The Worldly Art of Politics

Politics is the task of liars, cheats and scoundrels and politicians are the lowest of the low. So runs, and has always run, popular opinion in Australia. And yet New South Wales has been one of the best governed, most peaceful and most prosperous of societies over the past 150 years. How is the one compatible with the other? The Worldly Art of Politics argues that the public image owes more to myth than fact, and that politicians mostly live hardworking, effective, insecure, and very public lives. The book focuses on their contributions away from the spotlight of the Parliamentary bearpits. Some have special talents as committee workers, others as coalition partners (like the Nationalsâ_T Charles Cutler), skilful administrators and negotiators (like Laborâ_Ts Reg Downing), or constructive party officers (like the Liberalsâ_T John Carrick). All, in their own fashion, â_orepresentâ__ the electorate. There is the stalwart seen as â_oone of usâ__ (Jack Ferguson); the â_ogood local memberâ__ (Michael Maher); the Independent (John Hatton and Richard Torbay); and the pathbreaker who achieves relevance for a minor party (Elisabeth Kirkby) or a formerly unrepresented group (Millicent Preston Stanley). Overall, despite the lurid headlines, New South Wales politicians maintain a system in which ideas and conflicts and interests are openly articulated and peacefully resolved: a successful, working democracy.