Quarterly Essay: published four times a year by Black Inc, the final edition for 2022 was Quarterly Essay No.88: Lone Wolf: Albanese and the New Politics by Katherine Murphy. In 2016, I read Karen Middleton’s biography of Albanese, and at the time noted that the book was ‘one of the more enjoyable and interesting of many political biographies I had read over recent years’ and I referred readers to the Coachbuilder’s Column of 22/9/2016.
Katherine Murphy’s Essay is of equal interest but taken from a later perspective when he is the man in charge [as PM]. Albo took the party leadership, and then the Prime Ministership, consequent to that original biography. But as the Essay cover says: “But to win, he had to learn to listen, to trust his team, and to lead, understanding that sometimes leadership involves holding back rather than imagining its all on you”.
As for the correspondence replies to the previous Essay – ‘Uncivil Wars’ by Waleed Aly and Scott Stephens – the response by A and S made more sense to me than their actual Essay, which at the time I described as ‘a very difficult read, much of it beyond the scope of this reader’s ability to retain or comprehend [obviously a reflection on my own intelligence]. Broadly speaking, I found their Essay unclear as to which arguments they were trying to concentrate on, and I think that absence of clarity, resulted in a large number of lengthy responses, which as the authors more or less admitted, the responses didn’t seem to be replying to the essay as such because they likewise didn’t fully follow the arguments that A & S were making, or misinterpreted them. The authors seem to be criticising many of the responses for misinterpreting and misunderstanding the basis of the arguments put forward in the Essay. ,I highlighted a paragraph on page 143 where A&S admit to been unsure as to how they should respond to the correspondents because they haven’t engaged with the terms of the essay, However, they did manage to respond to the correspondents in just over 12 pages [the longest reaction to Essay responses I’ve see previously].
Also to my reading, a number of the respondents were too intent on waving their own flag, with extensive reference to books they had written on the subject!! They would argue that was their way of making their point[s].
As for the current Essay – described as a portrait of a leader in the making, and a nation on the move: 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.
And from the actual Essay promo: prime minister in the making, and a nation on the move. In Lone Wolf, Katharine Murphy offers a new portrait of Anthony Albanese. She reveals a leader who has always had to think three steps ahead, who was an insurgent for much of his professional life, but had to learn to listen and devise “strategies of inclusivity” to win the 2022 election.
Following that victory, Greens leader Adam Bandt voiced hopes for “a great era of progressive reform,” but it is Albanese and Labor who will ultimately decide whether that potential is reached or not.
Drawing on interviews with Albanese, Bandt, Penny Wong, Jim Chalmers, Mark Butler, Katy Gallagher, Simon Holmes à Court, Zoe Daniel and more, Murphy’s brilliant essay draws out the meaning of an eventful political year. She offers a telling character study of the prime minister, investigates the success of the teals and the Greens, and looks to the challenges of the future.
“Taking the party leadership was both a beginning and an ending. Insurgency was done. New skills were required … Albanese knew how to recruit people to a cause and to get them to a similar place. He’d been doing that since his teens. But to win, he had to learn to listen, to trust his team and to lead, understanding that sometimes leadership involves holding back rather than imagining it’s all on you.” Katharine Murphy, Lone Wolf
With respect to the previous Essay I referred to above, the following summarises Waleed Aly & Scott Stephens subject of ‘Uncivil Wars – Is our democracy corroding? In this original, eloquent essay, Waleed Aly and Scott Stephens explore the ethics and politics of public debate – and the threat it now faces.
In a healthy society we need the capacity to disagree. Yet Aly and Stephens note a growing tendency to disdain and dismiss opponents, to treat them with contempt. This toxic partisanship has been imported from the United States, where it has been a temptation for both left and right. Aly and Stephens discuss some telling examples, analyse the role of the media, and look back to heroes of democracy who found a better way forward.
Arguing that democracy cannot survive contempt, they draw on philosophy, literature and history to make an urgent case about the present.
‘So what do we owe those with whom we might profoundly, even radically, disagree? In our time, the answer increasingly seems to be: Nothing. Absolutely nothing. We’ve come to regard our opponents as not much more than obstructions in the road, impediments standing between us and our desired end. We have grown disinclined to consider what it might mean to go on together meaningfully as partners within a shared democratic project. To put it bluntly, we see no future with our political opponents because we feel we have nothing to learn from them.‘ -Waleed Aly & Scott Stephens, Uncivil Wars
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