[Australian Political History] - What are the seminal works (or most useful for a general understanding), of Australian politics/political history in the late 20th century (say, post-1960s)? | AskHistorians Archive Observer

[Australian Political History] - What are the seminal works (or most useful for a general understanding), of Australian politics/political history in the late 20th century (say, post-1960s)?

by HappyLachy

I am writing a paper on Youth Politics in Australia but before that I wish to gain a better understanding of the ideological positions and history of Australia's major parties and/or other significant players. Any more general histories of Australia's politics you could recommend for the late 20th century?

hillsonghoods

One of the more influential works on people's understanding of late 20th century Australian politics is Paul Kelly's political history of the 1980s The End Of Certainty, which argues that the 1980s ended what Kelly calls the 'Australian settlement'; the book in a lot of ways details the way that the centre-left Labor party negotiated a response to the 'economic rationalist' agenda dominant in economic thinking at the time. That might be a place to start.