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The Killing Season: Uncut
Australians came to the ABC documentary series The Killing Season in their droves, their fascination with the Rudd-Gillard struggle as enduring as the saga itself. This is the book that brings you the uncut version of The Killing Season, taking you behind the cameras to reveal the untold stories and candid moments that didn’t go to air. For the first time a more complete version of the truth is revealed.
Kevin Rudd and Julia Gillard dominate the drama as they strain to claim the narrative of Labor’s years in power. The journey to screen for each of their interviews is telling in itself. Rudd gives his painful account of the period and recalls in vivid detail the events of losing the prime ministership. Gillard is frank and unsparing of her colleagues.
More than a hundred people were interviewed for The Killing Season—ministers, backbenchers, staffers, party officials, pollsters and public servants—recording their graphic accounts of the public and private events that made the Rudd and Gillard governments and then brought them undone. It is a damning portrait of a party at war with itself—of the personal rivalries and bitter defeats that have come to define the Rudd-Gillard era.
It is also a remarkable insight into the work of Sarah Ferguson, one of Australia’s top journalists.
Kevin Rudd and Julia Gillard dominate the drama as they strain to claim the narrative of Labor’s years in power. The journey to screen for each of their interviews is telling in itself. Rudd gives his painful account of the period and recalls in vivid detail the events of losing the prime ministership. Gillard is frank and unsparing of her colleagues.
More than a hundred people were interviewed for The Killing Season—ministers, backbenchers, staffers, party officials, pollsters and public servants—recording their graphic accounts of the public and private events that made the Rudd and Gillard governments and then brought them undone. It is a damning portrait of a party at war with itself—of the personal rivalries and bitter defeats that have come to define the Rudd-Gillard era.
It is also a remarkable insight into the work of Sarah Ferguson, one of Australia’s top journalists.
301 pages, Paperback
First published April 18, 2016
17 people are currently reading
245 people want to read
About the author
Sarah Ferguson
2 books9 followersSarah Ferguson is an Australian journalist. She has worked for The Independent, the BBC and the ABC. She has presented on the ABC’s 7.30 and worked as a journalist on Four Corners. In 2015, she presented The Killing Season, a three-part documentary on the Rudd-Gillard government. In the same year, she wrote and presented Hitting Home, the landmark series on domestic violence.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 36 reviews
June 12, 2016
5★
This is like a coroner’s inquest into what was widely suggested to be the death of Australia’s Labor Party. As I write, we're in the last 3 weeks of the 2016 Federal election with Labor looking very competitive.
The TV series about the 2007-2013 Rudd-Gillard-Rudd years was terrific, and the book adds more background and colour by explaining how Sarah Ferguson and her crew convinced the various players to be interviewed, and in some cases, to recreate the scenes. In other cases, people declined to take part, a key figure being current Labor leader Bill Shorten, who declares his views are well known (although they really aren’t, says Ferguson).
The crew travelled back and forth around the country and to the U.S., tracking their subjects and their subjects’ international connections. Of course, Ferguson had to make sure she always wore the same “Star Trek jacket” (as Kevin Rudd called it), for continuity. She says if she’d been better prepared, she’d have had more than one of everything to allow time for cleaning between interviews. (You looked fine on TV, Sarah.) Ah, the contingencies we don’t think of!
Many funny things came out of the reenactment process. One was Labor Senator Sam Dastyari shown speaking on a mobile phone that wasn’t around at the time, and another was footage taken from old file film of Labor figure Paul Howes holding and using his phone while driving, which is now illegal here.
Ferguson’s crew spent hours looking for film footage of the relevant characters walking down the appropriate hallways or giving speeches, but sometimes they had to resort to artistic measures to make a daytime function look like evening, for example. The visuals weren’t intended as hard evidence, but they certainly made for much more interesting viewing than a dry report.
This is an excellent, dramatic account of the attacks, counter-attacks and general machinations of a political party in turmoil. The turmoil overshadowed so much of the good things that did happen.
The Global Financial Crisis. Ken Henry was the head of Treasury, appointed by the previous Coalition government, (not some Labor stooge), and he said Kevin Rudd was in the right place at the right time and credited him with making the call on the stimulus spending.
"I think it is extremely likely that he was better prepared for any of this stuff than any political leader anywhere else in the world … He made that decision. I said to him subsequently that I thought his instincts were better than mine, and I still think that."
The then US Treasury Secretary, Hank Paulson, who just managed to save the US banking system, said:
"Kevin really stood out to me. He was quite a remarkable guy … this was the Prime Minister of Australia, [a] long ways away, coming into my office and … and he understood not just the politics, he understood the economics."
So what went awry with PM Rudd? Senator Sam Dastyari explained it.
"The key with Kevin is you’ve got to know which Kevin you’re dealing with before you walk into the room. Are you dealing with workaholic Kevin? Are you dealing with charming Kevin? Are you dealing with angry Kevin? Are you dealing with cunning Kevin?"
I think that says it all. The public saw the charm and sometimes heard about the foul-mouthed outbursts that destroyed staff morale. And then of course, there was the political fallout over an ETS and growing malcontent on the backbenches (and everywhere else). Rudd did what Rudd wanted, kept people waiting, made them follow him around for meetings that didn’t eventuate.
In a word: EGO. He fell victim to what I call Smartest Person in the Room Syndrome. There's a lot of it around. (Personally, I prefer to think that everyone knows something I don’t, and I’m sure they do!)
Labor figures Senator Mark Arbib and NSW Labor campaign director Karl Bitar were the “faceless men” orchestrating the first coup (along with Bill Shorten). Mark, in particular, was a close confidant of Gillard’s. There’s plenty about the wheeling and dealing and backroom discussions and calls and emails and texts and who was on whose side and who shifted and who organised the numbers before they approached Gillard.
It eventually led to Deputy PM Julia Gillard having an extremely long conversation with PM Kevin Rudd, in the presence of elder statesman Senator John Faulkner, from which they each emerged with different expectations. Rudd thought he was being given more time to prove himself, while Gillard admits to Sarah Ferguson that she should have been more forthright and not appear to be leading him on. Faulkner has continued to refuse to comment.
