Politics, Protest, Pandemic is the story of the 2020 year in Australian
federal politics, told through a collection of extended essays from the
New Politics Australia podcast series. This was one of the most
remarkable years in human history and there was an expectation that
partisan politics could be put aside in the public interest and while
that occurred in the earlier parts of the pandemic, it was back to
business as soon as possible: point-scoring, media manipulations,
corruption, and outright mistruths told by political leaders who should
know better. The year commenced with the remnants of the catastrophic
bushfire season still lingering in the air: Prime Minister Scott
Morrison was pilloried for his lack of adequate responses at this time
but was rescued, politically, through the arrival of the coronavirus.
Australia performed remarkably well during this pandemic, but it could
have been so much better. Opportunities to reset the economy and
Australian society were overlooked, with the government's desire to
'snap-back' to the ways of the world before coronavirus started, even
though that's a world that might have disappeared forever. An excellent
guide to a dramatic year in Australian politics, providing historical
viewpoints and references which enable the reader to navigate a thorough
context and understanding of a confusing year.
