Power Crisis: The Self-Destruction of a State Labor Party (Australian Encounters)
Cambridge University Press
Edition: Reprint, 9/27/2010
EAN 9780521138321, ISBN10: 0521138329
Paperback, 224 pages, 22.9 x 15.3 x 1 cm
Language: English
Written by former minister and Labor historian Rodney Cavalier, Power Crisis is an explosive account of the self-destruction of the New South Wales Labor government, which has seen a turnover of four premiers in five years, and is heading for rejection and even humiliation by voters at the next state election. While the catalyst was the thwarted attempt to privatise electricity, Cavalier reveals that the real issue is the takeover of Labor by a professional political class without connection to the broader community or the party's traditions. Featuring interviews with ex-premiers Iemma and Rees, Power Crisis contrasts the current turmoil and self-indulgence with the stability within New South Wales Labor over generations before, and asks, 'What went wrong?'
Preface
Acknowledgements
Introduction
1. NSW Labor and its leaders
2. Death below
3. The rise of Morris Iemma
4. Annual Conference, May 2008
5. Iemma falls
6. The protracted fall of Nathan Rees
Epilogue
does party membership matter?
Appendix A
NSW ALP branches closed 1999–2009
Appendix B
NSW ALP financial membership 2002–2009
Appendix C
delegates to NSW ALP Annual Conference, May 2008
Sources
Index.
'This is a forensic and penetrating analysis of the crisis facing modern Labor. Cavalier is unrivalled in his ability to identify the dilemmas of the present but locate them in historical context.' Paul Kelly, The Australian