Melbourne: Melbourne University Press, 2014 ISBN 9780522866421
It's a bit of an understatement to write that in 2018 Australian politics is in a state of turmoil. Like a lot of representative democracies, Australia at both the State and Federal level has been subject to the splintering of both the Right and Left of politics, with the two main parties, Labor and Liberal, variously beset with the evils of populism and careerism, both of which corrupt the ability of any party to perform effectively. The rise of social media, where every problem needs to be solved instantly, militates against long-term decisions that can steer a country toward prosperity.
So, it is a salutary exercise to dip into our political past and to find that in some ways, it was ever thus. Gareth Evans was by turn Attorney-General, Minister for Resources, and Foreign Minister in the Labor Governments of Bob Hawke and Paul Keating, and Inside the Hawke Keating Government is a chronicle of two years of his political life, from just after the 1984 election, through to the death of Lionel Murphy in October 1986. In fact the travails of Lionel Murphy are one of the themes of Evans' diary, which he started dictating in a kind of homage to one of his political heroes Richard Crossman (in fact he records in this book walking past Crossman's home in England on one of his visits).
Evans, during his time in parliament, was known as an acerbic performer, but one who cut through on occasions. We get an insight into the softer side of his character in this diary, and also into the amount of argument and work involved in trying to steer a path through the pillars of vested interest and politics to achieve good policy outcomes. The diary begins with Evans being devastated at losing the Attorney-General portfolio, and with it his dreams of Constitutional reform, and a Bill of Rights. He is particularly scathing of his successor in the role, Lionel Bowen, who he in turns labels dim, thick-witted and stubborn. The Constitutional reform and Bill of Rights Evans hoped for still haven't been enacted - the polity was not ready for them at the time, and it seems is still not, so perhaps Lionel had a better finger on the pulse of the Australian people than Evans.
It's fair to state that Evans was never a man of the people, and never bothered even with the pretence, on a couple of occasions wondering what the "average" Australian thought about an issue, but never bothering to talk to any. His outlook, not useful in the A-G role, suited very much the resources role, where his intelligence, ability to work through problems and find the best solution got the government out of a few sticky situations. He often had the weight of opinion against him in Cabinet as well, although the time span covered by this diary shows Evans gaining in appreciation of the intelligence and hard-headedness of Keating as Treasurer, and they often found themselves on the same side of an argument, especially when dealing with economic policy.
As for Hawke, Evans paints him as certainly intelligent, but a complete narcissist, and someone who was not interested in opposing views, unless that view showed him his popularity might be in trouble, in which case he was prepared to listen to alternatives. His combination of insecurity and hubris as laid out in these diaries is quite depressing to read about, and the stability of the government for so long with two such fragile characters (Evans shows Keating to be one who was ever-sensitive to a slight as well) at the helm is shown to be even more remarkable than it seemed at the time.
Much of the diary, as one might expect, is taken up with factional maneuverings and Party activity, which Evans found at times troubling, depressing, and annoying. He had little time for some of his fellow Ministers, finding John Button a man impossible to pin down, Don Grimes ineffectual, Bill Hayden irascible, and many on the Left irrational and out-dated. Of course Evans was a part of all the intrigue, and he spends a bit of time in the diaries talking about the possibility of his becoming Deputy Leader in the Senate, as well as the speculation that he would take on the Foreign Minister's job from Bill Hayden, which he eventually did.
For the aficionado of Australian politics, especially for those of us who remember the Hawke government, Inside the Hawke Keating Government is worth reading.
Cheers for now, from
A View Over the Bell
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