Power Plays: The real stories of Australian politics

by Laurie Oakes

Laurie Oakes is the most influential political journalist in Australia - if he says something has happened, the rest of the media (especially the Canberra Press Gallery) believe him and report it as news. He is respected by both political insiders and the wider public. He has worked in Canberra as a political reporter for 39 years and reported on 19 federal elections. He regularly finds the big story way ahead of everyone else.

Currently the national political editor for the Nine Network he is the man who interviews all the big names. From 1987 to December 2007 he wrote a weekly column for the Bulletin and since its demise he has been writing a column for the Saturday Daily Telegraph in Sydney and the Herald Sun in Melbourne.

POWER PLAYS is a selection of 150 of the very best and most timeless of Laurie Oakes' columns.

Genres: Politics

399 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2009

About the author

Laurie Oakes is widely respected for his impartiality and experience and for so often getting the story before anyone else. He has been a reporter for almost 50 years and has spent the last 45 years covering federal politics in Canberra.

His previous books include POWER PLAYS (2008) and ON THE RECORD (2010), both published by Hachette Australia

Reviews

[Simon Jones]

I picked this up at a recent book fair and it turned out to be a thoroughly enjoyable trip down memory lane. Power Plays is a collection of Laurie Oakes' columns from his years writing for The Bulletin, spanning the years 1987 to 2009 - essentially my entire life through to my mid-20s.

I grew up with Keating as a kid, Howard as a teenager and Rudd during the latter part of my university years, so much of what Oakes wrote about - particularly the latter years - felt familiar. He was one of Australia's finest political journo's, equally formidable in print as he was on Channel Nine. In these columns, he took care to portray the person behind the politician. Something not easily done in political journalism.

Politics has always been a rough business. The personalities change, the issues evolve and Australia itself has changed enormously since these columns were written, but the game of politics remains the same. It's grubby and not fit for good people.

[Brooke Jacobson]

Laurie Oaks was one of Australia's absolute best political journalists. This book is a collection of his columns from the now-defunct Bulletin magazine. These columns are from the nineties, through to the early 2000's and it's amazing - and sad - how little politics has changed in that time. Interestingly, he warns the Liberal Party against the rise of the far right in their ranks, something which we are seeing the results of today. If you're a political junkie, this book is for you.