Burning Down the House: Reconstructing Modern Politics (In the National Interest) - Softcover

Jo Dyer

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1922633003 ISBN 13: 9781922633002

Publisher: Monash University Publishing, 2022

Synopsis

The Morrison government's moral decline happened first slowly and then all at once. We suffered through Sports rorts' and Watergate' and an MIA PM, before the dissembling response to allegations of sexual abuse at the very heart of federal politics threw into stark relief the cynicism and moral bankruptcy of a government ready to abandon any semblance of integrity to save its own skin. But at a time when the country is crying out for leadership, the Labor Party seems paralysed, so terrified it may lose votes from its opponent's perennial wedging that, on key moral questions, it has failed to make the case to win them. Burning Down the House tells the story of how our political system went awry. Debunking the notion that we've ever had a two-party system, it examines how with a recent dance card that has gone way beyond Labor and Liberal to encompass the Nationals, Greens, Centre Alliance and a whole host of RWNJs Australia has now arrived at a place where a group of the most unlikely politicians contemplated the sort of Australia they wanted responsible, humane, moral and concluded that was not the Australia reflected in our current toxic politics. Into the breach has stepped a range of independents beholden to no-one but themselves and their electorates, ordinary Australians determined to burn it all down and build something new.

About this title

About the Author

Jo Dyer is a writer, literary curator and producer of theatre and film. Most recently Director of Adelaide Writers’ Week, Jo has held leadership roles at national cultural institutions such as Sydney Writers’ Festival, Sydney Theatre Company and Bangarra Dance Theatre. Her freelance productions have been staged at venues that include the Sydney Opera House, Brooklyn Academy of Music, the National Centre for the Performing Arts in Mumbai, and the legendary Tropicana hotel in Las Vegas, and her films have won awards and screened worldwide, notably at the Berlin International Film Festival.

In 2021, Jo was unexpectedly thrust into the national spotlight when she became an advocate for her deceased friend Kate, after Kate’s accusations of rape against then attorney-general Christian Porter were posthumously made public. She is a Community Independent candidate for the seat of Boothby in the 2022 Federal election.

Edition details

• Publisher: Monash University Publishing
• Publication date: 2022
• ISBN 10: 1922633003
• ISBN 13: 9781922633002
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 96