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Credlin & Co.: How the Abbott Government Destroyed Itself
Credlin was Abbott’s enforcer, his disciplinarian, his counsellor, his brain, his mother. Her strength as a chief of staff was a sign of his weakness as a prime she gave him the option of disengaging. Credlin allowed Abbott to be who he wanted to the good bloke, the philosopher, the weekend fire-fighter, the surfer, the orator, the man of action. If Abbott was a natural leader, it could have worked. But he lacked the most important attribute of judgement.Tony Abbott and his chief of staff, Peta Credlin, ran a brilliant campaign in opposition. But their approach led to disaster in government.When Abbott became prime minister, he and Credlin ruthlessly controlled ministers, backbenchers, the public service and the media. They shut out voices that questioned Abbott’s way. Everything started to unravel.Credlin & Co. is the story of a relationship that determined the fate of a government. It shows in stunning detail the disastrous consequences of power abused, and the broken people left in its wake.Aaron Patrick is the print editor of the Australian Financial Review and author of How the Labor Party Ripped Itself Apart (2013).
221 pages, Kindle Edition
First published February 1, 2016
21 people are currently reading
82 people want to read
About the author
Aaron Patrick
7 books1 followerAaron Patrick is the Chief Writer at The Nightly. He worked at the Australian Financial Review for 18 years, the Wall Street Journal, London Daily Telegraph, Bloomberg News and Herald Sun. He was the Washington Post's Australia stringer for seven years and an op-ed contributor to the New York Times. He lives in Sydney with his two children.
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Displaying 1 - 24 of 24 reviews
March 24, 2016
I'm not sure why the awful Abbot government keeps drawing me to read about it, but it does.
I think I want to try to understand how it happened that we found ourselves flung from pillar to post as as decency went out the window and aggressive bullying took over. Informed, intelligent debate had no place in this regime, with three-part slogans taking their place, as if the electorate (us) didn't deserve any better.
Aaron Patrick's book takes us part way into the back rooms of government and parties. He is good on quick character sketches like this one:
'Abbott's approach to politics was naturally adversarial. Like the determined boxer he was at Oxford, Abbott didn't recoil from confrontation... but viewed politics as a battlefield, not a debating chamber. His objective was to destroy the enemy, not win them over'. The problem was that once in power, he had no idea of how to govern - opposition had been his dominant mode of operation since his student politics days. He succeeded by destruction, not by building or creating.
His Chief of Staff, Peta Credlin, operated as his 'enforcer, his disciplinarian, his counsellor, his brain, his mother.' She exercised a degree of power that no one in her position has before, becoming in many ways a proxy for the prime minister himself, controlling access to him, attending cabinet meetings and meetings with other heads of government, intervening in ministerial decision making and using media leaks and planted stories to control ministers.
Combative, controlling, breaking promises freely, the Abbott/Credlin government quickly lost support in the electorate and finally within the parliamentary party itself, so that Abbott was ousted by a long term rival, the much less conservative and more urbane Malcolm Turnbull. At the time of writing, Turnbull hasn't entirely delivered all that everyone hoped for him, but the tenor of national political discourse improved immediately and that in itself has been a great step forward from where we were.
Patrick writes fluidly, managing complex information easily as you would expect of the editor of the Australian Financial Review. He combines narrative with analysis to tell a lively story of people out of their depth, behaving badly and creating a climate of fear within their party and the nation.
Near the end of the book, Patrick lists a number of important lessons for Australian public life from the failures of the Abbott government:
Voters will punish politicians who break promises. the solution: stop making promises you can't or don't intend to keep.
Political leaders must be given the opportunity to fail before they are removed. Internal rivalry is not enough. Voters need time to make up their minds. When his failings are widely appreciated, the party is safe to remove a leader.
In a democracy, centralisation of power in the prime minister's office doesn't work. It may be frustrating, messy and slower, but government is too hard and too complex to be run by a few people.
