Book Review - Power Plays by Laurie Oakes
The Real Stories of Australian Politics from Bulletin Columnist
Nov 5, 2008
The Bulletin, Australia’s oldest current affairs magazine, ceased publication in January, 2008. With Laurie Oakes’ political column “Power Plays” a key feature of the magazine, a book compiling the best of these was a logical conclusion to his twenty years of involvement with The Bulletin.
Power Plays, The Real Stories of Australian Politics (Hachette, 2008) covers the highlights of the close to one thousand columns Oakes wrote for The Bulletin. As he notes in the introduction, with such a broad period of time to cover the book is not “a comprehensive record of either the times or the column”. However in selecting the columns detailing the most high profile events of the past twenty years in politics, Power Plays is an intriguing overview of Australian politics and politicians.
Australian Politics from 1987 to 2007
Power Plays begins with Oakes’ column from February 17th, 1987 focusing on a battle between Queensland premier Sir Joh Bjelke-Peterson and federal opposition leader John Howard. The column ends rather presciently with a quote from Howard about giving up the leadership –“‘If anyone wants the job’ he has told friends, ‘they’ll have to blast me out.’”.
Here lies the real entertainment value of Power Plays. With the knowledge of what has since come to pass in Australian politics, readers can trace the actions that foreshadow later events. The power struggles between Prime Minister Bob Hawke and his Treasurer Paul Keating are a prime example. Keating’s inclinations towards the “top job” are first mentioned in the column of February 1989, almost three years before he finally wrested power from Hawke. Oakes insists that “no one, of course, should write Keating off yet”.
By the conclusion of Power Plays, the Labor Party is back in government for the first time since Keating’s loss to John Howard in 1996. It is fitting that the final entry (Oakes’ final Bulletin column of 14 December 2007) should be a description of the transition from one government to another.
Laurie Oakes – Political Journalist and Key Player
With over forty years’ experience in the Canberra press gallery, Oakes is Australia’s most recognisable political correspondent. As such it is reasonable to suggest that he wields almost as much power as the politicians he writes about. His exposure of Cheryl Kernot’s affair with ALP front bencher Gareth Evans while she was leader of the Australian Democrats is one example of how Oakes has been considered to influence the course of Australian politics.
While the revelation came after Kernot’s retirement, Oakes received considerable backlash in the press regarding his decision - a debate that he describes as “privacy versus public interest”. In the column entitled “The Hard Call” of 10 July 2002 Oakes defends his role in the events and his assessment that the break-up of the affair had an impact on Kernot’s behaviour and “therefore on Labor’s election prospects”.
An Overview of Australian Politics
With twenty years of political coverage to draw from, Power Plays covers the significant names and moments in Australia’s political history. Andrew Peacock, Bob Hawke, Paul Keating, Kim Beazley and of course John Howard all feature prominently. Current Prime Minister Kevin Rudd first appears on page 306 as Oakes considers possible replacements for beleaguered Labor leader Mark Latham.
Power Plays is a fascinating read for both avid and casual observers of Australian politics. Oakes’ contribution to Australian political journalism is immense. His knowledge of the intricacies of government as well as his ability to cast a shrewd eye over the key players in power makes this retrospective of his columns more than just a trip down memory lane for regular followers of his work.
Power Plays: The Real Stories of Australian Politics (ISBN: 978-073-362365-3, pages 392)
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