thrown his hat into the ring as well, and it is difficult to predict what the result would have been in a three-way contest, but I can tender the thought that the final vote would have been between Combet and Shorten.