Book Review: Gravity

From Goodreads: In this exclusive insider account Mary Delahunty takes us behind closed doors to tease out thepersonal from the political and reveals the human cost of brutal modern politics. In Gravity we are eyewitnesses to history. Our first female Prime Minister, Julia Gillard came to power suddenly after the night of the long knives in a coup that perplexed the nation. She hurried to an election and was chained to a hung parliament. She out negotiated Tony Abbott and formed a minority government but the deepest threat was from within. The man she beat for the top job was to relentlessly undermine her for three tortuous years.
In gathering material for the book, journalist and politician, Mary Delahunty had rare and unparalleled access to Prime Minister Julia Gillard, following her for her last 6 months. She was present at public speeches, party events and community cabinet. Mary was in her private office and the PM’s wider office during parliamentary sitting weeks, particularly witnessing from the inside the compelling dramas of the no-show coup in March and the defeat in June. Mary was the only journalist/writer to speak with the PM on June 26 ( the spill and caucus vote was that evening) and she has the exclusive conversation with the vanquished PM in her private office the Morning After.
The book uses Gillard’s own words to reveal the personal behind the political, the colour of contest,
the cost of defeat, the drama from within the PMO bunker and just how fast power drains away. It
explores resilience in public life and the disposability of modern leaders.

Thoughts: Reading this book made me sad. If you compare Australia's government today to what we had, what we could have had, it makes me angry. The treatment of Gillard, not only by those outside her party, but by those inside it is appalling. Whether you think it was her gender, her policies or a combination of both, no one can dispute that fact that no other Australian Prime Minister has been treated with such contempt and lack of respect for the office they held. 
I truly believe history will judge Gillard very differently from the way she was judged in office. In fact you only need to look at some of the literature around already to realise it started the moment she lost office. 
The saddest thing for me though is, as Delahunty points out, Gillard was never given the chance to truly what she could do. Attacked not only her opponents, one of her own (Rudd) worked incredibly hard to bring her down - ultimately succeeding and doing great damage to the Labor Party in the process. However, while leading a minority party, Gillard's government managed to get through 561 bills - including the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS), Education reforms, National Broadband Network (NBN) and the carbon tax. 
I am, and always will be a Gillard supporter. I don't ever imagine a time when I am not angry about her treatment and the damage done to Australian politics by her detractors. Delahunty is obviously also a fan, but she does paint a picture of a less than perfect person. (which is only fair and right!) She examines some of the areas where Gillard failed and where a difference in her attitude or demeanor may have made a difference. In the end though, this book tells the story of an incredibly determined woman who would not be swayed from what she believed in. A woman who refused to let a bunch of white, middle class men with a huge sense of entitlement push her around. She fought and she fought hard. Since leaving politics she has conducted herself with dignity and grace. Love her or hate her, I challenge you to read this book and not be impressed by her.

Book Review: The Stalking of Julia Gillard

From Goodreads: This is the story of one of the most extraordinary episodes in recent Australian political history, of how a powerful media pack, a vicious commentariat and some of those within her own party contrived to bring down Australia's first woman prime minister.
'Don't write crap. Can't be that hard. And when you have written complete crap, then I think you should correct it.' Julia Gillard
When Julia Gillard took the reins of the Australian Labor Party on 24 June 2010 she did so with the goodwill of the majority of her party and a fawning Canberra press gallery. The man she had supplanted, Kevin Rudd, led an isolated band of angry Labor voices at this surprising turn of events. The collective political and media verdict was that his time, short though it had been, was up. But when Gillard announced in February 2011 that her government would introduce a carbon pricing scheme, Rudd and his small team of malcontents were already in lock-step with key Canberra and interstate journalists in a drive to push her out of the prime ministerial chair.
Never has a prime minister been so assiduously stalked. Cast as a political liar and policy charlatan, Julia Gillard was also mercilessly and relentlessly lampooned for her hair, clothes, accent, her arse, even the way she walks and talks. Rudd, on the other hand, could barely do any wrong. His antics were afforded benign, unquestioning prime-time media coverage.
This is the story about one of the most extraordinary episodes in recent Australian political history. It focuses on Team Rudd and the media's treatment of its slow-death campaign of destabilisation, with its disastrous effect on Gillard and the government's functioning. It is about a politician who was never given a fair go; not in the media, not by Rudd, not by some in caucus.

