Percy Bysshe Shelley once described poets as the 'unacknowledged legislators of the world'. If this is true, Australian political scientists have shown curiously little interest in the role that literary figures play in the nation's political life. Novel Politics takes the relationship between literature and politics seriously, analysing the work of six writers, each the author of a classic text about Australian society. These authors bridge the history of local writing, from pre-Federation colonial Australia (Catherine Spence, Rosa Praed and Catherine Martin) to the contemporary moment (Tim Winton, Christos Tsiolkas and Kim Scott). Novel Politics unpicks the many political threads woven into these books, as they document the social world as it exists, while suggesting new possibilities for the nation's future. As political commentators of a particular kind, all six authors offer unique insights into the deeper roots of politics in Australia, beyond the theatre of parliament and out into the wider social world, as imagined by its dreamers and criticised by its most incisive discontents.

Percy Bysshe Shelley once described poets as the 'unacknowledged legislators of the world'. If this is true, Australian political scientists have shown curiously little interest in the role that literary figures play in the nation's political life. Novel Politics takes the relationship between literature and politics seriously, analysing the work of six writers, each the author of a classic text about Australian society. These authors bridge the history of local writing, from pre-Federation colonial Australia (Catherine Spence, Rosa Praed and Catherine Martin) to the contemporary moment (Tim Winton, Christos Tsiolkas and Kim Scott). Novel Politics unpicks the many political threads woven into these books, as they document the social world as it exists, while suggesting new possibilities for the nation's future. As political commentators of a particular kind, all six authors offer unique insights into the deeper roots of politics in Australia, beyond the theatre of parliament and out into the wider social world, as imagined by its dreamers and criticised by its most incisive discontents.

Whitlam's Children is the first systematic study of the Labor and Greens relationship in Australia, examining its history, experience in government, and prospects for the future. Based on over forty interviews with party figures - including leaders and senior ministers - the book asks a number of pressing questions about the relationship: what do politicians from both parties think about each other, and what issues unite and divide them; did previous attempts at cooperation, particularly under Julia Gillard, deliver successful government, and how did both parties judge this experiment; and will we ever see a more lasting coalition on the Australian left, to mirror the established arrangement on the Australian right? At its centre, the book examines the minority parliament from 2010 to 2013, the parties' first federal attempt formal cooperation. Exploring both successes and failures, it dedicates chapters to particularly stubborn policy dilemmas, including climate change and refugee settlement. While the interviews revealed a variety of perspectives, even within parties, they uncovered a productive, though often hostile parliamentary relationship; united by a series of shared values, but divided by different approaches to parliament, politics and pragmatism.