Performance Politics

How has Australian political life become so personal, emotional and autobiographical?

In Performance Politics, historian and speechwriter Joshua Black provides an eye-opening account of how Australian politicians have become experts at fashioning stories about themselves, their lives, personal ambitions and political entanglements. Delving into memoirs, autobiographies, documentaries, media coverage, personal papers and original interviews, this book reveals how much of our recent political history has been delivered through the prism of the publishing house, the book launch and documentaries beamed into our lounge rooms. From a time when ‘telling tales out of school’ (as Billy Hughes once put it) was not the done thing, to one where the 2024 Nemesis documentary showcased backstabbing, character assassinations and high emotions.

Performance Politics shows how political life writing and documentary making have played an outsized role in creating the story-driven political culture of our times. Settling scores, shaping legacies and dramatising the democratic process, sometimes in shocking ways.

‘Here is a strikingly original account of how personal narrative became central to Australian political performance and so helped transform the emotional terrain of public life. Joshua Black has opened for us a brilliant new way of understanding political culture through the stories that its leaders have told about themselves.’ – Frank Bongiorno

‘Groundbreaking: original questions, rich with revealing detail and a great read.’ – Judith Brett

‘Black shows how the stories political players tell often reveal far more than they intend. This deep dive into performance storytelling will fascinate anyone interested in the politics of power and ambition.’ – Michelle Grattan

In this formidable account, Joshua Black excavates the feuds, feelings, dramas and cunning that have forged a new type of storytelling in Australian politics. With a sharp eye for fascinating details, Black reminds us that political memoirs are written by flesh-and-blood politicians, desperate to settle scores and cement their own place in history. A real treat for political obsessives.’ – Sean Kelly

About the Author

Dr. Joshua Black is a lecturer in Australian Political Studies within the Vice-Chancellor’s Centre of Public Ideas at the University of Canberra. He has previously worked as policy researcher, media adviser and speechwriter. He is co-editor, with Frank Bongiorno and Carolyn Holbrook, of Gold Standard? Remembering the Hawke Government.