Ferguson says that Gillard was always quite serious and guarded during the interviews and at one point talked like a lawyer.
So Gillard took over, then Australia had another dismal election (resulting in a hung parliament) and the famous “There will be no carbon tax” and then Gillard’s naïve acceptance of the media’s label of the ETS scheme as a “carbon tax”, saying it was just semantics.
But the public didn’t agree - she was shouted down as a liar - then another round of discontented Labor parliamentarians, Shorten changed sides, and it was another coup - Kevin was welcomed back as a last-ditch attempt to charm the Aussie public with an endless campaign of selfies with every single person in the country.
Martin Ferguson, a Labor minister under both Rudd and Gillard, said of Shorten:
"I think in hindsight he now regrets it … You know politics is not about having the numbers. Politics is about knowing when to use them. You’re a better politician if you never use the numbers. You work out what’s right for the party and you step back. That’s the sign of a certain maturity which I think Julia and the faceless men showed they lacked that evening in June 2010.”
I haven’t mentioned the scandals and cross-bench problems that plagued Gillard’s reign, but most are touched on in the book. This is about the coups, the "killings", not day-to-day Parliament.
Really, my only gripe is that I found the layout hard to follow. Paragraphs are indented, presumably to give us some idea of whose ideas we’re reading, but I found I kept having to return to the previous paragraph to make sure I was hearing the right voice. A lot is not quoted, it’s paraphrased, so it can be tricky to tell if it's the author or the other person speaking.
In the actual interview excerpts, initials are used to good effect, so we get a wonderful sense of the flow and the stalling and stumbles when they happen.
I will leave the last word to the last Labor Deputy Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese, who said, “during that entire period it was unstable in terms of the media and in terms of the perceptions. It was like living in two worlds because at the same time the government and the Parliament were actually functioning pretty well. We got things done: 595 pieces of legislation were carried by that Parliament.”
Thanks to NetGalley and Melbourne University Publishing for a copy for review.
This is like a coroner’s inquest into what was widely suggested to be the death of Australia’s Labor Party. As I write, we're in the last 3 weeks of the 2016 Federal election with Labor looking very competitive.
The TV series about the 2007-2013 Rudd-Gillard-Rudd years was terrific, and the book adds more background and colour by explaining how Sarah Ferguson and her crew convinced the various players to be interviewed, and in some cases, to recreate the scenes. In other cases, people declined to take part, a key figure being current Labor leader Bill Shorten, who declares his views are well known (although they really aren’t, says Ferguson).
The crew travelled back and forth around the country and to the U.S., tracking their subjects and their subjects’ international connections. Of course, Ferguson had to make sure she always wore the same “Star Trek jacket” (as Kevin Rudd called it), for continuity. She says if she’d been better prepared, she’d have had more than one of everything to allow time for cleaning between interviews. (You looked fine on TV, Sarah.) Ah, the contingencies we don’t think of!
Many funny things came out of the reenactment process. One was Labor Senator Sam Dastyari shown speaking on a mobile phone that wasn’t around at the time, and another was footage taken from old file film of Labor figure Paul Howes holding and using his phone while driving, which is now illegal here.
Ferguson’s crew spent hours looking for film footage of the relevant characters walking down the appropriate hallways or giving speeches, but sometimes they had to resort to artistic measures to make a daytime function look like evening, for example. The visuals weren’t intended as hard evidence, but they certainly made for much more interesting viewing than a dry report.
This is an excellent, dramatic account of the attacks, counter-attacks and general machinations of a political party in turmoil. The turmoil overshadowed so much of the good things that did happen.
The Global Financial Crisis. Ken Henry was the head of Treasury, appointed by the previous Coalition government, (not some Labor stooge), and he said Kevin Rudd was in the right place at the right time and credited him with making the call on the stimulus spending.
"I think it is extremely likely that he was better prepared for any of this stuff than any political leader anywhere else in the world … He made that decision. I said to him subsequently that I thought his instincts were better than mine, and I still think that."
The then US Treasury Secretary, Hank Paulson, who just managed to save the US banking system, said:
"Kevin really stood out to me. He was quite a remarkable guy … this was the Prime Minister of Australia, [a] long ways away, coming into my office and … and he understood not just the politics, he understood the economics."
So what went awry with PM Rudd? Senator Sam Dastyari explained it.
"The key with Kevin is you’ve got to know which Kevin you’re dealing with before you walk into the room. Are you dealing with workaholic Kevin? Are you dealing with charming Kevin? Are you dealing with angry Kevin? Are you dealing with cunning Kevin?"
I think that says it all. The public saw the charm and sometimes heard about the foul-mouthed outbursts that destroyed staff morale. And then of course, there was the political fallout over an ETS and growing malcontent on the backbenches (and everywhere else). Rudd did what Rudd wanted, kept people waiting, made them follow him around for meetings that didn’t eventuate.
In a word: EGO. He fell victim to what I call Smartest Person in the Room Syndrome. There's a lot of it around. (Personally, I prefer to think that everyone knows something I don’t, and I’m sure they do!)
Labor figures Senator Mark Arbib and NSW Labor campaign director Karl Bitar were the “faceless men” orchestrating the first coup (along with Bill Shorten). Mark, in particular, was a close confidant of Gillard’s. There’s plenty about the wheeling and dealing and backroom discussions and calls and emails and texts and who was on whose side and who shifted and who organised the numbers before they approached Gillard.
It eventually led to Deputy PM Julia Gillard having an extremely long conversation with PM Kevin Rudd, in the presence of elder statesman Senator John Faulkner, from which they each emerged with different expectations. Rudd thought he was being given more time to prove himself, while Gillard admits to Sarah Ferguson that she should have been more forthright and not appear to be leading him on. Faulkner has continued to refuse to comment.
Ferguson says that Gillard was always quite serious and guarded during the interviews and at one point talked like a lawyer.
So Gillard took over, then Australia had another dismal election (resulting in a hung parliament) and the famous “There will be no carbon tax” and then Gillard’s naïve acceptance of the media’s label of the ETS scheme as a “carbon tax”, saying it was just semantics.
