August 4, 2010 THE AUSTRALIAN LITERARY REVIEW POLITICS 5

Mate against mate IMRE SALUSINSZKY

Betrayal:TheUnderbelly tricitysupplyandjobscouldgooffshore.Costain- for detail. When Iemma is expecting a breakfast movement should be two things, rather than one. of Australian Labor conveniently pointed out the provenance of the visit from Rudd in February 2008, the table in the Less thanfour months afterthe theatreof Dar- protest T-shirts worn by many of the delegates. premier’s dining room is laden with ‘‘poached ling Harbour, Iemma and Costa were gone. They BySimonBenson ‘‘Half the people in this room are wearing yel- eggs and bacon, salmon hot cakes with a creamy have now been followed off stage by Rudd. To PanteraPress,304pp,$49.99(HB) low T-shirts made in China,’’ he ranted. ‘‘You’re cheese and pastries’’. But in an ominous sign of Costa, Rudd’s demise was the ultimate demon- a joke! You’re an absolute joke!’’ things to come, Rudd doesn’t show. stration the prime minister had destroyed him- Robertson, in his speech, cruelly slighted for- Betrayal, however, is more than a compelling self by abandoning Iemma and taking the road of HAT is character mer NSW premier Barrie Unsworth, who had de- political potboiler. It should stimulate the begin- least resistance. In the process, Rudd had assisted but the determi- livered a report to the conference in support of nings of the conversation about what Labor gov- in the creation of a dysfunctional NSW Labor nation of inci- privatisation: ‘‘Mate, there’s nothing more ex ernment in NSW between 1995 and (if the polls government, which came back to bite him. dent?’’ asked than an ex,’’ one former sparkie told another. are correct) 2011 has meant. There is evidence for this view in the fact that Henry James. For political theatre, this was hard to beat. The ‘‘And what is inci- privatisation proposal was defeated by 702 votes dent butW the illustration of character? to 107. Presiding over the vote was state party sec- ‘ ’’ James was talking about literary plots, but his retary Karl Bitar who, with Riordan’s and Rob- With almost unlimited reserves of political capital at his point about the priority of character applies ertson’s connivance, was already putting pres- equally to the plot to overthrow former NSW sure on state Labor MPs to dump Iemma. disposal, Rudd preferred to feel the love premier , which is the subject of The following morning, those of us covering Simon Benson’s Betrayal. From one perspective, the conference saw another of Benson’s key If the answer to that question by most media one trigger for Rudd’s downfall was a by-election the driving forces appear larger than individual players in action. Kevin Rudd was introduced by commentators and editorialists would appear to in the state seat of Penrith, in which half the actors: Labor’s arcane rules and processes, espe- a more than usually buffoonish Riordan, who ap- be ‘‘unalleviated disaster’’, that simply reflects voters who supported Labor in 2007 decided to cially the party’s annual conference, NSW’s flag- peared to be channelling W. C. Fields. As Rudd shortness of memory, including for many of their abandon it. Nevertheless, the plotters have been ging economy and balance sheet, the machinery finally began, we waited for him to throw Iemma own previously held positions. rewarded. Fresh from ‘‘doing’’ Iemma, Bitar hit of government and parliament, and so on. But a lifeline, to say something, anything in support of As Michael Egan, treasurer under the Federal Highway to become the party’s na- from another perspective, it is the extraordinary the privatisation plan. It didn’t happen. With between 1995 and 2005, delivered surplus after tional boss. Robertson, in a series of piquant iron- cast of characters whose quirks, ambitions and almost unlimited reserves of political capital at surplus, paying down mountains of public debt, I ies, inherited Costa’s upper-house seat and prejudices drive everything. his disposal, Rudd preferred to feel the love. remember a good deal of cheering from the quickly rose to become — wait for it — the state’s None more extraordinary than Iemma’s side- This is where Benson gets his title. Written sidelines, but nobody saying: ‘‘Wait! You should energy minister. From this position, he was kick, former NSW treasurer Michael Costa. unashamedly from the perspectives of Iemma be borrowing billions to build roads and hospi- forced to front the TV cameras and explain away When Costa took to the podium at Labor’s annu- and Costa, his book suggests Rudd was duty- tals!’’ massive rises in the regulated price of electricity, al conference at Darling Harbour in May 2008, it bound to do something to save Iemma and his re- The point is that electricity reform has been a the very bogey he had summoned up in his scare appeared as if his head was about to explode. To form plan. hurt locker for Labor since the day it came to of- campaign against reform. the heckling of nearly 1000 delegates, he excori- Eight months earlier, on the cusp of the 2007 fice. Carr and Egan attempted full privatisation in Ambitious and intelligent, Robertson will ated Unions NSW boss and state federal election, Rudd had convinced Iemma to 1997. At that stage, the windfall for taxpayers struggle to shed his reputation gained in the heat party president Bernie Riordan, arguing their op- delay the privatisation announcement until after would probably have been north of $25 billion, of the electricity wars as a divisive figure and a position to a plan to privatise about $12 billion the federal poll. which is a lot of roads and hospitals. But Carr and troglodyte. Nevertheless, he will move to the worth of state-owned electricity assets was all ‘‘If you help me, I’ll get elected and you will Egan were defeated by much the same crew that lower house at the state election next March and about asserting their egos. prosper,’’ Rudd told Iemma, according to Ben- confounded Iemma’s plan a decade later. will become a potential candidate for leadership Then Costa turned on the jeering delegates. son’s sources. This says something about NSW as the last of the opposition. Part of the union case — more a dog whistle than ‘‘Work with me and, when the time comes, we vestige of ‘‘industrial’’ Labor. It suggests, surely, Itwillbethegreatestironyofallif,havingdone a serious argument — was that Chinese commer- canf..kthem together.’’ that, in the 21st century, a social-democratic so much to debilitate the Labor government, cial interests could assert control of NSW’s elec- Benson has the quality tabloid journalist’s feel political party and a historic trade union ‘‘Robbo’’ is handed the wreckage. ✱

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