Victory: The Inside Story of Labor's Return to Power
By Peter van Onselen and Wayne Errington
As a long term Labor supporter, I have lived for the past 10 years in an Australia governed by a regressive and corrupt Liberal Government. I was confident that Labor would win the 2019 election but they lost in a shock result. 2022 offered another chance and Labor ran a wonderful campaign which culminated in a convincing victory and a majority government.
Peter van Onselen and Wayne Errington followed the Labor campaign and were given an insight into what was a tightly run campaign, coordinated by Campaign Manager Paul Erickson (my son!). Now they have written the definitive book which explores and campaign and the key players. Here is the blurb:
Anthony Albanese's 2022 election victory was the most consequential in decades. As well as ending a 'lost decade' of conservative rule and bringing Labor into Federal power for the first time since 2013, it ushered in a new force in politics. The victory of the teal independents has changed both the face of the parliament and decimated the Liberal Party. Women candidates and voters had their voices heard across the political spectrum.
Victory for Labor has been resounding and sweet, but it comes with caveats. Both major parties now have to look over their shoulders at the minor parties and independent challengers. Yet the next three years are full of possibility.
Victory goes inside the campaigns of all the players in the 2022 election to reveal how Labor orchestrated its remarkable win. Will Albanese govern as the careful reformer of the campaign or will this socially progressive leader recapture Australia's lost egalitarianism?
What a wonderful book! I bought it on the day it was released and read it in 3 days. Although van Onselen and Errington are usually on the right hand side of politics, they have written the book with impartiality and perception. I regard it as an honest and correct discussion of the campaign, focusing on both Labor failings and master strokes, along with what turned out to be only failures in the Liberal campaign.
Have a read of https://www.afr.com/politics/federal/inside-labor-s-no-dickheads-campaign-for-victory-20220523-p5anof . It was written in May, soon after the victory and pre-empting this book.
"Pizza and beer have long been staples of hard-knuckle political campaigns. But, as it fought to return from the wilderness and make Anthony Albanese Prime Minister, Labor’s campaign HQ went dry. No alcohol in the office. The decision was part of push by the party’s national secretary Paul Erickson to professionalise the operation after a turgid term of parliament defined by scandalous workplace behaviour. According to the dozen campaign insiders who spoke to The Australian Financial Review, a big part of Labor’s success was the planning and unflappable nature of Erickson and Albanese’s chief-of-staff, Tim Gartrell."
