Chipp by Don Chipp

Don Chipp - rebel, reformer, individual and idealist - served in the Australian Parliament for twenty-five years. An insider with successive Liberal governments from Menzies to Fraser, in 1977 he broke away and formed his own party, the Democrats.
   Within a few years he gained and held the balance of power in the Senate. According to Bob Hawke, Don Chipp was perhaps 'the second most powerful man in Australia'. It was Chipp's way to 'keep the bastards honest'.
   This is Chipp's account of the last ten years, a time of political turmoil and personal pain and triumph.
   Taking up where his previous bestseller THE THIRD MAN finished, Chipp has many stories to tell: about his colleagues, about the power games at the top, and how the country is run. Some of his stories raise the question: 'Is the country in the very best of hands?'
   He goes to the very heart of the political process, and describes the life of a parliamentarian and what it is like to sit in the Prime Minister's office and do a deal.
   He shows the isolation and tedium, which together with the temptations, glamour, excitement and attraction of power are so integral to political life. He has been at the centre of many fights - to save the Franklin, for tax reform, against uranium and Australia's alliance with the United States. He deals frankly with his later days of disillusionment, his underlying idealism, and his view of Australia and its people.
   Introduced by John Larkin, CHIPP is the account of a singular man who speaks from the heart.

Genres: Nonfiction - Memoir - Australia - Politics
Condition: Good
Published: 1987 by Methuen Haynes
Pages: 236
ISBN: 0454013450
Weight: 640g