But the public didn’t agree - she was shouted down as a liar - then another round of discontented Labor parliamentarians, Shorten changed sides, and it was another coup - Kevin was welcomed back as a last-ditch attempt to charm the Aussie public with an endless campaign of selfies with every single person in the country.
Martin Ferguson, a Labor minister under both Rudd and Gillard, said of Shorten:
"I think in hindsight he now regrets it … You know politics is not about having the numbers. Politics is about knowing when to use them. You’re a better politician if you never use the numbers. You work out what’s right for the party and you step back. That’s the sign of a certain maturity which I think Julia and the faceless men showed they lacked that evening in June 2010.”
I haven’t mentioned the scandals and cross-bench problems that plagued Gillard’s reign, but most are touched on in the book. This is about the coups, the "killings", not day-to-day Parliament.
Really, my only gripe is that I found the layout hard to follow. Paragraphs are indented, presumably to give us some idea of whose ideas we’re reading, but I found I kept having to return to the previous paragraph to make sure I was hearing the right voice. A lot is not quoted, it’s paraphrased, so it can be tricky to tell if it's the author or the other person speaking.
In the actual interview excerpts, initials are used to good effect, so we get a wonderful sense of the flow and the stalling and stumbles when they happen.
I will leave the last word to the last Labor Deputy Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese, who said, “during that entire period it was unstable in terms of the media and in terms of the perceptions. It was like living in two worlds because at the same time the government and the Parliament were actually functioning pretty well. We got things done: 595 pieces of legislation were carried by that Parliament.”
Thanks to NetGalley and Melbourne University Publishing for a copy for review.
June 4, 2016
'The last week of Parliament: in politics they call it the killing season.'
(Rounding up from 4.5 stars.)
I've been particularly interested in the Rudd - Gillard - Rudd era of Australian politics lately, mostly due to the exceptionally made ABC documentary series 'The Killing Season.' I couldn't wait to get my hands on this book which explores those years in greater detail. I was hooked from the opening chapter in which Kevin Rudd is barricading himself inside the studio's green room and refusing to come out and answer the journalist's questions. It's a perfect summary of his true personality, not the persona that he has crafted so well and which so many Australians fell for.
As someone who sits further to the right on the political spectrum, I admit that when Labor was self destructing during their 6 dramatic years in office, I relished the opportunities that this afforded their rivals. Being unattached from the situation and its players has allowed me a more objective view when reading about these years as I wasn't blinded by loyalty.
Sarah Ferguson is a fantastic journalist who did a great job on The Killing Season miniseries and she writes extremely well too.
Beyond the he said/she said allegations of what may or may not have happened, it's morbidly fascinating that the 2 brightest stars of their generation in the Australian Labor Party snuffed each out at their peak. They were a formidable team as Prime Minister and Deputy Prime Minister but on their own their paranoid obsession with each other brought about their demise.
I was amazed at the 'Canberra bubble', how those infamous 'faceless men' plotting to remove a very popular elected Prime Minister in his first term of office did not pause for a moment to think that the public might not like or understand why the country suddenly awoke one morning to a new Prime Minister. They really seemed to think that they could start again with a new unelected Prime Minister when all the public saw was disunity in the government. It's also fascinating that Rudd's true personality (immature, vindictive, bullying, thriving off humiliating others, freezing people out and viewing himself as a perpetual victim), the reason why he was ousted, remained hidden from the public for so long. And that his obsession with the idea of being usurped by Julia Gillard became so strong that it literally made front page news and he offended and provoked her to challenge and then take the title of Prime Minister away from him with the overwhelming support of his colleagues.
I doubt we'll ever know the real truth since the only other person in the room (John Falkner) is not talking. Rudd interviews immaturely, angrily and vindictively; throwing insult after insult at Gillard and anyone who supported her, he's constantly expressing his bitterness through sarcasm and exaggeration, continually referencing Shakespeare and speaking in Mandarin for no relevant reason. Every memory of his time as Prime Minister is stained by what he constantly refers to as 'the betrayal.'
Then there's Julia Gillard. Australia's first female Prime Minister. Unelected. While Rudd was popular with the general public and detested by those who had to work with him, it was the opposite for Gillard. She was not popular with the public and was downright despised at times. Yet anyone who's had to work with her only has good things to say about her- calling her warm, funny, extremely efficient and hard working getting nearly 600 pieces of legislation through parliament in a short period of time. While she (understandably) had her guard up around the public, there's no denying that the government worked better with her in charge. She's extremely guarded in her interviews for the Killing Season. While obviously much more mature than Kevin Rudd, it's hard to get past the facade. Sometimes she dodges questions.
The worst part of this as an observer is not the coup which ousted Rudd, it's the coup that outsted Gillard and destroyed the Labor party and it began on the day that Rudd was outsted. Rudd was denied his request to serve as Foreign Minister in Gillard's Cabinet. Suddenly stories that would undermine Gillard leaked to the nation's media. The moment that Gillard gave in to the blackmail and made Rudd Foreign Minister, the leaks stopped. Temporarily. The extent to which Rudd went to ruin Gillard and destroy his own political party in the name of revenge and his lack of insight into this, is truly disturbing. At the same time he was capitalising on his persona's enormous popularity with the public which eventually forced the Labor party to back him to try and get re-elected. Cue coup #2 and Australia wakes up to a new Prime Minister again. It's Kevin Rudd again. In his mind he has been vindicated but the damage is irreparable. Labor loses the next election.
(And the Coalition followed their lead and replaced the elected Prime Minister in his first term. We've now had 5 Prime Ministers in 5 years.)
Regardless of who said what, Kevin Rudd would let the world burn to get revenge and would still never be satisfied. Time has not lessened his bitterness. In contrast, Julia Gillard has risen above Rudd's attempts to annihilate her and has had a very successful post politics career, working alongside Hillary Clinton and Michelle Obama and becoming internationally recognised in the field of education.
