Taken as a whole, this collection of papers will prove a useful reference work for students of Australian politics interested in the Howard government’s political and policy development during its first two terms in office. While by no means comprehensive, the book provides the reader with a general understanding of the main issues and events of the period, including Australia’s place in the world as a middle power, the Australian Republican debate, and themes related to public administration (such as public service reform and the growing role of ministerial staffers). Back from the Brink’s standards of scholarship should make it a useful addition to the shelves of many university libraries.

The Prime Minister of Australia John Howard meets with United States Secretary of Defense William S. Cohen at the Pentagon on June 27, 1997 (photograph by Helene C. Stikkel/Wikimedia Commons)

Contributors to this volume often thoughtfully highlight the continuities and discontinuities between the Hawke–Keating policy direction and those of the Howard government. Scott Brenton points out that the government developed an unprecedentedly strong set of ministerial standards, resulting in a series of sackings that embarrassed the government. This led, ultimately, to what appears to have been a more relaxed interpretation of the standards when Peter Reith, a powerful factional player and Liberal ‘star’, became involved in a scandal involving public funds. Elsewhere, Anne Tiernan discusses insightfully the increased importance of the Prime Minister’s Office in Australian public life from Howard onwards, and Zareh Ghazarian shows how the Greens replaced the Australian Democrats as the third force in Australian politics during Howard’s rule.

Several of the editor’s chosen contributors are ‘insiders’ from the Howard era. The editor asserts that as ‘private citizens, former parliamentarians are better positioned to be more candid about their political failings and even-handed in their assessment of former adversaries’. The papers in this collection suggest that this view is too optimistic. Whether they are former politicians, ministerial advisers, or public servants, their conviction that they, or their group, were right to act as they did is not always accompanied by a clear defence and articulation of their ideological position or an understanding of alternative worldviews. For example, Labor’s Stephen Martin, a shadow minister in the Howard years, notes with disdain that the ALP between 1997 and 2001 distanced itself from the Hawke–Keating legacy: Martin does little to explore this theme other than to suggest it was a bad thing.

This is not to suggest that there is no merit in the chapters written by the historical players. John Howard, for example, provides a sound overview of his time in office between 1997 and 2001, and former National Party staffer and well-regarded historian of the Nationals Paul Davey gives an interesting account of the National Party’s work within the coalition for rural interests. Davey speculates that the over-identification of the Coalition with the Liberals, in the public mind, has had negative electoral consequences for the National Party.

Some insiders do attempt to include a more critical approach when reflecting on aspects of the Howard era, but probably because of numerous sensitivities there is a limit to how candid they are prepared to be. The insider contributors are either too set in their ways or too politically cautious to allow their unofficial views any media exposure.

The tone of the volume as a whole is ‘top-down’: it is the policy makers, the media and the politicians who are the focus of attention. ‘History from below’ is not much in evidence, apart from the use of polls to give some abstract knowledge of the pulse of the nation. Without much attempt at gathering qualitative evidence, former adviser David Alexander’s attempt at generalising about the Australian electorate is not convincing: ‘The GST was always unpopular and the direct effects were politically costly. But this analysis neglects the deeply important indirect effects of successfully taking on an unpopular cause. The public may or may not have liked what we were doing, but they respected that we thought it was the right thing for the country.’

One chapter that could have done with a great deal more ‘history from below’ is Peter Shergold’s chapter on Howard’s ‘Public Service Revolution’. Shergold, a senior public servant during the Howard years, praised the creation of a ‘competitive market of 200 private, community and public providers delivering job brokerage and employment training from around 2000 sites around Australia’ by October 2001. The ‘competitive market’ that Shergold cites relied on the participation of jobseekers in job-skills programs and other activities conducted by a government-approved provider. Given the jobseeker’s supposed importance to the system put in place, the failure of the author to incorporate the unemployed perspective on the Job Network in his discussion is a missed opportunity, but is in keeping with the general tone of the book.

Despite these criticisms, the editor has produced a collection of papers that will be a useful guide to the values and priorities of the Liberal–National Coalition government as more and more archival papers related to the Howard administration become available for researchers to consult. Back from the Brink does not provide the reader with much colour, but then the Howard years were noted more for their pragmatism rather than their grand flourishes. By 2021 most official records created between 1997 and 2000 will be open for access by the National Archives of Australia under its twenty-year rule. It will be fascinating to see what new historical themes emerge from these papers as scholarly interest in the Howard years continues.