Political Troglodytes and Economic Lunatics

The Hard Right in Australia

By: Dominic Kelly

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Paperback | 5 March 2019

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256 Pages

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2.6 x 15.3 x 23.2

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In the mid-1980s, Ray Evans and his boss at Western Mining Corporation, Hugh Morgan, became the pioneers of a new form of political activism. Morgan and Evans set up four small but potent organisations, intending to transform public thinking on industrial relations, the Constitution, Indigenous affairs and climate change.

Together they had an energy that bordered on fanaticism. They lobbied politicians and wrote opinion articles. They were born intriguers and colourful speakers. It was Bob Hawke who called them ‘political troglodytes and economic lunatics’, yet in their dogged pursuit of influence these hard right conservatives had an impact on mainstream public policy that continues today. Calmly, forensically and with a dry wit, Dominic Kelly shows how they did it.

Political Troglodytes and Economic Lunatics is a case study in how some very determined people can change a political culture.

About the Author

Dominic Kelly’s writing has appeared in The Age, The Monthly, Guardian Australia, Meanjin, The Saturday Paper and Inside Story. He is an honorary research fellow at La Trobe University. Political Troglodytes and Economic Lunatics is his first book.

Industry Reviews

"This is the story of the last great shift in Australian politics, a tale of plutocrats and reactionaries who defied the times to drag Australia to the right."
David Marr

"Political Troglodytes and Economic Lunatics contributes to a deeper understanding of the Right in Australia, which has been relatively neglected."
David McKnight, author of Populism Now and Beyond Right and Left

"This is a controversial subject about polarising figures, but Kelly’s approach is fair and honest. An important contribution to the literature on modern conservatism and neoliberalism."
Andrew Hartman, Professor of History, Illinois State University

"A lucid and compelling account of the men and advocacy groups that drove Australia to the right."
Judy Brett

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