Political history at its best. This is the story of the hard right in Australia – of how Ray Evans and his boss at Western Mining Corporation, Hugh Morgan, became the pioneers of a new form of right-wing politics whose forceful reshaping of public debates transformed Australian politics. With a calm gaze, forensic detail and a dry wit, Dominic Kelly shows how they did it.

Starting in the mid-1980s, Evans set up four small but potent organisations: the H.R. Nicholls Society (industrial relations), the Samuel Griffith Society (constitutional issues), the Lavoisier Group (climate change) and the Bennelong Society (Indigenous affairs). Their aim was to transform public debate on key issues.

Morgan and Evans had an energy that bordered on fanaticism. They lobbied politicians and wrote op-eds. They were born intriguers and colourful rhetoricians, with a wide influence that famously included treasurer-to-be Peter Costello. It was Bob Hawke who called the H.R. Nicholls Society ‘political troglodytes and economic lunatics’; yet in their dogged pursuit of influence, the hard right made an impact. From successive backdowns on emissions targets to the rejection of the Uluru Statement from the Heart, the efforts of hard right conservatives continues to be felt today – not only on the right but across mainstream public policy.

Political Troglodytes and Economic Lunatics is a compelling case study in how some very determined people can change a political culture.

 

Political history at its best. This is the story of the hard right in Australia – of how Ray Evans and his boss at Western Mining Corporation, Hugh Morgan, became the pioneers of a new form of right-wing politics whose forceful reshaping of public debates transformed Australian politics. With a calm gaze, forensic detail and a dry wit, Dominic Kelly shows how they did it.

Starting in the mid-1980s, Evans set up four small but potent organisations: the H.R. Nicholls Society (industrial relations), the Samuel Griffith Society (constitutional issues), the Lavoisier Group (climate change) and the Bennelong Society (Indigenous affairs). Their aim was to transform public debate on key issues.

Morgan and Evans had an energy that bordered on fanaticism. They lobbied politicians and wrote op-eds. They were born intriguers and colourful rhetoricians, with a wide influence that famously included treasurer-to-be Peter Costello. It was Bob Hawke who called the H.R. Nicholls Society ‘political troglodytes and economic lunatics’; yet in their dogged pursuit of influence, the hard right made an impact. From successive backdowns on emissions targets to the rejection of the Uluru Statement from the Heart, the efforts of hard right conservatives continues to be felt today – not only on the right but across mainstream public policy.

Political Troglodytes and Economic Lunatics is a compelling case study in how some very determined people can change a political culture.

Polarised, unequal, enraged and spiritually bereft, the American experiment, under Donald Trump, looks to be on the brink of failure.

In this award-winning series of dispatches and essays, Richard Cooke explores US society before, during and after one of the most high-stakes midterm elections in history.
From the aesthetics of semi-automatic rifles to the aftermath of a media mass shooting, from #MeToo at the Capitol to the paintings of former president George W. Bush, Cooke’s travels take him from the climate change coast all the way to Silicon Valley.

But this is not another diner-hopping, two-week car journey into Trump country. Instead, it’s a radical effort to capture dissonant and varied Americas, more often unreal than “real”. The nation has shattered under a barrage of social estrangement, malign politics, dark money, and the pull of the internet and social media. This chronicle collects the glittering shards.

Entertaining, terrifying and timely, Tired of Winning is searing analysis from an inimitable political thinker, set loose on the schisms and the clamour of contemporary America.

Join the editors and authors of Growing Up African In Australia at this very special afternoon at Melbourne’s Immigration Museum.

Your chance to secure a copy of the book and hear from contributors to this important publication.

Compiled by award-winning author Maxine Beneba Clarke, with curatorial assistance from writers Ahmed Yussuf and Magan Magan, this anthology brings together voices from the regions of Africa and the African diaspora, including the Caribbean and the Americas. Told with passion, power and poise, these are the stories of African-diaspora Australians.