Ministers have to be trusted to make decisions. ...
Compromise can be a sign of strength. When governments and oppositions work together, both emerge stronger.
Political leaders shouldn't try too hard to fool voters or insult their intelligence by repeating banal messages over and over.
Leaders must treat their colleagues, too, with respect. Otherwise, they too will have their revenge.
A pretty fair list, don't you think?
I think I want to try to understand how it happened that we found ourselves flung from pillar to post as as decency went out the window and aggressive bullying took over. Informed, intelligent debate had no place in this regime, with three-part slogans taking their place, as if the electorate (us) didn't deserve any better.
Aaron Patrick's book takes us part way into the back rooms of government and parties. He is good on quick character sketches like this one:
'Abbott's approach to politics was naturally adversarial. Like the determined boxer he was at Oxford, Abbott didn't recoil from confrontation... but viewed politics as a battlefield, not a debating chamber. His objective was to destroy the enemy, not win them over'. The problem was that once in power, he had no idea of how to govern - opposition had been his dominant mode of operation since his student politics days. He succeeded by destruction, not by building or creating.
His Chief of Staff, Peta Credlin, operated as his 'enforcer, his disciplinarian, his counsellor, his brain, his mother.' She exercised a degree of power that no one in her position has before, becoming in many ways a proxy for the prime minister himself, controlling access to him, attending cabinet meetings and meetings with other heads of government, intervening in ministerial decision making and using media leaks and planted stories to control ministers.
Combative, controlling, breaking promises freely, the Abbott/Credlin government quickly lost support in the electorate and finally within the parliamentary party itself, so that Abbott was ousted by a long term rival, the much less conservative and more urbane Malcolm Turnbull. At the time of writing, Turnbull hasn't entirely delivered all that everyone hoped for him, but the tenor of national political discourse improved immediately and that in itself has been a great step forward from where we were.
Patrick writes fluidly, managing complex information easily as you would expect of the editor of the Australian Financial Review. He combines narrative with analysis to tell a lively story of people out of their depth, behaving badly and creating a climate of fear within their party and the nation.
Near the end of the book, Patrick lists a number of important lessons for Australian public life from the failures of the Abbott government:
Voters will punish politicians who break promises. the solution: stop making promises you can't or don't intend to keep.
Political leaders must be given the opportunity to fail before they are removed. Internal rivalry is not enough. Voters need time to make up their minds. When his failings are widely appreciated, the party is safe to remove a leader.
In a democracy, centralisation of power in the prime minister's office doesn't work. It may be frustrating, messy and slower, but government is too hard and too complex to be run by a few people.
Ministers have to be trusted to make decisions. ...
Compromise can be a sign of strength. When governments and oppositions work together, both emerge stronger.
Political leaders shouldn't try too hard to fool voters or insult their intelligence by repeating banal messages over and over.
Leaders must treat their colleagues, too, with respect. Otherwise, they too will have their revenge.
A pretty fair list, don't you think?
February 14, 2016
Despite having some good quotes and anecdotes from insiders, this doesn't tell us much that we didn't already know from reading the news.
It does however have the potential to become a good resource on the Abbott era for future generations.
Royalties from this book are being donated to a fund on honour of Roger East and the Balibo Five to train East Timorese journalists in Australia.
It does however have the potential to become a good resource on the Abbott era for future generations.
Royalties from this book are being donated to a fund on honour of Roger East and the Balibo Five to train East Timorese journalists in Australia.
March 4, 2016
Provides a concise overview of the relationship between Abbott and Credlin, how it was viewed by others and why this relationship is said to have contributed to Abbott's downfall. There's really nothing new in the book, with much of the content already filling our newsfeeds.
Very topical, but like most things better left until there's some distance.
Very topical, but like most things better left until there's some distance.
February 10, 2016
Excellent summary of Abbott's woeful PM'ship, and a cracker of a read. I sailed right through it. If you followed Abbott's rise and fall closely, there might not be many fresh revelations in here but you will at least get to revel in some schadenfreude.