My review might make it seem that this was an unbalanced book, however I don't think that it is. This book (and others) have allowed me to draw my own conclusions. It gives a fair assessment of both Prime Ministers' successes and shortcomings and relies on third parties (over 100!) for an objective analysis of this period in Australian politics. I read the whole thing in just over a day. If you're interested in politics you will love this. There isn't even fiction as dramatic as this era.
(Rounding up from 4.5 stars.)
I've been particularly interested in the Rudd - Gillard - Rudd era of Australian politics lately, mostly due to the exceptionally made ABC documentary series 'The Killing Season.' I couldn't wait to get my hands on this book which explores those years in greater detail. I was hooked from the opening chapter in which Kevin Rudd is barricading himself inside the studio's green room and refusing to come out and answer the journalist's questions. It's a perfect summary of his true personality, not the persona that he has crafted so well and which so many Australians fell for.
As someone who sits further to the right on the political spectrum, I admit that when Labor was self destructing during their 6 dramatic years in office, I relished the opportunities that this afforded their rivals. Being unattached from the situation and its players has allowed me a more objective view when reading about these years as I wasn't blinded by loyalty.
Sarah Ferguson is a fantastic journalist who did a great job on The Killing Season miniseries and she writes extremely well too.
Beyond the he said/she said allegations of what may or may not have happened, it's morbidly fascinating that the 2 brightest stars of their generation in the Australian Labor Party snuffed each out at their peak. They were a formidable team as Prime Minister and Deputy Prime Minister but on their own their paranoid obsession with each other brought about their demise.
I was amazed at the 'Canberra bubble', how those infamous 'faceless men' plotting to remove a very popular elected Prime Minister in his first term of office did not pause for a moment to think that the public might not like or understand why the country suddenly awoke one morning to a new Prime Minister. They really seemed to think that they could start again with a new unelected Prime Minister when all the public saw was disunity in the government. It's also fascinating that Rudd's true personality (immature, vindictive, bullying, thriving off humiliating others, freezing people out and viewing himself as a perpetual victim), the reason why he was ousted, remained hidden from the public for so long. And that his obsession with the idea of being usurped by Julia Gillard became so strong that it literally made front page news and he offended and provoked her to challenge and then take the title of Prime Minister away from him with the overwhelming support of his colleagues.
I doubt we'll ever know the real truth since the only other person in the room (John Falkner) is not talking. Rudd interviews immaturely, angrily and vindictively; throwing insult after insult at Gillard and anyone who supported her, he's constantly expressing his bitterness through sarcasm and exaggeration, continually referencing Shakespeare and speaking in Mandarin for no relevant reason. Every memory of his time as Prime Minister is stained by what he constantly refers to as 'the betrayal.'
Then there's Julia Gillard. Australia's first female Prime Minister. Unelected. While Rudd was popular with the general public and detested by those who had to work with him, it was the opposite for Gillard. She was not popular with the public and was downright despised at times. Yet anyone who's had to work with her only has good things to say about her- calling her warm, funny, extremely efficient and hard working getting nearly 600 pieces of legislation through parliament in a short period of time. While she (understandably) had her guard up around the public, there's no denying that the government worked better with her in charge. She's extremely guarded in her interviews for the Killing Season. While obviously much more mature than Kevin Rudd, it's hard to get past the facade. Sometimes she dodges questions.
The worst part of this as an observer is not the coup which ousted Rudd, it's the coup that outsted Gillard and destroyed the Labor party and it began on the day that Rudd was outsted. Rudd was denied his request to serve as Foreign Minister in Gillard's Cabinet. Suddenly stories that would undermine Gillard leaked to the nation's media. The moment that Gillard gave in to the blackmail and made Rudd Foreign Minister, the leaks stopped. Temporarily. The extent to which Rudd went to ruin Gillard and destroy his own political party in the name of revenge and his lack of insight into this, is truly disturbing. At the same time he was capitalising on his persona's enormous popularity with the public which eventually forced the Labor party to back him to try and get re-elected. Cue coup #2 and Australia wakes up to a new Prime Minister again. It's Kevin Rudd again. In his mind he has been vindicated but the damage is irreparable. Labor loses the next election.
(And the Coalition followed their lead and replaced the elected Prime Minister in his first term. We've now had 5 Prime Ministers in 5 years.)
Regardless of who said what, Kevin Rudd would let the world burn to get revenge and would still never be satisfied. Time has not lessened his bitterness. In contrast, Julia Gillard has risen above Rudd's attempts to annihilate her and has had a very successful post politics career, working alongside Hillary Clinton and Michelle Obama and becoming internationally recognised in the field of education.
My review might make it seem that this was an unbalanced book, however I don't think that it is. This book (and others) have allowed me to draw my own conclusions. It gives a fair assessment of both Prime Ministers' successes and shortcomings and relies on third parties (over 100!) for an objective analysis of this period in Australian politics. I read the whole thing in just over a day. If you're interested in politics you will love this. There isn't even fiction as dramatic as this era.
August 4, 2016
I was completely wrong. I thought the TV series was brilliant and that nothing could be added to it by the book (and in fact I may have questioned why it was even released). I'm so glad I still decided to read it, it was a fascinating read. A very strong 4 maybe even 4.5/5.
November 29, 2016
Sarah Ferguson is fabulous, extra star as she survived accidentally seeing Wayne Swan in his undies.
October 7, 2016
I saw only one thing at the Melbourne Writers Festival - a session with Don Watson and Sarah Ferguson. Ironically I went because of Don Watson but left carrying Sarah Ferguson’s book (written with Patricia Drum). She opened the session by reading from it – a wonderful reading that detailed one of the filming sessions for The Killing Season. She has great presence, Sarah Ferguson and as soon as I heard her reading I knew I wanted to read her book. (It’s hard to create presence in The Edge space that they now use for the writers festival – there’s something about the size and remove from the stage that is distancing. I always feel nostalgic for the busy intensity and intimacy that was MWF at the Malthouse – it’s never worked for me now that it happens in the CBD.)
