A revealing account of the passions, betrayals and intrigues of Australian politics, by a man who has lived the highs and lows of public life. In the 1981 NSW election the Liberal Party won only one seat back from Neville Wran's ALP: Willoughby, won by 34-year-old Peter Collins. Five years later Peter was deputy leader of the Liberals, and in 1988 the newly elected Premier, Nick Greiner, handed him the Health portfolio, one of the toughest assignments in state politics. This is Peter Collins' story - his rapid elevation to deputy leadership, his role in the parliament long known as "the bear pit", his battles as a cabinet minister, the defamation case which nearly brought him to financial ruin, the dark days of Opposition, his betrayal by colleagues who staged an eleventh-hour coup in a powerplay as breathtaking as it was suicidal. Under a new leader, the party for which he had worked for a quarter of a century went on to suffer the greatest defeat since its creation five decades before. "The Bear Pit" tells this story from the inside, revealing much about how politics is played out by the people we elect. But it's not all about politics.
It's about growing up in half a dozen places in the country and Sydney's suburbs, about student days during the Vietnam War and days as a TV journalist in the Whitlam era. It's about lifelong passions - for the performing and visual arts, for public service, for Australia's history. It's about family and friends - and enemies, covert and overt. Unlike Labor, which has nurtured (and used) its history, the Liberals and their coalition partners have chosen to ignore their past and to take for granted their successes. This is a rare contribution to the non-Labor story. No other state Liberal has written so frankly about life in politics or the inner workings of non-Labor politics.
- ISBN13 9781865082080
- Publish Date 1 November 2000
- Publish Status Out of Print
- Out of Print 28 September 2005
- Publish Country AU
- Imprint Allen & Unwin
- Format Hardcover
- Pages 376
- Language English