March 17, 2016
I am more than happy to read books that a/ chronicle the disaster that was the Abbott government & b/ cement Captain Flagpole's well-deserved place as worst Prime Minister ever. Bring 'em on. This one slipped under the wire somehow when it was published late last year. Although it doesn't raise the "perception" of an affair between Abbott & Credlin it covers similar territory to Nikki Savva's book The Road To Ruin. What it doesn't do is go far enough. While it mentions Frances Abbott's 'scholarship' that delivered her a $60,000 degree for $7,000 it doesn't eviscerate this outrage. The fact that this 'scholarship' was arbitrarily awarded to Frances by the head of the school (a Liberal Party donor) when it had previously never existed, & ceased to exist again on her graduation, is explained. But the point is that it never seemed to dawn on Abbott that this 'scholarship' was, at best, dodgy &, at worst, corrupt. The 'scholarship' was never advertised, no-one else applied (because they didn't know it existed), & even Frances didn't have to actually make a submission. But Abbott continually insisted she had been awarded her 'scholarship' "on merit". On what merit, Tone? And it's that level of disconnection with the real world that was at the heart of Abbott's monumental failure. His life of extreme privilege has left him incapable of empathy with ordinary people. I have lived in his electorate throughout his 22 years in parliament & have been talking to other constituents lately & every single one is asking "What, in fact, has he ever done for Warringah?" As far as we can see he has only used it as a stepping stone in the advancement of his career. Now if we can only evict him from the seat @ the next election ...
February 25, 2016
Good summary of the Abbott Government. Nothing very revealing that you wouldn't know from following the media over the past 3 years.
March 29, 2016
I tried. Really, I tried. I just could not ... could not finish this book. By turns irrelevant, pandering, and wandering, this is the epitome of dreadful writing.
Should be no stars.
August 24, 2023
There is a Good Story in Here Somewhere, This isn’t it
The story behind the implosion of the Abbott prime ministership has all the ingredients for a compelling book. Unfortunately, Credlin & Co. is not that book.
After the missteps of the ruling Labour Government under Rudd and Gillard, the Liberal party was in a great position to establish a government that could enact meaningful reform. While the country largely escaped the impact of the Great Recession, a slow down in the Chinese economy saw Australia’s national income decline. The time for decisive action was now - but Tony Abbott failed to understand that leading a ruling party is different to leading an opposition party. While the stars appeared to align in favour of Abbott, he managed to grab defeat from the jaws of victory.
The book is a somewhat disjointed description of the Abbott era. It does a fair job of describing the what, when and how but does not delve into the why. For those who follow the daily goings-on in Canberra, the book may read well but for those who are more removed from the day to day dramas it is harder to follow the narrative and put events in their proper place. Underpinning the entire story, as evidenced by the title, was the role played by Peta Credlin as Abbott’s Chief-of-Staff and main-minder. Clearly, she was very capable but her vision of how to manage the PM’s office, to protect the PM from criticism and to promote his agenda (such as it was) was a large factor in his downfall. What gave rise to this relationship? What drove the antagonistic relationship with the cabinet and backbench? How did the personal dynamic between the two influence the business and political relationship? How did a girl from Wycheproof end up as the (de facto) most powerful person in the country? It would have been enlightening to learn more about these questions.
The story behind the implosion of the Abbott prime ministership has all the ingredients for a compelling book. Unfortunately, Credlin & Co. is not that book.
After the missteps of the ruling Labour Government under Rudd and Gillard, the Liberal party was in a great position to establish a government that could enact meaningful reform. While the country largely escaped the impact of the Great Recession, a slow down in the Chinese economy saw Australia’s national income decline. The time for decisive action was now - but Tony Abbott failed to understand that leading a ruling party is different to leading an opposition party. While the stars appeared to align in favour of Abbott, he managed to grab defeat from the jaws of victory.
