Poor people don't drive cars. People have the right to be bigots. I'm a fixer. Team Australia. Shirtfronting. Choppergate. Stop the boats. Coal is good for humanity. No cuts to health. Sir Prince Philip. The flags. It's all the fault of the febrile media. And that whole onion thing...
In August 2013, Australia welcomed Tony Abbott as its new prime minister. This promised to be a marriage between responsible government and a nation tired of the endless drama of the Gillard-Rudd years. But then...well...Andrew P Street details the litany of gaffes, goofs and questionable captain's calls that characterised the subsequent reign of the Abbott government, following the trail from bold promises to questionable realities, unlikely recoveries to inexplicable own goals, Malcolm Turnbull's assurances of support to the day he pushed the Captain off his bike once and for all. And all this comes with a colourful cast of supporting characters and dangerous loons that only a nation unfamiliar with the concept of below- the-line voting could elect.
Here is a unique take on a modern politics Australian style... If Game of Thrones was a deeply irreverent book about politics, then the TV series would probably not rate nearly as well. It would, however, look something like this...
By:
Andrew P Street
Imprint: Allen & Unwin
Country of Publication: Australia
Dimensions:
Height: 233mm,
Width: 155mm,
Spine: 24mm
Weight: 410g
ISBN: 9781760290542
ISBN 10: 1760290548
Pages: 320
Publication Date: 13 October 2015
Recommended Age: From
Audience:
General/trade
,
ELT Advanced
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active
Introduction Australia, Stop Hitting Yourself 1 The Gathering Storm 2 Meet the Motley Crew 3 Mandate, Mandate, Mandate! 4 The Right to Be a Bigot 5 For Those Who've Come Across the Seas... 6 Classified On-Water Matters 7 Putting the Coal into Coalition 8 No Cuts to Health 9 Not Your Average Jo(k)e 10 Meet the New Senate! 11 Someone's Getting a Shirtfrontin' 12 We All Live in a Competitively Evaluated Submarine 13 The Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Spill Motion 14 Good Government Starts Today 15 I'm a Fixer 16 Who's Afraid of Human Rights? 17 The Hunt for Team Australia 18 Everywhere with Helicopter 19 Whither Labor? 20 Abandon Ship! Epilogue Is This the Best We Can Do? Acknowledgement Or Who's to Blame for this Book
Andrew P. Street is a Sydney-based journalist responsible for 'View from the Street' in the Sydney Morning Herald online, and whose byline has appeared in just about every newspaper, magazine and website in the nation.
Reviews for The Short and Excruciatingly Embarrassing Reign of Captain Abbott
A lively and well organised account... Street lays the mockery on thick... with a savage and intelligent wit. * The Australian * Well-researched... Street is very funny... Debunks the dangerous assumption that our politicians are good people who deserve respect. * The Saturday Age *
