{"title":"Australian Newspapers in the Television Age, 1956–2006. By Rod Tiffen (London: Anthem Press, 2025), pp. 160. £80 (HB); £25 (eBook). 9781839994913.","authors":"Julianne Schultz","doi":"10.1111/ajph.70037","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/ajph.70037","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":45431,"journal":{"name":"Australian Journal of Politics and History","volume":"72 1","pages":"168-170"},"PeriodicalIF":0.6,"publicationDate":"2026-03-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147565864","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The Politics of Truth: The Howard Government, HREOC, and Bringing Them Home","authors":"Anne Maree Payne","doi":"10.1111/ajph.70013","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/ajph.70013","url":null,"abstract":"<p>The year 2025 marks the 30th anniversary of the commencement of the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission's National Inquiry into the Separation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children from their Families. The Inquiry and its final report, <i>Bringing Them Home</i>, highlighted the traumatic impact and nationwide extent of child removal practices implemented across Australia over more than a century. Calling on deeply personal testimony, the Inquiry carried profound implications for Australian history, for the government and non-government agencies and actors involved in First Nations child removal, and for removed individuals, their families and communities. Drawing on archival research, this article explores the impact of the election of the Howard government in March 1996 on the Inquiry's proceedings. It identifies the processes through which the Howard government formulated its submission to the Inquiry in 1996 and developed its response to the <i>Bringing Them Home</i> report in 1997. This in-depth examination of key moments in the Howard government's relationship with the Inquiry seeks to inform understanding of the political contention around First Nations truth-telling in Australia.</p>","PeriodicalId":45431,"journal":{"name":"Australian Journal of Politics and History","volume":"72 1","pages":"14-34"},"PeriodicalIF":0.6,"publicationDate":"2026-03-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/ajph.70013","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147566227","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Liberalism as a Way of Political Life: The Case of George Brandis","authors":"Geoffrey Robinson","doi":"10.1111/ajph.70019","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/ajph.70019","url":null,"abstract":"<p>The lawyer, politician, and diplomat George Brandis was the leading intellectual representative of moderate or “small-l” liberalism in the contemporary Liberal Party. He criticised John Howard for an ad hoc balancing of liberalism and conservatism. Brandis believed the Liberal Party necessarily included conservatives, but to him their role was to be a modest break on liberal progress rather than the advocates of a coherent alternative to liberalism. This article examines Brandis' political thought and practice and considers how his understandings of freedom, order, and progress changed in his journey from party activist to a Cabinet minister responsible for anti-terrorism, judicial appointments, and discrimination law.</p>","PeriodicalId":45431,"journal":{"name":"Australian Journal of Politics and History","volume":"72 1","pages":"123-142"},"PeriodicalIF":0.6,"publicationDate":"2026-03-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/ajph.70019","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147570237","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Practising Politics in a Disorderly Democracy","authors":"Kerryn Baker","doi":"10.1111/ajph.70018","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/ajph.70018","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Taking as its starting point Ron May's scholarship on Papua New Guinea as a “disorderly democracy,” this article examines how politics is practised in the PNG Parliament. Using a case study of the events of late 2020, when a vote of no confidence against the Marape government was mooted but eventually failed to materialise, it adopts a practice theory lens to explore how decisions are made, how coalitions are formed and disintegrate, and how political power is won in PNG politics. It demonstrates that institutional explanations predicated on PNG's weakly institutional party system, and cultural explanations that foreground Melanesian traditions, are only part of the story. Tracing personal networks, examining new sites of political contestation, and taking account of the gendered nature of male-dominated PNG politics are also important in understanding how PNG politics is practised. The article seeks to contribute to a theory of PNG politics, highlighting that while it may be “disorderly,” it is nevertheless structured by practices and traditions.</p>","PeriodicalId":45431,"journal":{"name":"Australian Journal of Politics and History","volume":"72 1","pages":"108-122"},"PeriodicalIF":0.6,"publicationDate":"2026-03-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/ajph.70018","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147568159","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Australia: A History. By Tony Abbott (Harper Collins, 2025), pp. 1–418. $49.99 (HB) ISBN 978 1 4607 6829 7.\u0000 The Shortest History of Australia. By Mark McKenna (Black Inc., an imprint of Schwartz Books Pty Ltd), pp. 1–294. $39.99 (HB) ISBN 0781 7 6064 3591.\u0000 The Idea of Australia: A Search for the Soul of the Nation. By Julianne Schultz (Allen and Unwin, 2025), pp. xix + 460. $36.00 (PB) ISBN 978 176087 9 303.","authors":"Nicholas Brown","doi":"10.1111/ajph.70044","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/ajph.70044","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":45431,"journal":{"name":"Australian Journal of Politics and History","volume":"72 1","pages":"171-175"},"PeriodicalIF":0.6,"publicationDate":"2026-03-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147562450","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}