The book is a somewhat disjointed description of the Abbott era. It does a fair job of describing the what, when and how but does not delve into the why. For those who follow the daily goings-on in Canberra, the book may read well but for those who are more removed from the day to day dramas it is harder to follow the narrative and put events in their proper place. Underpinning the entire story, as evidenced by the title, was the role played by Peta Credlin as Abbott’s Chief-of-Staff and main-minder. Clearly, she was very capable but her vision of how to manage the PM’s office, to protect the PM from criticism and to promote his agenda (such as it was) was a large factor in his downfall. What gave rise to this relationship? What drove the antagonistic relationship with the cabinet and backbench? How did the personal dynamic between the two influence the business and political relationship? How did a girl from Wycheproof end up as the (de facto) most powerful person in the country? It would have been enlightening to learn more about these questions.
March 30, 2020
i think this is getting a higher rating from me because this is the period where i became politically aware, and reliving the greatest hits from abbott's extremely inept time as PM with insights from inside the cabinet is extremely cathartic. the book keeps an excellent pace as it rolls through the hits and it's interesting to watch as the current order (morrison-mccormack) gets its foundations.
that said, it's odd how little credlin really impacts the story of the book. for the first 3rd she's quite common, but until the last 20 or so pages she's basically gone. it's hard to not think that the author went for a slight twist to try and make the book stand out, as while she definitely was emblematic of abbott's wider failure, she's so absent throughout the bulk of the book as to make her seem a lot less relevant than you might assume from the title.
apparently the author has two other books on recent australian political history, i guess it's a compliment to say that i'll grab them from my library too as this managed to be both in depth and easily digestible
that said, it's odd how little credlin really impacts the story of the book. for the first 3rd she's quite common, but until the last 20 or so pages she's basically gone. it's hard to not think that the author went for a slight twist to try and make the book stand out, as while she definitely was emblematic of abbott's wider failure, she's so absent throughout the bulk of the book as to make her seem a lot less relevant than you might assume from the title.
apparently the author has two other books on recent australian political history, i guess it's a compliment to say that i'll grab them from my library too as this managed to be both in depth and easily digestible
January 17, 2025
Oh Aaron where do I start with your incredibly biased, sexist and poorly researched book? You write the Lindt Cafe Siege incident occurred in 2015 when, in fact, it was 2014, and other glaring errors like this are littered throughout the book.
You use over-hype language to describe events which in hindsight, are not that memorable, and make strange generalisations such as "Julie Bishop was well liked because she had learned to get on with the boys" and how "she happily accepted a friendly slap on the bottom". WHAT THE ACTUAL F-?? C'mon Aaron, as a senior journalist of a well respected financial newspaper, you need to do better. Stop being so lazy. I know you need a bit of muck to sell a book, but portraying Credlin as an incompetent fool is not the way to do it when she has proven beyond measure that she anything but; and contrary to your dismissive conclusion, yes Aaron, she did bloody earn the right to have "the last say" where she was speaking at a women's conference and was invited to respond to a specific question, which she answered generously and gracefully.
Do better.
You use over-hype language to describe events which in hindsight, are not that memorable, and make strange generalisations such as "Julie Bishop was well liked because she had learned to get on with the boys" and how "she happily accepted a friendly slap on the bottom". WHAT THE ACTUAL F-?? C'mon Aaron, as a senior journalist of a well respected financial newspaper, you need to do better. Stop being so lazy. I know you need a bit of muck to sell a book, but portraying Credlin as an incompetent fool is not the way to do it when she has proven beyond measure that she anything but; and contrary to your dismissive conclusion, yes Aaron, she did bloody earn the right to have "the last say" where she was speaking at a women's conference and was invited to respond to a specific question, which she answered generously and gracefully.
Do better.
March 10, 2020
The title's misleading, this is really a journalistic history of Tony Abbott's brief reign as Australian Prime Minister. Peta Credlin, his chief of staff, is little more than a peripheral character. Her childhood, education, family life and career pre-politics are glossed over, literally in a handful of sentences.
