In the thirdQuarterly Essay, Guy Rundle comes to grips with John Howard, the prime minister who, on the eve of an election, seems to have turned round his political fortunes by spurning refugees and writing blank cheques for America's War on Terror.
This is a brilliant account of John Howard's dominant ideas, his concerted 'dreaming' with its emphasis on unity and national identity that reveals him to be the most reactionary PM we have ever had, the only political leader who would allow ideas like those of One Nation to dominate the mainstream of Australian politics in order to improve his political chances. Rundle puts Howard in the context of the economic liberalism he shares with his colleagues and opponents and the conservative social ideology that sets him apart. It is a complex portrait in a radical mirror which relates John Howard to everything from Menzies's 'forgotten people' to the inadvertent glamour of the government's antidrug advertising. It is also a plea for right-thinking people of every political persuasion to resist the call to prejudice and reaction.
'A portrait of a political opportunist who is also ... a sincere reactionary- putting back the clock because he believes in it, but also fanning the whirlwind of unreason in order to save his political skin.' -Peter Craven, Introduction
'The coincident occurrence of the asylum seeker confrontation and the attack on the U.S. has made visible the most dangerous and damaging thing he has done to the Australian polity...and that is to deepen contempt for such protection as we did have from unbridled executive power, mass hysteria, the rush to surrender our freedoms and offer them up on the alter of crisis.' -Guy Rundle,The Opportunist
Publisher: Quarterly Essay
Published: Australia, 1 October 2001
Format: Paperback / softback, 112 pages
Age Range: 0+
Dimensions: 23.3 x 16.8 x 0.9 centimeters (0.11 kg)
Writer: Guy Rundle
About the Author
Guy Rundle is currently Crikey's global correspondent-at-large. Born in Melbourne, he was a co-founding editor of Arena Magazine and has worked with Arena publishing group for twenty years. A frequent contributor to The Age, Sydney Morning Herald, The Australian, Spiked and many other publications, his books include The Opportunist- John Howard and the Triumph of Reaction and half of The Happy Phrase (with Shane Moloney). He has written for and produced a wide variety of TV programs, and co-devised Comedy Inc, Shark Bay and worse. He has written three hit stage shows with and for Max Gilles, with fourth, Godzone, to premiere in 2009. At the time of writing he lives in New York.