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Plagued

By: Simon Benson, Geoff Chambers
Narrated by: Jason Chong
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Publisher's Summary

In early 2020, COVID-19 breached Australian shores, triggering twin crises: health and economic. The nation had not endured trials of this scale and impact since the Spanish flu and the Great Depression.

Simon Benson and Geoff Chambers—two of Australia’s top political journalists—were granted exclusive access to the crucial machinations of government at the country’s highest levels, not just within the corridors of power but also behind doors normally sealed. They delve into the depths of power and the cabinet room to reveal how decisions that would change the course of Australian history were actually made, but which did not prevent the federal government’s crushing defeat in the 2022 election.

Plagued chronicles a period of upheaval punctuated by the pandemic, natural disasters and political scandals within a world becoming more precarious with the rise of autocracy. It is a story of profound political intrigue, one in which Australia, its politicians, public servants and institutions were tested like in no other period in modern memory.

©2022 Simon Benson and Geoff Chambers (P)2022 Bolinda Publishing Pty Ltd

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Informative

I would recommend this book to anyone who would like to understand the complexity of running the nation during a pandemic, climate changes and geo- political autocratic manoeuvring. Very good.

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Not bad

I found it insightful to hear the perspective of our former PM during one of the most tumultuous times in recent history. However, it does seem to be written with some bias which wasnt as enjoyable.

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Quite a bizarre book!

Written by an Australian newspaper journalist and wow, doesn't it show! It's rather a good book in respects that it lays out the covid emergency quite well. However the authors are plainly in love with Morrison, even more than perhaps he is with himself. We were all saved by the Federal leadership and damned by the state leadership, if this book is be believed! The authors need some integrity and learn to tell the truth. Morrison and his government wasn't thrown out for no reason.

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Propaganda

This book should be categorised as pornography, as it's nothing more than a 12-hour reach-around for the Morrison government.

The book fails to mention the corruption, wilful ignorance and betrayals that lead to the deaths of thousands of Australians, This is just another sorry propaganda piece.

I note that the author was recently fired from The Australian (newspaper) - with his boss Mr Dore saying "Mr Benson has selfishly put his own interests – namely book sales – before the interests of the Australian people.". Sounds like a good match for the federal and state government's.

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RWNJ propaganda

Read this if you want to understand Morrison’s god complex, and are willing to believe that he ‘saved Australia’ with out any assistance from states and territories. A total piece of drivel from some Murdoch hacks whom I expected more from.

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Disappointing

I found this book disappointing, and felt as if it were written by some liberal party staffers vs an independent journalist taking an objective look the story. I found the start of the book, that featured on the Spanish flu in Australia more interesting, then the rest of the book that felt like a love letter to Scott Morrison.

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