The Killing Season riffs off the TV series of the same name. Essentially the book is the story of how this project was made – a project that enticed both Gillard and Rudd to talk about what happened along with most of the main players in that sad political roller coaster between 2007 and 2013. As an ex British MP says: "How is it possible that you win an election in November 2007 on the scale that you do, with the permission that you're gifted by the public, and you manage to lose all that goodwill, to trash the permission and to find yourself out of office, within just six years? I've never seen anything quite like it in any country, anywhere, anytime, in any part of the world. And that is something that no-one can escape blame for."
One of the most interesting things that I learnt in reading the book was that all of the people involved in “the coup” were new to parliament – they had all been there for less than 3 years. Greg Combet said of this: "She would have had a group of people, the urgers, 'Yeah yeah yeah, you know, you're the one, you're the one, he's finished, he's finished, it's you, it's you'. And that's how they talk, some of them. She's ambitious, and probably got a sizeable ego too, like the rest of us. An opportunity's presenting itself. Plus all the frustrations that are there. And you know maybe she might have handled it differently if she'd been a bit more experienced." I think of them as boys playing World Of Warcraft – it makes me angry even now that so much of our political life is hostage to people like this.
At the time of watching, I thought that Rudd came off better in the TV series. Ferguson said that she thought long and hard about how to approach Rudd. There were a number of interviews with both Gillard and Rudd – something that I didn’t realise while I was watching the program. Ferguson said; “Rudd - you don't win with combat - he's emotionally labile.” She felt she needed to find a way into the heart of the man. Gillard was more distanced and wary and there is never a sense in the book that Ferguson got any closer to her. The following is from an interview with Ferguson: “I am used to building quick rapport as a journalist, not through false intimacy but rather as a means of reaching an authentic exchange quickly but those techniques did nothing to alter the relationship. I even tried talking about shoes, demonstrating how well made my high heels were by running in the studio. Gillard looked at me, bemused.”
This is how she contrasts the two: “I was struck by how different Rudd and Gillard’s approaches were in those early meetings. Their engagement with the series mirrored their styles in politics. Gillard was punctual, efficient, precise — the word most often used to describe her by her peers is transactional. Rudd was usually late, less efficient, but also given to more engagement. Gillard was private; Rudd wore his heart on his sleeve.”
In the book, Ferguson and Drum write:
“We’d accepted there could be no definite truth, only the subjective experiences of each of the players. In Gillard’s version, she was left with no choice but to act in the best interests of the nation. In the same way, Rudd tried to reduce the events of 2010 to a single base instinct: Gillard’s overweening ambition.”
I really liked this book. For two reasons – the unpacking of the politics and also the fact that it’s a book about how you curate a story. An audience member asked about the role of the media and Ferguson responded by saying that she really didn’t trust what she heard from people she interviewed “unless they were actually in the room” when something happened. At the launch of the book, it was reported that she said “that people should start a conversation regarding media stories. Readers should ask themselves ‘where did this story come from’ and distrust people who use background sources, she said. Those who leak stories and won’t put a name on the record should make us all question the information, and place accountability of media on the agenda”.
Finally – it’s worth recording that at the Writers Fest event, Don Watson described Tony Abbott as The Revanant – which got a big, slightly scared laugh from the audience.
The Killing Season riffs off the TV series of the same name. Essentially the book is the story of how this project was made – a project that enticed both Gillard and Rudd to talk about what happened along with most of the main players in that sad political roller coaster between 2007 and 2013. As an ex British MP says: "How is it possible that you win an election in November 2007 on the scale that you do, with the permission that you're gifted by the public, and you manage to lose all that goodwill, to trash the permission and to find yourself out of office, within just six years? I've never seen anything quite like it in any country, anywhere, anytime, in any part of the world. And that is something that no-one can escape blame for."
One of the most interesting things that I learnt in reading the book was that all of the people involved in “the coup” were new to parliament – they had all been there for less than 3 years. Greg Combet said of this: "She would have had a group of people, the urgers, 'Yeah yeah yeah, you know, you're the one, you're the one, he's finished, he's finished, it's you, it's you'. And that's how they talk, some of them. She's ambitious, and probably got a sizeable ego too, like the rest of us. An opportunity's presenting itself. Plus all the frustrations that are there. And you know maybe she might have handled it differently if she'd been a bit more experienced." I think of them as boys playing World Of Warcraft – it makes me angry even now that so much of our political life is hostage to people like this.
At the time of watching, I thought that Rudd came off better in the TV series. Ferguson said that she thought long and hard about how to approach Rudd. There were a number of interviews with both Gillard and Rudd – something that I didn’t realise while I was watching the program. Ferguson said; “Rudd - you don't win with combat - he's emotionally labile.” She felt she needed to find a way into the heart of the man. Gillard was more distanced and wary and there is never a sense in the book that Ferguson got any closer to her. The following is from an interview with Ferguson: “I am used to building quick rapport as a journalist, not through false intimacy but rather as a means of reaching an authentic exchange quickly but those techniques did nothing to alter the relationship. I even tried talking about shoes, demonstrating how well made my high heels were by running in the studio. Gillard looked at me, bemused.”
This is how she contrasts the two: “I was struck by how different Rudd and Gillard’s approaches were in those early meetings. Their engagement with the series mirrored their styles in politics. Gillard was punctual, efficient, precise — the word most often used to describe her by her peers is transactional. Rudd was usually late, less efficient, but also given to more engagement. Gillard was private; Rudd wore his heart on his sleeve.”
In the book, Ferguson and Drum write:
“We’d accepted there could be no definite truth, only the subjective experiences of each of the players. In Gillard’s version, she was left with no choice but to act in the best interests of the nation. In the same way, Rudd tried to reduce the events of 2010 to a single base instinct: Gillard’s overweening ambition.”
I really liked this book. For two reasons – the unpacking of the politics and also the fact that it’s a book about how you curate a story. An audience member asked about the role of the media and Ferguson responded by saying that she really didn’t trust what she heard from people she interviewed “unless they were actually in the room” when something happened. At the launch of the book, it was reported that she said “that people should start a conversation regarding media stories. Readers should ask themselves ‘where did this story come from’ and distrust people who use background sources, she said. Those who leak stories and won’t put a name on the record should make us all question the information, and place accountability of media on the agenda”.