Thoughts: The reality is, if you didn't like Julia Gillard, if you truly believe she was lying, back stabbing bitch who nearly ran the country into the ground (something that a lot of the facts do not bear out), you most probably won't like this book. If you do not agree with the view that Kevin Rudd is an egotistical, power hungry, narcissistic man, who struggled to make decisions, insisted on micromanaging the government into paralysis and refused to believe he was no longer the saviour Australia needed, you will dismiss it as the one eyed view of a pro Gillard loyalist - and nothing will change your mind.
The book reads very much like a diary or a blog. In fact Walsh makes sure in her introduction that you know this is the case. She doesn't pretend it's an indepth analysis of the Rudd/ Gillard stoush. Instead she recounts what she observed and saw over the period of time from Gillard taking the leadership, through to the unsuccessful second challenge. Unfortunately the book came out just after the final successful challenge which handed Rudd back the leadership. That's a pity because I would be interested to know what she thought about that whole incident!
What this book does is outline how Kevin Rudd and his small, but powerful band of followers (who, despite what the mainstream media and the Liberal party would have you believe,  were not faceless, but very, very up front and obvious!)white anted and undermined the Gillard government and made it near impossible to get any good publicity. The mainstream media (also known as the fourth estate)bought into the whole thing, focusing on a leadership challenge that had no legs. (Rudd never had the numbers needed) Coupled with the fact that the media rarely, if ever reported on the success and skillful management of a minority government,* Gillard had little to no hope of retaining leadership, let alone government.
I believe this book gives a good account of the egotistical, self centred personality that Kevin Rudd appears to be. A man whose desire to lead over rode everything - including the best interests of the party he professed to love.
Walsh recounts and notes the major news stories during the time. She also notes the lack of coverage of other events. She shows the media's bias and how they failed in their duty to the Australian public. Little wonder people are losing faith in the fourth estate.

*Regardless of your view of Gillard and her government, they manged to pass close to 600 pieces of legislation during the minority government. Given the negotiation that would have had to happen to get any legislation passed, this can only be seen as successful and a testament to their ability to negotiate with independents and other members of parliament.  In fact,  an analysis by Nick Evershed in the Guardian online, showed that Julia Gillard and her minority government passed more acts per day of their term than any other Australian government - ever!

Challenges: Ebook Challenge, Aussie Author Challenge

The Rise of the Fifth Estate

Title: The Rise of the Fifth Estate
Author: Greg Jericho
Genre: Non Fiction
Audience: Adult
Format: Book - Library

From Goodreads: The Rise of the Fifth Estate is the first book to examine the emergence of social media as a new force in the coverage of Australian politics.

Using original research, Greg Jericho reveals who makes up the Australian political blogosphere, and tackles head-on some of its key developments — the way that Australia's journalists and federal politicians use social media and digital news, the motivations of bloggers and tweeters, the treatment of female participants, and the eruption of Twitter wars.
The mainstream media's reaction to all this tends to be defensive and dismissive. As Jericho found to his own cost when he was outed by The Australian as the blogger Grog's Gamut, hell hath no fury like a criticised newspaper. And although journalists welcome Twitter as a work tool and platform, they have to deal with vitriolic online comments, and face competition from bloggers who are experts in their fields and who, for the most part, write for free.

What I thought: Yet another "heard it on the radio" book. Thank goodness for public libraries is all I can say!
So lets be unfront to start with - in terms of politics I am definitely left wing. In fact I think if I got much further left I would end up back where I started - I blame my mother and her strong socialist leanings.
I also have a fairly healthy interest in politics. My most common soap box topic at the moment is how it seems Australians don't actually seem to get how lucky they are to able to vote, to voice an opinion and to feel safe why they do so. The level of apathy about politics - about the system that affords us this life we seem to feel is our right - astounds me.
I was thrilled to find a book which could point me in the direction online of others who are interested in politics in this country. Not only interested but write about it, analysis it, discuss it, but not from the point of view of the mainsteam media (MSM). Jericho is not a journalist - doesn't say he is, in fact emphatically denies it, and he doesn't want to be. But he is intelligent and thoughtful and provides great insight into how blogging and social media is helping to shape the MSM, even though areas of it are fighting it all the way.
Gone are the days of journalists being the gate keeper of information and opinion. Today anyone can voice their thoughts and call governments to account for what they do. Twitter in particular is becoming an excellent way to break news and tap into dialogue about the days events.
Jericho admits there are issues around blogging and tweeting, but as he points out, they are here to stay no matter what your more traditional areas of the media wish.
Rise of the Fifth Estate was a bit dry in areas - I'm not a big fan of stats-  but Jericho's ability to relate personal experience in the social media world and his thoughtful analysis of how politicians and MSM are viewing and using social media gave me a great insight into what a valuable tool social media can be and reassured me I am not alone in wanting a wide variety of places to get my information from. Well worth the read for anyone who is looking for a way to access political coverage outside the MSM.

You can find Greg Jericho's blog, Grog's Gamut here.

Challenges: Australian authors