Grand Ambition: Paul Keating's global vision for Australia

by James Curran

Written with never-before-seen documents from Paul Keating’s archive and drawing on long conversations and interviews with him over many years, this book explores the ambitions for Australia and its place in the world that guided arguably the last Prime Minister with a compelling long-term vision for the country.

As Australia stands on the edge of the greatest reappraisal of its strategic circumstances, what is the relevance of Paul Keating’s vision for Australia in the world today?

At the moment of his political defeat in 1996, Paul Keating stood defiant, still arguing for a vision of Australia that reached far beyond the limits of electoral politics. Three decades on, this book revisits that bold, contested and somewhat unravelled by subsequent Coalition governments.

Drawing on newly revealed documents and extensive interviews, it traces how Keating sought to reshape Australia’s foreign policy at the end of the Cold anchoring the country in Asia, embedding China within a regional order, deepening ties with Indonesia and challenging long-held assumptions about dependence on great powers. For Keating, economic reform, national identity and international strategy were part of a single, sweeping project to remake Australia.

Ambitious and provocative, this is both a portrait of a singular political mind and a reappraisal of a pivotal era. It argues that the questions Keating grappled with – about independence, security and identity – remain unresolved, and more urgent than ever in a world defined by rising tensions between the United States, China and the rest of the world.

Including exclusive photographs from Paul Keating's private collection.

Genres: Politics, Australia, Biography

Audible Audio

Published August 31, 2026

About the author

James Curran is Professor of Communications at Goldsmiths College, London. He has published over 18 books, including Culture Wars: The Media and British Left (with Ivor Gaber and Julian Petley) (Edinburgh University Press, 2005), Power without Responsibility (with Jean Seaton), 6th edition (Routledge, 2003), Mass Media and Society (ed. with Michael Gurevitch), 4th edition (Arnold, 2005) and Media and Power (Routledge, 2002).

Reviews

[Paddy Molloy · Rating 4.5 out of 5]

Confession up front: I don't really like Paul Keating. Or at least, I didn't like the Keating I grew up with, the cranky has been who pops up every so often to tell everyone how much smarter he is than them. So picking up a big biography of the guy, I was half ready to roll my eyes the whole way through.

Curran clearly knows his stuff when it comes to Australian foreign policy, and the research here is seriously impressive. My favourite part was spotting documents from Prime Minister and Cabinet scattered through the book. Seeing the actual paperwork behind big decisions is way more interesting than it sounds, and as someone hoping to write that kind of stuff for a living, I got a bit of a kick out of it. Maybe one of my briefs will end up in a book like this one day. A guy can dream.

Is it a little biased? Maybe slightly in Keating's favour. But honestly I think that's partly me. My issue with Keating comes from the version of him I saw in recent years, not the one actually running the country. Reading about what he was doing back then, it's hard not to admit he was a genuine innovator, especially on Asia and the economy. So if Curran leans his way a bit, fair enough.

The length was spot on, the writing was easy to get into, and if you're into Australian politics or foreign relations at all, this one's a must.

Did it make me a Keating fan? Not quite. But it made me respect him a lot more than I expected, which is pretty good going for a book about a bloke I walked in ready to dislike.

[Luke Illeniram · Rating 5 out of 5]

A really well researched and well written book that provides great context to the years in which Keating lived and served. Whether you like him or not doesn't really factor into his book, it isn't especially laudatory or cutting, but does a great job of laying out the Keating doctrine, for good and bad. I really enjoyed listening to this while I cycled around Canberra, it felt very topical :)

[Jake McDonald · Rating 4.25 out of 5]

Solid book. It's very much into the details, especially around the Aus/Indonesia, Aus/US, APEC negotiations. But if you're interested in history, geopolitics or Paul Keating himself you'll love it.

[Michael Pennisi · Rating 3.5 out of 5]

A bit disappointed by this book. To me, of all politicians, Keating has the most cogent vision for Australia and its place in the world and, when in power, had the wherewithal to execute this vision. I've been trying to work out why I was disappointed by Curran's work. I think it's because it covers a broadly similar period (Keating's prime ministership, broadly) and looks at different aspects of this period via the notion of power. This means that an issue that was central in one chapter seems to become background in another. Rather than enhancing the global vision, it manages to diminish it. At no point do the strands come together, nor are they well linked to the domestic issues of the time.