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Quarterly Essay 88: Lone Wolf

Albanese and the New Politics

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Quarterly Essay 88: Lone Wolf

By: Katharine Murphy
Narrated by: Ailsa Piper
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About this listen

In this perceptive, compelling essay, Katharine Murphy offers a profile of Anthony Albanese in motion – a piece about character, the balance of forces, and the mood of the nation.

Are Albanese and his party up for change? Are Australians up for it? What does the new prime minister embody, if anything? Has the centre of the polity shifted, with the success of the Teals and the Greens? Where could – and should – the new government be ambitious?

This is an essay that draws out the meaning of an eventful political year, offers a telling portrait of the new prime minister, and looks to the challenges of the future.

Katharine Murphy has worked in Canberra’s parliamentary press gallery since 1996 for the Australian Financial Review, The Australian and The Age, before joining Guardian Australia, where she is the political editor. She won the Paul Lyneham Award for Excellence in Press Gallery Journalism in 2008 and has been a Walkley Award finalist twice. She was awarded an honorary doctorate by the University of Canberra in 2019. She is a director of the National Press Club and the author of On Disruption and Quarterly Essay: The End of Certainty.

©2022 Katharine Murphy (P)2022 Audible Australia Pty Ltd. Australia & Oceania Oceania Politicians Politics & Activism Politics & Government Words, Language & Grammar World Writing & Publishing Thought-Provoking
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It was great to learn so much about the goings on of parliament and the players that we never get to see. I thought Albanese was simply playing ‘small target’ politics and allowing Morrison to implode. There was so much more going on!

Great work Katharine!

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Thanks Katharine for a fine explanation of the last few years of political change in Australia. You revealed Albanese without making it all about him.

Modern political history told well

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Good insights into what makes Albanese tick. A fair deal of this has been covered in some detail in the lead up to the last election, but engaging nonetheless.

Good insights into Albanese

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Awesome Catherine Murphy nailed the subject .
I found this really useful. I hope people read this again in 3 years .

Awesome

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Worth listening to, but it has no great protagonist or punchline. This is perhaps the point of the story, as the author likely prefers a cautious tone. It is hard to know what a Prime Minister is thinking, I imagine. You will learn a lot about Anthony Albanese, but you get the sense that he was fairly disinterested in explaining much to the author. In fact, Albo comes across as disinterested in general (hence the title). Maybe I am being harsh and need to re-listen to it. It seems the author had to fill gaps with speculation. Which is not to say the author did a bad job. It just makes the story of Albo’s rise to PM a little empty. Nevertheless, the story is well structured and revealing in small ways. It may prove to be a great foreshadowing of Albo’s rein.

An interesting snapshot of Australian history.

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