Finally – it’s worth recording that at the Writers Fest event, Don Watson described Tony Abbott as The Revanant – which got a big, slightly scared laugh from the audience.
February 1, 2019
The years of Labor government from 2007-2013 were overshadowed by the leadership spills and the reasoning (or lack thereof) for them. But more than that, the media fed off endless speculation of the next spill, which fed into the political uncertainty and instability at the time.
The Killing Season: Uncut tells the story of the spills but seemingly let's the media off the hook for the part they played in the saga. In the book, politicians complaining about the media is likened to rugby players complaining about the opposition on the field. I feel this is a weak comparison because surely the Opposition would be the opposition in this analogy. The media ought to be likened to the commentators, not on the field but undoubtedly having a great impact on the game.
But what can you expect from a book from the perspective of journalists? This doesn't mean the book is lacking in genuine insight.
Rudd and Gillard have conflicting memories of what happened throughout their years of leadership, but they are both similar that both are happy to condemn the other. Albeit in different ways. Rudd feels there was a moral failure on Gillard's part, while Gillard offers a psychoanalysis on Rudd that found him unsuitable to be PM.
I could go on. In those days it was a novel experience to wake up to find a new PM was in charge. These days it's a surprise every day a PM manages to hold onto the leadership of their respective party.
No doubt there will be a Killing Season 2 once the current Liberal government, with three different PMs over less than 6 years, is ousted.
The Killing Season: Uncut tells the story of the spills but seemingly let's the media off the hook for the part they played in the saga. In the book, politicians complaining about the media is likened to rugby players complaining about the opposition on the field. I feel this is a weak comparison because surely the Opposition would be the opposition in this analogy. The media ought to be likened to the commentators, not on the field but undoubtedly having a great impact on the game.
But what can you expect from a book from the perspective of journalists? This doesn't mean the book is lacking in genuine insight.
Rudd and Gillard have conflicting memories of what happened throughout their years of leadership, but they are both similar that both are happy to condemn the other. Albeit in different ways. Rudd feels there was a moral failure on Gillard's part, while Gillard offers a psychoanalysis on Rudd that found him unsuitable to be PM.
I could go on. In those days it was a novel experience to wake up to find a new PM was in charge. These days it's a surprise every day a PM manages to hold onto the leadership of their respective party.
No doubt there will be a Killing Season 2 once the current Liberal government, with three different PMs over less than 6 years, is ousted.
April 28, 2016
‘The last week of Parliament: in politics they call it the killing season.’
I didn’t watch much of the ABC’s ‘The Killing Season’ on television. While I have great respect for Sarah Ferguson’s skill as a journalist, I have far less little faith in what either Mr Rudd or Ms Gillard would present as their respective version of the truth of the events that destroyed their governments. But when I became aware that a book was being published, a book with the uncut version of the series, then I knew I needed to read it. Especially as Australia is about to face another federal election, and there’s a possibility that Labor might be re-elected to power.
But back to Ms Gillard and Mr Rudd. As Sarah Ferguson writes:
‘I learnt listening to them you couldn’t determine who was telling the truth. You could only put them side by side and let the audience decide.’
My own impression (from both events at the time and from reading this book) is that both Ms Gillard and Mr Rudd have developed an individual ‘truth’ that supports the narrative they choose to share. And neither, in my view, can occupy the moral high ground.
There can be little doubt that Mr Rudd’s leadership style was frequently inefficient and often ineffective. So many things had to go through the Prime Minister’s Office, and few decisions seemed to be made in a timely manner. And the administration of some decisions (I’m thinking particularly of the Home Insulation Scheme, and aspects of the Building the Education Revolution (BER)) were appalling. A government, elected with such high expectations, seemed to lose its way and lose its effectiveness very early. But replacing Mr Rudd with Ms Gillard made a bad situation worse. The way in which Ms Gillard replaced Mr Rudd (regardless of any ex post facto justification) was never going to give her government legitimacy. And, worse than that, it seems obvious that Ms Gillard and her supporters had no plan beyond replacing Mr Rudd. As if, by magic, replacing one leader with another would somehow fix everything.
‘Gillard and Rudd together were a very powerful combination. She was everything to the Labor Party that he wasn’t, and he was everything to the public that she wasn’t. Together they worked perfectly.’
More than a hundred people were interviewed for ‘The Killing Season’. Their accounts of events provide a damning account of the Rudd-Gillard era. But not everyone who was involved agreed to be interviewed. I’d be particularly interested in reading Bill Shorten’s account of events, given that he appeared to play such a pivotal role, and is likely to be Prime Minister if Labor is elected to govern later this year.
I wonder what the Labor Party has learned from these events. They managed to destroy their own government, to present personal rivalries as more important than the effective governance of Australia, and to hand government to Tony Abbott. Quite an accomplishment. If you are interested in Australian politics, the Rudd-Gillard era and its legacy, it’s worth reading this book.
Note: My thanks to NetGalley and Melbourne University Publishing for providing me with a free electronic copy of this book for review purposes.
Jennifer Cameron-Smith
I didn’t watch much of the ABC’s ‘The Killing Season’ on television. While I have great respect for Sarah Ferguson’s skill as a journalist, I have far less little faith in what either Mr Rudd or Ms Gillard would present as their respective version of the truth of the events that destroyed their governments. But when I became aware that a book was being published, a book with the uncut version of the series, then I knew I needed to read it. Especially as Australia is about to face another federal election, and there’s a possibility that Labor might be re-elected to power.
But back to Ms Gillard and Mr Rudd. As Sarah Ferguson writes:
‘I learnt listening to them you couldn’t determine who was telling the truth. You could only put them side by side and let the audience decide.’
My own impression (from both events at the time and from reading this book) is that both Ms Gillard and Mr Rudd have developed an individual ‘truth’ that supports the narrative they choose to share. And neither, in my view, can occupy the moral high ground.
