ALMOST from the time of the Australian Country Party’s formation in early 1920, detractors predicted its downfall. Yet what is now the Nationals has never been without representation in the federal parliament.
Although Ninety Not Out is at times dry as a drought, this hefty biography of our second oldest political organisation presents us with some intriguing characters.
Perhaps the most fascinating is Earle Christmas Grafton Page, our 11th prime minister, who was born at Grafton in August 1880. Widely known as “Doc” (he topped his year in medical school), Page is …

ROB Oakeshott’s thumping win on Saturday in the NSW north coast federal seat of Lyne may have wide repercussions. The loss of the seat held by retiring Nationals leader Mark Vaile since 1993, and by the Country-National Party since 1949 when the seat was created, spells trouble federally for the Nationals.
Despite a strong performance in the June by-election for Gippsland (which is the Nationals heartland), Oakeshott’s crushing victory in Lyne is a clear example of how, if they are offered the choice of an independent candidate with a strong track …

TEN years ago today, the Queensland Nationals lost their last premier, Rob Borbidge.
Having defeated Wayne Goss, Borbidge seemed likely to return Queensland to long-term conservative rule. Yet just over two years later, his government fell to Labor’s new Opposition leader, Peter Beattie, for years left out in the cold by Goss.
Borbidge lost, not just because of a lacklustre governmental performance, an adverse reaction to a secret Nationals deal with the Queensland Police Union, and indecision over how to deal with Pauline Hanson’s One Nation Party, but more importantly it was …

(Friday May 30, 2008) Many thanks for that kind introduction Michael. In fact, I am just finishing book number 30 , a history of alcohol in Australia, entitled A Nation Under the Influence.
Just before I hopped on the plane, my wife Lyndal reminded me of a scathing review of my work written by one of mine many enemies in Queensland. This devastating attack concluded, “Ross Fitzgerald is one of Australia’s most prolific, yet least read, authors.”
The sad fact is that, in many ways, …