In this discussion with Professor Emeritus James Walter, former chair of political science at Monash University, we discuss the distinctive features of Australian politics, parties, and its leaders. We then examine the ideas which inhabit our political debates, including liberalism and values capitalism, and grapple with the broader decline of political engagement in Australia.

James published the first pioneering study of ministerial staff, The Ministers’ Minders: personal advisers in national government (Oxford University Press, 1986). He has elaborated on this research in later books, including What Were They Thinking? The politics of ideas in Australia (UNSW Press, 2010), and The Pivot of Power: Australian Prime Ministers and Political Leadership, 1949-2016 (with Paul Strangio and Paul ‘t Hart, Melbourne University Press, 2017).

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