Overall, a light, breezy read but not a lot of substance. We learn a little about what makes Tony Abbott tick, but Credlin remains something of an enigma.
Overall, a light, breezy read but not a lot of substance. We learn a little about what makes Tony Abbott tick, but Credlin remains something of an enigma.
July 26, 2020
For those like myself with an interest in Australian politics, it’s a good read. Well written and easy to read.
June 27, 2021
Well documented and researched book on the failure to Executive Government that was Peta Credlin.
April 15, 2024
Well-researched story of the internecine warfare in the Abbott government.
March 21, 2016
This book is a disappointment on almost every level. Far from giving insight into Peta Credlin, or the relationship between her and Abbott (as promised on the back cover), this book is largely a superficial account of the Abbott Prime Ministership in which Peta Credlin occasionally gets mentioned. For a book selling itself on her name, the book will leave you only slightly more informed about who Peta Credlin is and what she did than you knew before you picked it up.
It largely reads like an essay someone put together over a weekend spent looking at press clippings, and rarely goes into much detail about anything - one late chapter mentions 'considerable evidence' about Credlin using the media as a weapon, a very interesting allegation that is mentioned just that one time and not detailed in any way. Its listing of Abbott's assorted mis-steps is also curiously lacking in detail - to take just three, a discussion of the 2014 Victorian state election fails to include Abbott's weighing in on the EastWest Link issue, and both Dyson Heydon's rather remarkable decision making process regarding his fitness to head a Royal Commission and the repeated struggles of the government with Q&A go entirely unmentioned.
Finally, there are simple questions of style: in keeping with the way most political journalists write their books, Patrick is given to generalisations about 'the media' as if he is not a part of it. He also in no way questions the political and economic orthodoxies of the era. The book frequently comes across as an attempt to demonstrate the writer's political insider status, but he seems less well-informed than he would be by simply reading the papers. The book is also entirely lacking in any references or footnotes.
I sincerely hope that no one makes the error of considering "Credlin & Co." a definitive history of anything.
It largely reads like an essay someone put together over a weekend spent looking at press clippings, and rarely goes into much detail about anything - one late chapter mentions 'considerable evidence' about Credlin using the media as a weapon, a very interesting allegation that is mentioned just that one time and not detailed in any way. Its listing of Abbott's assorted mis-steps is also curiously lacking in detail - to take just three, a discussion of the 2014 Victorian state election fails to include Abbott's weighing in on the EastWest Link issue, and both Dyson Heydon's rather remarkable decision making process regarding his fitness to head a Royal Commission and the repeated struggles of the government with Q&A go entirely unmentioned.
Finally, there are simple questions of style: in keeping with the way most political journalists write their books, Patrick is given to generalisations about 'the media' as if he is not a part of it. He also in no way questions the political and economic orthodoxies of the era. The book frequently comes across as an attempt to demonstrate the writer's political insider status, but he seems less well-informed than he would be by simply reading the papers. The book is also entirely lacking in any references or footnotes.
I sincerely hope that no one makes the error of considering "Credlin & Co." a definitive history of anything.
April 25, 2016
Written with a sympathetic feel for the conservative government, this books tag of 'How the Abbott government destroyed itself' is left largely unanswered by the author.
It repeats many of the falsehoods spread by the government, and its sympathetic media wing, about the opposition, which like Nikki Savva's 'Road to Ruin' forces me to question just how much of the, limited, meat offered is actually true.
It also repeats many of the lines tried by the former leaders of the government to sell their harsh agenda. The bills that are held up by the Senate are good for the economy for example. It also swallows Credlin's claim that she never gave an interview, a claim even a quick search on the internet would prove to be incorrect.
For a book supposed to be about how Abbott and Credlin failed it does little but outline the timetable of events that led to the spill by Turnbull, that have been better and more accurately outlined elsewhere.