There can be little doubt that Mr Rudd’s leadership style was frequently inefficient and often ineffective. So many things had to go through the Prime Minister’s Office, and few decisions seemed to be made in a timely manner. And the administration of some decisions (I’m thinking particularly of the Home Insulation Scheme, and aspects of the Building the Education Revolution (BER)) were appalling. A government, elected with such high expectations, seemed to lose its way and lose its effectiveness very early. But replacing Mr Rudd with Ms Gillard made a bad situation worse. The way in which Ms Gillard replaced Mr Rudd (regardless of any ex post facto justification) was never going to give her government legitimacy. And, worse than that, it seems obvious that Ms Gillard and her supporters had no plan beyond replacing Mr Rudd. As if, by magic, replacing one leader with another would somehow fix everything.
‘Gillard and Rudd together were a very powerful combination. She was everything to the Labor Party that he wasn’t, and he was everything to the public that she wasn’t. Together they worked perfectly.’
More than a hundred people were interviewed for ‘The Killing Season’. Their accounts of events provide a damning account of the Rudd-Gillard era. But not everyone who was involved agreed to be interviewed. I’d be particularly interested in reading Bill Shorten’s account of events, given that he appeared to play such a pivotal role, and is likely to be Prime Minister if Labor is elected to govern later this year.
I wonder what the Labor Party has learned from these events. They managed to destroy their own government, to present personal rivalries as more important than the effective governance of Australia, and to hand government to Tony Abbott. Quite an accomplishment. If you are interested in Australian politics, the Rudd-Gillard era and its legacy, it’s worth reading this book.
Note: My thanks to NetGalley and Melbourne University Publishing for providing me with a free electronic copy of this book for review purposes.
Jennifer Cameron-Smith
May 4, 2016
A fine accompaniment to a stunning three-part television documentary, 'The Killing Season Uncut' tells the story of Australia's Rudd-Gillard-Rudd prime ministership of the recent past. Like the series, the book follows a strict chronology that features extensive interviews with key players within the Australian Labor Party, including Rudd and Gillard. In the text version, journalist Sarah Ferguson – ably assisted by series researcher Patricia Drum – offers occasional asides about the interviews and the production itself, which involved more than 1200 shots in each of the three episodes; more than most feature films, apparently.
Having absorbed the documentary when it first screened in 2015, and thus being well acquainted with the story, I found that Ferguson's journalistic asides were the highlight of The Killing Season Uncut. Insights such as this are well worth the price of admission: "The business of persuasion is a fraught one for journalists. Persuasiveness is one thing, bullshit is another. You have to understand your subject intimately and what their purpose is in speaking on camera. I prefer candour but it's not enough by itself. And you are not friends, although it can appear that way. The line you shouldn't cross is usually only visible when it's behind you."
Having absorbed the documentary when it first screened in 2015, and thus being well acquainted with the story, I found that Ferguson's journalistic asides were the highlight of The Killing Season Uncut. Insights such as this are well worth the price of admission: "The business of persuasion is a fraught one for journalists. Persuasiveness is one thing, bullshit is another. You have to understand your subject intimately and what their purpose is in speaking on camera. I prefer candour but it's not enough by itself. And you are not friends, although it can appear that way. The line you shouldn't cross is usually only visible when it's behind you."
May 15, 2016
A very interesting read. Ferguson's storytelling captures much of the drama of 2007-2013, but I just can't accept the extent to which she seems to make excuses for Rudd, who to my mind remains one of the greatest villains of Australian politics and the Australian labor movement.
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September 4, 20164.5/5
July 2, 2017
This book simultaneously tells two stories. One is the of the Rudd-Gillard years, as told by not just the two antagonists but also others who were involved in the political (and to a lesser extent the policy) sphere. Expanding on the television series of the same name, this book eschewed off the record talks with everyone quoted in this book putting their name to their recollections and views. To have it done reveals the competing memories of the time/versions of history of that tumultuous time.
The second story is no less interesting. It is of how the author managed to convince both Kevin Rudd and Julia Gillard (and others) to take part in the television series. Detailing the process of getting many key players to speak on camera (including detailing some unsuccessful attempts e.g. Bill Shorten) reveals more about the people behind the policies. The differences (as the authors observe and conclude) between how Rudd and Gillard were in the process of the interviews is as striking as it is fascinating.
Together, the two stories give a piercing insight into the events of the time and the people who were the key actors in what occurred. Who is right, who remembers more correctly, whether what was done was appropriate, and ultimate opinions of the actions and the players of is left to the reader, but left with much to mull over.
The second story is no less interesting. It is of how the author managed to convince both Kevin Rudd and Julia Gillard (and others) to take part in the television series. Detailing the process of getting many key players to speak on camera (including detailing some unsuccessful attempts e.g. Bill Shorten) reveals more about the people behind the policies. The differences (as the authors observe and conclude) between how Rudd and Gillard were in the process of the interviews is as striking as it is fascinating.
Together, the two stories give a piercing insight into the events of the time and the people who were the key actors in what occurred. Who is right, who remembers more correctly, whether what was done was appropriate, and ultimate opinions of the actions and the players of is left to the reader, but left with much to mull over.
December 31, 2017
Journalist Ferguson made a TV series examining the rise and fall of the Australian Labor Party prime ministers Rudd and Gillard, relying almost exclusively on filmed interviews of the key players to tell the story. It makes for really good viewing if Australian politics is your thing.
She then wrote a book that is an "extended edition" of the series, featuring extra quotes from the interviews and tied together by her own insights and commentary on the behind-the-scenes behaviour of the interview subjects. The same story is told as per the TV show, but with more warts.
It makes for quite compelling reading. Again, if Australian politics is your thing. Others might find the material, well, a bit niche.
Rated PG for some mild coarse language. 4/5
She then wrote a book that is an "extended edition" of the series, featuring extra quotes from the interviews and tied together by her own insights and commentary on the behind-the-scenes behaviour of the interview subjects. The same story is told as per the TV show, but with more warts.
It makes for quite compelling reading. Again, if Australian politics is your thing. Others might find the material, well, a bit niche.
