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  • Cited by 8
Publisher:
Cambridge University Press
Online publication date:
January 2011
Print publication year:
2010
Online ISBN:
9780511861130

Book description

Written by former minister and Labor historian Rodney Cavalier, Power Crisis is an explosive account of the self-destruction of the New South Wales Labor government, which has seen a turnover of four premiers in five years, and is heading for rejection and even humiliation by voters at the next state election. While the catalyst was the thwarted attempt to privatise electricity, Cavalier reveals that the real issue is the takeover of Labor by a professional political class without connection to the broader community or the party's traditions. Featuring interviews with ex-premiers Iemma and Rees, Power Crisis contrasts the current turmoil and self-indulgence with the stability within New South Wales Labor over generations before, and asks, 'What went wrong?'

Reviews

'This is a forensic and penetrating analysis of the crisis facing modern Labor. Cavalier is unrivalled in his ability to identify the dilemmas of the present but locate them in historical context.'

Paul Kelly Source: The Australian

'You don't have to agree with Rodney Cavalier to understand that his perspective on the modern Labor Party is important. For those who care about the ALP and its future this book is essential.'

Senator John Faulkner

'… a very insightful book that provides a valuable description and analysis of the byzantine ways of the most powerful faction in the nation’s most important Labor branch. Moreover, the book has a continuing relevance. What Cavalier does is outline the behavioural pattern of a group of people who, having arguably run the NSW Labor government down over a dispute between the machine and the parliamentary leadership ostensibly over policy, are now pivotal to national Labor politics.'

Nick Economou Source: Australian Journal of Political Science

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Contents

Sources
Books
Bramston, Troy (ed), The Wran Era (Federation Press 2006)
Chaples, Ernie, Nelson, Helen and Turner, Ken (eds), The Wran Model: Electoral Politics in New South Wales, 1981 and 1984 (OUP 1985)
Childe, VG, How Labour Governs: A study of workers' representation in Australia (MUP 1964)
Clune, David and Turner, Ken (eds), The Premiers of New South Wales, 2 vols (Federation Press 2006)
Cuneen, Chris, William John McKell: Boilermaker, Premier, Governor-General (UNSW Press 2000)
Duncan, Bruce, Crusade or Conspiracy: Catholics and the anti-communist struggle in Australia (UNSW Press 2001)
Duverger, Maurice, Political Parties: Their organization and activity in the modern state (University Paperbacks 1964)
Easson, Michael (ed), McKell: The achievements of William McKell (Allen & Unwin 1988)
Evatt, HV, Australian Labour Leader: The story of WA Holman and the Labour movement (Angus & Robertson 1940)
Fitzhardinge, LF, William Morris Hughes: A political biography, 2 vols (Angus & Robertson 1964 and 1979)
Freudenberg, Graham, Cause For Power: The official history of the New South Wales Branch of the Australian Labor Party (Pluto 1991)
Hagan, Jim and Turner, Ken, A History of the Labor Party in New South Wales 1891–1991 (Longman 1991)
Hogan, Michael, Local Labor: A history of the Labor Party in Glebe 1891–2003 (Federation Press 2004)
Hogan, Michael (ed), Labor Pains: Early conference and executive reports of the Labor Party in New South Wales, vols 1–3, 1892–1917 (Federation Press 2006)
Hogan, Michael and Clune, David (eds) The People's Choice: Electoral politics in 20th century New South Wales, 3 vols (NSW Parliament 2001)
Loveday, P, Martin, AW & Weller, Patrick, ‘New South Wales’ in Loveday, P, Martin, AW & Parker, RS (eds), The Emergence of the Australian Party System (Hale & Iremonger 1977)
Mackinolty, Judy (ed), The Wasted Years? Australia's Great Depression (Allen & Unwin 1981)
Raymond, Markey, The Making of the Labor Party in New South Wales 1880–1900 (UNSW Press 1988)
Michels, Robert, Political Parties: A sociological study of the emergence of leadership, the psychology of power and the oligarchic tendencies of organization (Dover 1959)
Andrew, Moore, The Secret Army and the Premier (UNSW Press 1989)
Murray, Robert, The Split: Australian Labor in the fifties (Cheshire 1970)
Nairn, Bede, Civilising Capitalism: The Labor movement in New South Wales 1870–1900 (ANU Press 1973)
Nairn, Bede, The ‘Big Fella’: Jack Lang and the Australian Labor Party 1891–1949 (MUP 1986)
Radi, Heather and Spearritt, Peter (eds), Jack Lang (Hale and Iremonger 1977)
Robson, LL, The First AIF: A study of its recruitment 1914–1918 (MUP 1970)
Scott, Andrew, Fading Loyalties: The Australian Labor Party and the working class (Pluto 1991)
Andrew, Scott, Running On Empty: ‘Modernising’ the British and Australian labour parties (Pluto 2000)
Steketee, Mike and Cockburn, Milton, Wran: An unauthorised biography (Allen & Unwin 1986)
Articles
Bramston, Troy and Cavalier, Rodney, ‘What happened in 1973’, Southern Highlands Branch ALP Newsletter (no 144, September 2008)
Cavalier, Rodney, ‘The Australian Labor Party at Branch Level: Guildford, Hunters Hill and Panania Branches in the 1950s’, in Whitlam et al (eds), A Century Of Social Change: Labor History Essays, vol 4 (Pluto Press 1992)
Easson, Michael, ‘The McKell Model’, Southern Highlands Branch ALP Newsletter (no 147, December 2008)
Foley, Luke, ‘The impact of corporate cash on ALP membership and the health of the party’, interview, ABC TV Four Corners, transcript reproduced in Southern Highlands Branch ALP Newsletter (no 140, May 2008)
Marr, David, ‘Suburban son rises’, Sydney Morning Herald, 17 March 2007
Samaras, Michael, ‘Annual Conference: Supreme and illegitimate’, Southern Highlands Branch ALP Newsletter (no 147, December 2008)
Unpublished sources
Clune, David, ‘The Labor government in New South Wales 1941–1965: A study in longevity in government’, unpublished PhD thesis, University of Sydney, 1990.

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