Australiana > Politics

Australia is a destination country for people trafficking, in particular women to work in the sex industry. Most are desperate due to extreme poverty or debt. This book profiles real case studies collected by the authors from interviews and court records featuring appalling acts of kidnapping, fraud, deception, drug abuse and forced sex.

As the 2010 federal election approaches, who better than Mungo MacCallum to guide us through the sweat and semantics of the campaign trail? This typically fast-paced, witty and perceptive account follows Canberra's finest in actio, peddling furiously between news cycles.

The speeches collected in After Words, virtuosic in their scale and range of subjects, are remarkably the work of one eye and one mind: that of former Australian Prime Minister Paul Keating. The speeches reveal the breadth and depth of Keating's interests - be they cultural, historical, or policy-focused - dealing with subjects as broad as international relations, economic policy and politics. Individual chapters range from a discussion of Jorn Utzon's Sydney Opera House through to the redesign of Berlin, the history of native tit... read more

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For theBoyer Lecture 2011, best-selling author and journalist Geraldine Brooks tackles the topic of The Idea of Home. Drawing on her personal experience from being an adolescent pen pal to being a foreign correspondent in some of the world's most dangerous countries to being a writer of several award winning books including the Pulitzer Prize winner, March, Brooks reflects on what it means to be both a global citizen and a novelist at home in an increasingly fractured world. The individual lectures are: Our Only Home, A Home on Bl... read more

When Lindsay Tanner resigned in 2010 as the ALP's federal minister for finance and member for Melbourne, having had an 18-year career as an MP, he notably managed to retire with his reputation for integrity intact. In Sideshow, he lays bare the relentless decline of political reporting and political behaviour that occurred during his career.

John Howard's autobiography, Lazarus Rising, is the biggest-selling political memoir Australia has seen. In it he talks about his love for his family, his rollercoaster ride to the Lodge and how - as prime minister - he responded to issues like climate change and the war on terrorism. Drawing on his deep interest in history, he paints a fascinating picture of a changing Australia. In this new revised edition, he also analyses the cataclysmic lead-up to the 2010 election and the vexed political paradigm that emerged. From the future... read more

Good drinkers, bad swimmers and unlikely heroes. Since the nation's birth in 1901, twenty-seven politicians have sat in Australia's driving seat. Their time at the top has ranged from eight days for Frank Forde to eighteen years for Bob Menzies. Whatever the length of their term, each prime minister has a story worth sharing. Edmund Barton united the bickering states in a federation; Billy Hughes knocked US president Woodrow Wilson down a peg or two. The unlucky Jimmy Scullin took office days before Wall Street crashed into the Gre... read more

The only thing that kept me sane, well reasonably sane, during 20 years "hard labor" was the hilarious things that my erstwhile colleagues became involved in.

At the NSW state election in 2011, the media reported that the public was waiting with baseball bats to remove the 16 year old Labor government.

Australians are generally uncomfortable in the global spotlight - outside of sports stadiums. But after seeing us negotiate the Asian financial crisis, the tech wreck and the Global Financial Crisis that bred the Great Recession, the world is now turning to us, the 'miracle economy', for guidance. This is the page-turning story of our nation's remarkable transformation since the '70s. One of our most respected journalists, George Megalogenis, traces the key economic reforms and brilliant moments of collective instinct that opened o... read more

A selection of writing from Australia's funniest, most incisive political commentator. Rise of the Ruddbot presents the distilled highlights of Annabel Crabb's writing on the political events of the last few years, featuring Godwin Grech, Peter Garrett, Tony 'People Skills' Abbott, the Ruddbot, and more.

Understand the Australian political system and make your vote count Get to grips with the good, the bad and the ugly of Australian politics! Whether you're a seasoned political punter or a voting novice, this is your essential guide to understanding politics in Australia. Master the ins and outs of elections, parties and policies, and learn to discuss the big issues in no time. You have to vote — now learn whyand how. * Decipher political terminology — clear explanations of the houses of parliament, voting systems and ... read more

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The Oxford Companion to Australian Politics is the first scholarly and comprehensive account of Australian Politics, covering all aspects of Australian political life and thought in over 400 specially commissioned entries

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The crisis in New South Wales Labor is so deep and has such significant ramifications that we need a massive dose of unadulterated, no-holds-barred honesty. The man who can deliver this honesty is Frank Sartor. An independent outsider who became a Labor minister in 2003, Sartor impressed and irritated insiders and the commentariat in equal measure. As minister for a number of important portfolios in successive Labor Governments Sartor was perfectly positioned to see the way the Labor machine operated - the factionalism, the deals, ... read more

When Julia Gillard - a woman who was unmarried, childless, and an atheist - became Australia's first female prime minister after the 2010 election, opposition leader Tony Abbott was left boiling with rage. It was bad enough that he had lost, but to have to lost to a woman was shameful. For a few days he could not bring himself to call her Prime Minister or even look her in the eyes. Beyond these particular events, and behind his boyish grin and easy charm, women sense in Abbott a man who has no respect or tolerance for the social c... read more

Today, despite being in government, Labor is in crisis. Reduced to minority government after just one term and tanking in the opinion polls (the lowest primary vote in 25 years of Newspoll), how did it come to this so soon? Labor's true believers see the party at a defining moment in its history: in government, but without an inspiring vision or a bold program of reform to animate Labor's enduring values or define its purpose. Politicians, union leaders, and party officials are openly talking about the need for a new vision for Lab... read more

If you're a gardener who buys everything from the standard and limited nursery range, then you are missing out on one of the most satisfying of all human endeavours propagating your own plants. Let's Propagate is for anyone interested in hands-on propagation in Australia, either professionally or in the home garden.