Rated PG for some mild coarse language. 4/5
October 14, 2018
I have had this book on my pile for a while, as I was interested to read it but am not too keen on political books. It was a heady time to be a part of the labour movement during the years that this book covers (election of the Rudd-Gillard Labor Government). The book filled out some blanks for me about the Labor side of the 2007 election.
Ironically, I was still reading the book when Malcolm Turnbull was turfed from his position as Prime Minister and ScoMo was installed.
It was an insightful book, and more so for how it illuminates the grunt-work required to get interviewees to respond to questions, difficult questions.
I enjoyed Sarah Ferguson's writing and description of her own process as much as the story she drew together.
Ironically, I was still reading the book when Malcolm Turnbull was turfed from his position as Prime Minister and ScoMo was installed.
It was an insightful book, and more so for how it illuminates the grunt-work required to get interviewees to respond to questions, difficult questions.
I enjoyed Sarah Ferguson's writing and description of her own process as much as the story she drew together.
October 18, 2023
Ooooooof. The Documentary that foreshadowed this book is probably the best doco series made. If you lived through this period of Australian politics, you remember how fraught it was. I didn't know what the book might add to this, but was determined to give it a red hot go. And boy, does it ever foreground much the series. I even went back and rewatched half way through the book and I can say if you have seen it you should absolutely read the book, and if you've not seen the doco you should both read the book and watch this Doco Series.
April 12, 2024
An extremely well written book on a fascinating subject of leadership challenges in the ALP around 2010. No bias was shown and the reader, in my view, was left to draw their own conclusion. I couldn't put the book down and could not believe the behaviour of senior politicians and wonder if it was the start of our loss of faith in institutions such as political parties. Really worth reading.
January 14, 2018
A brilliant insight to the demise of the 07 Labor Party. The potential was endless, but the egos were too big. Highly recommended.
October 31, 2018
Unbridged audiobook. Interesting but would be better if included audio from the politicians and staffers involved, instead of author reading out quotes.
March 10, 2019
A interesting read especially further removed from the events in the book.
August 8, 2021
Interesting, detailed, balanced.
January 4, 2024
Kevin Rudd gaslighting king. Julia Gillard, policy queen. This book has everything a media and politics nerd would ever want.
August 12, 2024
Feels like a six part version of the three part tv series. Terrific for those interested in a fuller account of Labor's self-implosion.
July 28, 2016
The “Killing Season Uncut” is an interesting companion to the documentary it is based on. The 3-part doco is brilliant television - well-shot and edited with clarity and style. It creates suspense around the power machinations of federal Labor; no easy task when the outcome is so well known. Ferguson and Drum's book tells the story of the making of the documentary, recounting the reluctance of many participants, and the process of trying to persuade politicians to be personally revealing. Much of the book is taken up by recounting the content of the doco – there are big chunks of the dialogue included. New material is actually quite small as a proportion of the content. The style is of rough-hewn blocks of quotes drawn together but without the cohesive strength of a powerful authorial voice. When it does emerge, it is sharp: "Shadow boxing, hints, code, metaphors and wrestling with smoke. For a blunt person whose language can be visceral when she wants, Gillard's descriptions seemed to be covered in mist." I wanted more of this analysis. Ultimately, the “Killing Season Uncut” is a useful addition to understanding Australian politics and political documentary making, but I’m still more likely to re-watch the doco than re-read the book.
May 23, 2016
Greatly enjoyed this gripping account of the Rudd/Gillard/Rudd years - a wonderful accompaniment to the television series of 2015. It attempted to provide some sort of "answer" to what went right and wrong in that tumultuous time. I came away feeling saddened for the state of politics - in all that happened it seemed that the Australian voters were totally side-lined and forgotten about - almost incidental within the greater context of leadership changes "for the greater good". What a brilliant interviewer is Sarah Ferguson.
June 16, 2016
On the surface, this book is an analysis of the Rudd/Gillard leadership struggle, but it is also a revelation of how the ABC created a narrative running through the documentary series. At times I wondered how much the truth was being told versus how much the ABC was fashioning their own narrative based around the various interviews. Of course, it matters political there probably isn't a single truth but as many truths as there are viewpoints. If you have an interest in Australian politics or this period of the ALP I think you will enjoy reading this.
December 6, 2016
What a read! I was left feeling more informed about the drama of making the acclaimed documentary series and slightly more sympathetic to Rudd and Gillard. The real tragedy of this whole saga is the lasting damage done to progressive politics in Australia and the missed opportunity that this duo could have accomplished together. Very hard to "pick a side" other than to imagine how destroyed the opposition would have been had Rudd and Gillard's energies been directed solely at Abbott and co.
December 10, 2016
As an accompaniment to the excellent political documentary of the same name this gives a detailed insider account of the Rudd/Gillard/Rudd years in Australia. Ferguson offers insight into maintaining journalistic integrity when everyone involved has their own truth and are quite distrusting of the media and each other. A great companion piece to the series and fantastic overview of this period for anyone interested in Australian politics.
April 24, 2016
I am pleased to say that the book is every bit as good as the series, which was compelling. In fact, some of the background details are actually more intriguing than the interviews themselves.
Sarah Ferguson is a brilliant journalist and her insights into the behind the scenes aspects of Australian politics are fascinating. Highly recommended.
Sarah Ferguson is a brilliant journalist and her insights into the behind the scenes aspects of Australian politics are fascinating. Highly recommended.
August 18, 2016
As a political junkie fascinated by Australian Politics this book gives a brilliant account of what lead to the overthrow and comeback of Kevin Rudd over the 2007-2013 period. It also gives some great insights into the role of the journalist and their strategy in conducting these types of extensive interviews with politicians. Would highly recommend.
September 15, 2016
Even if you've seen the ABC series, listening to this book provides fresh insights and behind-the-scenes information about the process of making the top-rating series. Sarah Ferguson narrates this and it's a gripping listen. Highly recommended, especially for those who are interested in politics but it's a great listen even if you are not a political beast.
May 9, 2016
An interesting sketch of both a turbulent time in Australian politics and the making of a TV series about it, but perhaps doesn't quite do either part full justice. Presents a balanced view of Rudd & Gillard without making any judgments
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