Whilst it is generally pretty enjoyable to read about conservatives feasting on each other (which gives them less time and opportunity to attack the rest of us), I am forced to come back to wondering, knowing definitively how much of this book is wrong, how much of it is true...
Probably only worth a read by the most dedicated, others have told this tale before and told it better.
It repeats many of the falsehoods spread by the government, and its sympathetic media wing, about the opposition, which like Nikki Savva's 'Road to Ruin' forces me to question just how much of the, limited, meat offered is actually true.
It also repeats many of the lines tried by the former leaders of the government to sell their harsh agenda. The bills that are held up by the Senate are good for the economy for example. It also swallows Credlin's claim that she never gave an interview, a claim even a quick search on the internet would prove to be incorrect.
For a book supposed to be about how Abbott and Credlin failed it does little but outline the timetable of events that led to the spill by Turnbull, that have been better and more accurately outlined elsewhere.
Whilst it is generally pretty enjoyable to read about conservatives feasting on each other (which gives them less time and opportunity to attack the rest of us), I am forced to come back to wondering, knowing definitively how much of this book is wrong, how much of it is true...
Probably only worth a read by the most dedicated, others have told this tale before and told it better.
May 22, 2016
The first draft of history is written by journalists. Credlin and Co is a detailed account of the government that promised to be grown-up but broke that promise along with many others. There are no revelations here but there is a comprehensive and objective account of what may well be judged one of Australia's worst governments. Patrick shows Prime Minister Tony Abbott's lack of judgement, leadership and ability to make the change from Opposition Leader to Prime Minister. The result was detrimental for the Coalition Government and it was detrimental for Australia because Abbott exacerbated the already poor opinion Australians had of politicians. Lack of trust, respect and regard for our political leaders ultimately damages our system of government and that is detrimental for all of us.
February 4, 2017
An easy-to-read, entertaining (albeit politically horrifying) account of the turbulent time of Abbott's Prime Ministership.
Many of the 'sources' found within the book are unnamed, which as a reader, I found very frustrating. That said, the very fact that so much of the Abbott Government's agenda was leaked by staffers, ministers and otherwise, fairly accurately highlights the issues faced by voters when a government continuously and unethically leaks information (especially to the dubious Murdoch Press).
Many of the 'sources' found within the book are unnamed, which as a reader, I found very frustrating. That said, the very fact that so much of the Abbott Government's agenda was leaked by staffers, ministers and otherwise, fairly accurately highlights the issues faced by voters when a government continuously and unethically leaks information (especially to the dubious Murdoch Press).
March 26, 2016
A light scamper through the two years of Tony Abbott's reign as PM. Although critical, Patrick is balanced in his views on Abbott's strengths.
However the title is misleading as we only catch glimpses of Peta Credlin and there is little in-depth analysis of examples of her alleged interventions. Indeed there is considerably more in this book about Bill Shorten than about Credlin!
However the title is misleading as we only catch glimpses of Peta Credlin and there is little in-depth analysis of examples of her alleged interventions. Indeed there is considerably more in this book about Bill Shorten than about Credlin!
January 15, 2017
This book describes a long series of errors and misjudgments made by Tony Abbott, with intriguing tales from the inside. The background of political tactics and ambitions is interesting, and also truly appalling. I read the book at a great rate. It is a fascinating read, with the type of fascination that strangely enjoys watching a disaster from the outside.
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September 14, 2020Boring, boring, boring. There was nothing in this book that was not already published ad nauseum. Horrible people doing horrible things, a slow downhill slide to a quick and final death, politically speaking. Don't bother
March 27, 2016
Very easy to read. Amazing to read how extremely dysfunctional the Abbott government was. Amazing that it lasted as long as it did.
April 29, 2016
Workmanlike account of this period of politics - interesting to read but no big insights.
July 19, 2016
There were a few juicy bits of gossip, but not as many as I hoped.
Displaying 1 - 24 of 24 reviews