Fighting for the Republic: The Ultimate Insider's Account

by Malcolm Turnbull

Genres: Politics, Nonfiction

262 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1999

Reviews

[Vasile · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a great insight to the ups and downs during the Australian republic campaign. It was always going to be hard to persuade the public 'for' the republic, but even harder to battle against to 'No' voters. It is interesting to get a young Turnbull's take on Abbott, Bishop, and others who have since rose to prominence in the Liberal party. When reading his 'diary entries' you get a different tone/voice about issues, debates, talks, and an insight behind the doors of democracy. Great book - only if you're interested in the Referendum/Republic/Politics...

[Avery · Rating 1 out of 5]

"I tried so hard
And got so far
But in the end
It doesn't even matter
I had to fall
To lose it all
But in the end
It doesn't even matter"
-Linkin Park

[Connor Keir · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you need a history and an education on the Australian republic movement this is it.

[Belinda · Rating 2 out of 5]

It's interesting to get a pre-MP Turnbull's take on Abbott and others who have since rose to prominence in the Liberal party. I was too young to pay much attention to Australia's republican referendum back in '99, but this account does a good job of conjuring up the heated debate that surrounded it. For those of us who wonder why on earth the Queen of England is still our head of state, well, it's because John Howard sabotaged our one big chance to remove her, essentially. The time and money that went into the republican campaign leading up to '99 was such that we will probably never see anyone bother taking up the cause again in any significant way. We'll just have to wait until we have a republican PM who fancies it a priority. I suspect Rudd would have gotten around to it had he kept his job.