Primary Sources

Paul Keating

“Recollections of a Bleeding Heart: Paul Keating PM“
by Don Watson

A sprawling and magisterial work, Watson’s account of his years working for Keating (basically all the time he was PM), covers a Hell of a lot of ground. It paints a somewhat more nuanced and darker picture of Keating as Prime Minister, and also makes clear how little love Keating’s triumphs (celebrated in the muscial) brought him from the public.

“Unfinished Business: Paul Keating’s Interrupted Revolution“
by David Love

The musical was once described by Casey Benetto as ‘ridiculously pro-Keating.’
The same could be said of Love’s book, although Love approachs Keating with less irony than Benetto does. This book covers the stuff that didn’t make it into the musical – the economic reforms that Keating was responsible for. It’s an interesting book, but Love’s contempt for anyone who isn’t Paul Keating (with the grudging exception of Bill Kelty), undermines any pretensions to objectivity.

Bob Hawke

“The Hawke Memoirs“
by Bob Hawke

The autobiography of Keating’ immediate predecessor is, well, a work of massive self-justification. It covers his years as Prime Minister, and takes back a lot of the credit that Hawke was happy to give Keating in those years. Hawke’s attempt to ‘set the record straight’ comes across more as an exercise made of equal parts wishful thinking and sour grapes.

At the time it came out, this book created trouble for Keating with its allegation that he had referred to Australia as ‘the arse end of the earth’ – which, whether or not Keating actually said it, certainly sounds like his idiom. (Keating was not the only one to disagree with Hawke over the contents of the book – Margaret Thatcher also disputed some of Hawke’s statements.)

John Howard

“The Barren Years: John Howard and Australian political culture“
by Robert Manne

A collection of pieces by Robert Manne, covering the years 1998 – 2001. In them, we see Manne, who voted for Howard in 1996, slowly turn away from the coalition. What is most interesting is that Manne sees the same themes and drives in Keating’s years as Prime Minister that Bennetto does, and comes to the same conclusions regarding their role in Keating’s electoral defeat.