A cabinet diary : A personal record of the first Keating government

Adelaide, Wakefield Press, 1999 [1st edition]; 175 x 250 mm, 343 pp., Hard Cover - LIKE NEW - in a dustwrapper that has a couple of very minor marks otherwise also LIKE NEW. From the dust jacket: A Cabinet Diary is an absorbing account of the endeavours of a government under extreme pressure. Christmas 1991 found Australia's Labor government, newly led by Paul Keating, at the nadir of its fortunes. In March 1993 it defied all predictions and triumphed in an 'unwinnable' election. This book, the result of a daily diary kept by a senior cabinet minister, tells the story of this ultimately successful struggle to survive. This is the first time a cabinet diary of this nature has been published in Australia. Unlike a memoir compiled in the tranquillity of retirement, Neal Blewett's diary is an immediate and intimate record of the workings of cabinet government at a moment in time. While the book is a justly proud testament to a victory against the odds, there is no attempt to reinterpret events in order to vindicate a career, excuse hasty judgements, or white-wash ill-conceived plans. A Cabinet Diary gives an intriguing view of legendary Labor figures in discussion and debate as they battle to forge policies they can sell to the public and pressure groups against those proposed by a resurgent Opposition. We see Keating, Beazley, Dawkins, Button, Howe, Willis, Richardson and colleagues in parliament, cabinet room, caucus, Canberra restaurants and the media as they thrash out and thrash over issues