Contributors include Faustina Agolley, Santilla Chingaipe, Carly Findlay, Khalid Warsame, Nyadol Nyuon, Tariro Mavondo and many, many more.

Queenscliffe Literary Festival presents two of Melbourne's brightest minds, Jamila Rizvi (The Motherhood) and Meshel Laurie (Bad Buddhist) share their wisdom.

Facilitator: Maria O'Shaughnessy

Charles Kingsford Smith was the most commanding flyer of the golden age of aviation, and the world fell in love with this charming Australian. Only those close to him knew the anxious, troubled individual who pushed himself to the edge of sanity. Ann Blainey, author of award-winning I am Melba, discusses her latest biography.

David Malouf and David Marr share more than the same initials. The body of their work is vast and rich with treasure, their contribution to the cultural landscape of Australia beyond measure.

This event is a rare opportunity to hear the voices of two great men of the arts in conversation with ABC Radio’s Sarah Kanowski.

David Malouf is one of Australia’s most revered authors. He has published poetry, novels, short stories, essays, opera librettos and a play, and has been widely translated.

David Marr is one of Australia’s most recognisable contemporary public intellectuals. He has written for the Sydney Morning Herald, The Age, The Saturday Paper, The Guardian and The Monthly; been a reporter for Four Corners and presenter of ABC TV’s Media Watch.

Riverbend Books will be selling copies of David Malouf and David Marr’s books on the night.

Writers+ Ideas is supported by EY and O’Neill Architecture.

The childhood homes of Alice Pung (Close to Home) and Rick Morton (One Hundred Years of Dirt) are planets apart but distinctly Australian.

Facilitator: David McCooey

Vivid Art After Hours brings you free music, talks and art experiences over three Wednesday nights at the Art Gallery of NSW. We have invited some of Australia’s brightest creative sparks to share their journeys on finding belonging and meaning in a fractured and distracting world. On the agenda: inner life and concepts of spirituality, cultural identity, and social diversity. 
 
Author and radio and TV personality Meshel Laurie confesses to being a bad Buddhist, but every day she puts her energy into improving. She works in television, creates podcasts, writes books and parents twins, so she knows a thing or two about the mad juggle of modern life. In this talk with Benjamin Law, she offers a snapshot of her life and the speed bumps and detours on the path to enlightenment. Meshel may not be a beacon of Buddhist Zen...yet. However, as the saying goes, the journey of a thousand miles begins with one step. Or a shuffle to the instant coffee machine at five am.

How true to you is your online self? We live in an age of digital distraction. We feel bereft without our phones and curate our lives on social media. The blinks, beeps and notifications are incessant. It’s time to consider the price we pay for this ever-connected life.
 
Throughout history, artists and thinkers have cultivated a deep sense of self and found solace in solitude and reflection. Pulitzer Prize winner, art critic and author of the Quarterly Essay 72: Net Loss Sebastian Smee leads an esteemed panel to explore the value of an ‘inner life’ in the internet age. Considering everything from Facebook to Chekhov, Sebastian asks, if we relinquish the inner life, what do we lose of ourselves? 

Sebastian is joined by psychologist Jocelyn Brewer who is an expert in the fast-evolving realm of cyberpsychology. She has a special interest helping people to stay human in the digital age. Jocelyn investigates what online information overload is doing to our attention and memory, suggesting it contributes to record levels of loneliness and chronic sleep debt. She outlines her case for ‘digital nutrition’ as an alternative to ‘digital detoxing’ and advocates for more conscious online consumption and ethically designed apps and games.  
 
Musician and author Holly Throsby also joins the panel and shares some of the poetic insights that make her music so memorable and her novels so compelling. Holly knows well the need to nurture an inner life. Find out how she cultivates her creativity and what it takes to be a singer, songwriter, author and a soulful being in a demanding world. If we’re lucky, she’ll also grace us with a song or two.