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Paul Kelly and George Megalogenis: Media Intellectuals in Australian Politics

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Paul Kelly and George Megalogenis: Media Intellectuals in Australian Politics Paul Kelly and George Megalogenis: Media Intellectuals in Australian Politics Paul Kemp A thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the discipline of Politics and International Studies at the University of Adelaide, 31 December, 2017. ii TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT .................................................................................................................................... v DECLARATION ............................................................................................................................ vi ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ............................................................................................................. vii ABBREVIATIONS ....................................................................................................................... viii INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................................................... 1 Paul Kelly .............................................................................................................................................. 4 George Megalogenis ............................................................................................................................ 6 Gaps in the literature ........................................................................................................................... 7 Methodology/approach ....................................................................................................................... 8 Argument ........................................................................................................................................... 10 Chapters ............................................................................................................................................. 11 CHAPTER ONE ........................................................................................................................... 18 THE BOOKS OF PAUL KELLY ....................................................................................................... 18 The Dismissal ‘Trilogy’ ........................................................................................................................ 19 The Hawke Ascendancy ...................................................................................................................... 30 The End of Certainty ........................................................................................................................... 32 Future Tense ....................................................................................................................................... 41 100 Years: The Australian Story ......................................................................................................... 51 Hard Heads, Soft Hearts: A New Reform Agenda for Australia ......................................................... 55 Cunningham Lecture .......................................................................................................................... 57 Howard’s Decade ............................................................................................................................... 58 The March of Patriots......................................................................................................................... 60 Triumph and Demise .......................................................................................................................... 64 Critical consensus? ............................................................................................................................. 68 Neoliberalism or not? ......................................................................................................................... 78 Inequality, insecurity and debt ........................................................................................................... 79 Conclusion .......................................................................................................................................... 83 CHAPTER TWO .......................................................................................................................... 86 JOURNALISM ............................................................................................................................. 86 Globalisation ...................................................................................................................................... 90 The Iraq war ..................................................................................................................................... 106 Social issues ...................................................................................................................................... 112 The Rudd and Gillard prime ministerships ....................................................................................... 119 iii Kelly and religion ............................................................................................................................. 125 Conclusion ........................................................................................................................................ 127 CHAPTER THREE ...................................................................................................................... 131 GEORGE MEGALOGENIS ......................................................................................................... 131 The Journalism ................................................................................................................................. 147 Conclusion ........................................................................................................................................ 159 CHAPTER FOUR ....................................................................................................................... 162 JOURNALISTS, PUNDITS AND DEMOCRACY ............................................................................ 162 Rupert Murdoch, News Ltd and The Australian ............................................................................... 175 Twilight of the elite columnists? ...................................................................................................... 185 Conclusion ........................................................................................................................................ 190 CHAPTER FIVE ......................................................................................................................... 193 KELLY AND MEGALOGENIS: JOURNALISTS AS PUBLIC INTELLECTUALS .................................. 193 Kelly, Megalogenis and political history .......................................................................................... 203 Whitlam ........................................................................................................................................... 204 Fraser ............................................................................................................................................... 205 Hawke .............................................................................................................................................. 206 The Keating and Howard governments ........................................................................................... 231 The Rudd and Gillard governments ................................................................................................. 245 Conclusion ........................................................................................................................................ 250 CONCLUSION .......................................................................................................................... 253 The end of the Australian moment? ................................................................................................ 256 BIBLIOGRAPHY ........................................................................................................................ 265 iv ABSTRACT Paul Kelly and George Megalogenis are Australian journalists and political historians who have been influential in their interpretation of contemporary Australian political history. This thesis supports the claim made – sometimes critically – by scholars ranging from James Walter to Robert Manne, and politicians ranging from Gareth Evans to Tony Abbott, as well as fellow elite journalists, that they have both been significant figures in articulating, in Australian political discourse, the effectiveness of market-orientated policies as the foundation of national political and economic success since 1991. Their central point is that the Australian version of what may be categorised as neoliberal policies, which Kelly has called `Australian exceptionalism’ and Megalogenis has labelled variously `pragmatic deregulation’ and `the Australian miracle’, constitutes a unique achievement in Australian history. The research finds this remains, with some caveats, a valid interpretation. Yet, as the first comprehensive survey of their books and journalism, it also finds the former have some limitations; particularly that insufficient attention is given to the problems of political disengagement, economic insecurity, inequality and the effect of the media on political discourse. Nonetheless, it finds their books remain valuable as historico-qualitative
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