All of these issues and more are addressed throughout The Best Australian Political Writing 2009. The articles that make up this collection have been previously published in various sources. These include newspapers such as the Australian, which, despite its ‘often strident right-leaning editorial and ownership bias’, does publish writings from a range of political persuasions. The articles have also been taken from books, magazines, journals such as Griffith Review and the website Crikey (of which Beecher is the publisher). Some articles are clearly geared towards a mainstream readership, while others are more scholarly or academic in tone.

Overall, the political analysis that appears throughout these pages is strong. I was particularly impressed by Don Watson’s article on the importance of education for young indigenous people living in the Northern Territory. Watson never suggests that education will eradicate all the problems faced by these people or their communities, but he does argue: ‘These communities would not face even half the problems they do if half-a-dozen bureaucrats made up their minds one Monday morning to fix them before the end of the week.’ This kind of approach is more productive than one which simply seeks to lay blame for Aboriginal disadvantage without trying to resolve it. I agreed with Lenore Taylor’s argument that the Rudd government ‘needs … more so-called spin of a substantive kind. More consistent explanations about the big stuff.’ This is contrary to the popular view that this government ‘is all spin and no substance’, as well as the view that political spin is entirely useless and irrelevant.

The prose is generally of a high quality. Though politics can be extremely dry and boring at times, it can be enlivened by a clever and judicious choice of words. Several examples of this are found in Marcia Langton’s essay on Rudd’s apology. Langton argues that right-wing deniers of the Stolen Generations’ existence (among them Andrew Bolt and Christopher Pearson) have been ‘polluting Australian political debate with a vicious account of the nation’s history’. Langton goes on to describe the Howard government’s approach to Aboriginal history and affairs as constituting ‘a 12-year reign of terror’. Such passages eloquently capture Langton’s rage at those who have denied or glossed over the long-running oppression of her people. Guy Rundle, who spent several months in the United States reporting on the presidential election, writes about visiting Pennsylvania on Halloween. He describes

... the old mix of resentment and fascination, what Wim Wenders hit when he said ‘the Americans have colonised our subconscious’, that wow, here you are, in a Pennsylvania suburb watching Halloween feeling, how many movies did you see in rumpus rooms, old VHSs rented from the local milkbar/video store, which had a Halloween scene in it, horrors or comedies?

In this vivid passage, American society becomes a kind of ‘simulacra’ that is ‘more fascinating’ to outsiders ‘than it is to Americans themselves’. For Australians, the United States – or, more accurately, certain images of the United States – have become uncomfortably familiar through their exposure in the media and a ubiquitous American popular culture. Yet, as Rundle suggests, the United States is a real nation with an extremely complex and diverse political makeup. The 2008 election has (as Noel Pearson, in his article on Barack Obama, points out) significant implications for the rest of the world, as for the United States.

Not all readers will agree that Beecher has assembled the best Australian political writing. Some contributions to Beecher’s collection are decidedly weak. Jennifer Hewett’s interview with Malcolm Turnbull reads like a paean to the current federal Opposition leader and an attack on his political opponents. I do not wish to begrudge Hewett’s political preferences, but rather to point to the less than subtle way in which she expresses them. For example, she quotes Turnbull’s argument that ‘obscurity of language conceals confusion in the mind of the speaker’, then writes: ‘Take that, Kevin. It’s a jab, a sharp one.’ In his essay ‘Building a House of Cards’, former Labor leader Mark Latham uses the ‘global financial crisis’ as an excuse to attack a range of vaguely defined enemies, including Rudd’s ‘populist claptrap’, capitalism, ‘extreme politics’, right-wingers and the left. There is no suggestion here as to how Australia can minimise the impact of world recession. Reading this piece leads me to question Brendan Gleeson’s argument (which he advances in his own article) that ‘we need [Latham] back in public life’.

Also, while the writers featured in this collection are talented in their own ways, they have all received more than adequate exposure in the media and other public forums. Latham is a prime example: he continues to intervene in national debates long after leaving parliament, and three of his essays are included in this book. Should Beecher choose to compile The Best Australian Political Writing 2010, it is hoped he will include more work from up-and-coming political writers. These writers can be found in publications ranging from Overland to Online Opinion, as well as in the pages of activist magazines distributed at rallies and on street corners around the country. It is vital that these emerging writers are read widely and that their work is not obscured by that of high-profile commentators.

Finally, some issues that Australia faced during 2008 are striking because they are either mentioned briefly or completely overlooked. I refer here to issues such as the national housing shortage and the passage of laws that decriminalised abortion in Victoria. These are just as important as the question of whether Peter Costello will become leader of the Liberal Party, or the question of how we can move beyond the parlous economic state the world now finds itself in.

As a whole, The Best Australian Political Writing 2009 is an engaging and comprehensive overview of the political year. The collection has distinct limitations, as I have pointed out. Nevertheless, Beecher’s text is recommended reading for those interested in recent Australian politics and history.