The Education of a Young Liberal

4 out of 5

Alexandra – Jul 21, 2013

This is a rather curious book. On one hand its depiction of the insular world of the NSW Young Liberals and Liberal politicians in general is probably of little interest to those without a keen interest in Australian politics. More curiously, this book is also banned. One of the politicians mentioned in it sued for defamation and succeeded in having all copies taken off the shelves and destroyed. Therefore of course every single Young Lib (and probably Young Labor) do their best to acquire copie This is a rather curious book. On one hand its depiction of the insular world of the NSW Young Liberals and Liberal politicians in general is probably of little interest to those without a keen interest in Australian politics. More curiously, this book is also banned. One of the politicians mentioned in it sued for defamation and succeeded in having all copies taken off the shelves and destroyed. Therefore of course every single Young Lib (and probably Young Labor) do their best to acquire copies, and the book flourishes in those circles. That's how I (as a NSW Young Liberal myself), found out and temporarily obtained a copy. And I have to say it's great fun to hear about branch-stacking strategies, the intricacies of Liberal Council Meetings, Factional Scheming, and to read highly unflattering portrayals of many Liberals who have since reached very high positions within the party and I now get to see on my TV screen. In the end however, it's a deeply saddening story. Young idealistic, highly intelligent students waste years of their lives branch-stacking, scheming, competing and basically doing their best to destroy each other's lives, just for the glimmering possibility of their own political advancement, damaging the Party in the process. What's worse is that our political leaders of today most probably did exactly the same thing, only they won.