The Longest Decade

by George Megalogenis

Paul Keating and John Howard altered the nation’s body-clock. Between them, they dominated 30 years of power, as both treasurers and prime ministers. Typically, they have been seen only as antagonists with competing visions of Australia and its place in the world. In The Longest Decade, however, George Megalogenis argues that they also deserve to be seen as the twin architects of the political, economic, and social revolution that took Australia through a period of trauma and recovery, and then on to an era of unprecedented affluence. Strangely, both men also had the opportunity to retire on top — Keating in 1994 and Howard in 2006 — yet both stayed too long.

Based on exclusive interviews with both Keating and Howard, and on Megalogenis’s many years experience as a member of the Canberra press gallery, The Longest Decade is a brilliant, non-partisan analysis of the forces that shape Australia today — from the rise of working women to the triumph of the McMansion.

This is the story of how an era came to be defined by Keating and Howard, but it is also the bigger story of how Australia became a more complex society, and forced each leader to adapt before dismissing them both. This substantially revised and updated edition includes several additional chapters dealing with the termination of the Keating–Howard era.

Genres: Politics, Nonfiction, Australia, History

384 pages, Kindle Edition

First published September 1, 2007

About the author

George Megalogenis has written three previous Quarterly Essays. His book The Australian Moment won the 2013 Prime Minister's Literary Award for Non-fiction and the 2012 Walkley Award for Non-fiction. He is also the author of Faultlines, The Longest Decade, Australia's Second Chance and The Football Solution.

Reviews

[Jayden Davidson · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fantastic look at the transition from Keating to Howard. Megalogenis is at his most insightful when discussing the cultural perspective on politics. The book has a great structure of back-to-back political ‘chapters’ and cultural ‘snapshots’.

It does feel lacking in policy grit, but it more than fulfils its purpose of describing and analysing the political and cultural trends which influenced politics from 1991-2007.

[Tim Byron · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good history of the economic side of the Keating and Howard years; we tend to see Keating and Howard as polar opposites, but as far as economics goes, they were more or less on the same page - both were neoclassicists who felt that deregulation of the economy was necessary for it to compete, with some differences in emphasis (WorkChoices, for example). Megalogenis comes across as a cheerleader for this economic reform agenda, and I feel he could have examined the nature of this reform in more detail - it's sometimes presented as obvious and necessary, without explanations of why (perhaps this is because the revised edition of the book (which I read) came out right before the GFC). But in terms of how the politics of the reforms played, he is excellent at getting outside of the usual press gallery bubble, and showing the economic factors that often influenced votes more than some of the usual political controversies.

[Stephen · Rating 3 out of 5]

‘The Longest Decade’ by George Megalogenis

Reviewed by Stephen Jolly

Murdoch stable journalist and author, George Megalogenis, has written a very useful history of Australian federal politics in the 1990s. Its title ?The Longest Decade? refers to the long but uneven 1990s economic upturn that has continued deep into this decade. While no radical, let alone a Marxist, Melalogenis is clearly on top of his subject matter and provides facts and figures useful to socialists.


He shatters the idea that there was anything fundamentally different in the economic policies of the Hawke-Keating and Howard governments.

For rest of review go to: http://www.socialistpartyaustralia.or...

[S'hi · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting review of personalities and policies in Australian politics centring around the relationship between John Howard and Paul Keating. The direct quotes of each at the end of the book, about themselves and each other are quite telling in themselves.

But we should never forget how these are in fact reflections of our own attitudes, beliefs and actions under different circumstances than we may have expected to find ourselves in.

[John · Rating 5 out of 5]

Outstanding overview of the Keating/Howard years. I understand so much more about Australia over the past 20 years from having read this book.