Troy Bramston

@TroyBramston

Senior Writer + Columnist

Historian. Best-selling and award-winning author. Biographer of Prime Ministers Robert Menzies, Paul Keating, Bob Hawke.

Sydney, Australiatheaustralian.com.au/author/Troy+Br…Joined June 2012

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13.4K Followers

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Troy Bramston

@TroyBramston

Feb 6

It’s thrilling to tear open a box and hold your book for the first time! Very proud of my biography of #BobHawke, packed with new interviews/archival discoveries, can’t wait for people to read it. In bookshops 1 March. Pre-order

@PenguinBooksAus

#auspol penguin.com.au/books/bob-hawk

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Troy Bramston

@TroyBramston

Sep 2

Looking forward to joining fellow prime ministerial biographer

@pjfmullins

next Friday at

@MelbWritersFest

for a discussion about #BobHawke’s life and legacy at the magnificent

@Library_Vic

. See you there! #MWF22

@PenguinBooksAus

#auspol #springst #books mwf.com.au/program/troy-b

Troy Bramston

@TroyBramston

Aug 31

Hawke kept in touch with #Gorbachev during the tumultuous break-up of the USSR in 1991. Hawke lost the prime ministership just a week before Gorbachev lost the presidency, and the USSR voted itself out of existence. #auspol #MikhailGorbachev

One of the most fascinating documents I discovered when writing my Bob Hawke biography was Hawke's brief for his #Gorbachev meeting which described him as "formidable", "shrewd, resolute, charismatic" with "charm and guile" but projecting a cultivated "folksy populism". #auspol

#Gorbachev asked Hawke to pass messages to Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher. Hawke did just that days later, telling Reagan that Gorbachev worried that sections of the Republican Party believed renewed detente and disarmament were appeasement. #auspol

Hawke recalled that #Gorbachev acknowledged the Soviet economic model was crumbling, even despite his policies of glasnost and perestroika, but insisted political reform precede economic reform. Hawke argued he had got it the wrong way round. #auspol

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Troy Bramston

@TroyBramston

Aug 31

Hawke met #Gorbachev alone in the Kremlin in 1987, apart from an interpreter, for two-and-a-half hours. It was scheduled for 15 minutes. They conducted a tour d'horizon of geopolitics. Hawke thought it was one of the most compelling meetings of his prime ministership. #auspol

I spoke to Bob Hawke about #MikhailGorbachev - including during Hawke's final interview in 2019 - and he described the last Soviet leader as "genuine" and "decent" and added he "liked" him very much. They were among the last of the #ColdWar era leaders. #auspol #Gorbachev

#ICYMI: My interview with

@David_Gergen

— White House adviser to Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, Ronald Reagan, Bill Clinton — on the keys to effective leadership, judging presidents, why US needs “a course correction”.

What makes a leader great? Collaboration with rivals

David Gergen was just 28 when he joined Richard Nixons White House staff in 1971 and went on to serve three other presidents Gerald Ford, Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton giving him an unrivalled...

Troy Bramston

@TroyBramston

Aug 20

A tip for Barnaby Joyce: the good people who work at IGA care about secret government, trashing Westminster conventions, proper cabinet governance and parliamentary accountability — to suggest otherwise is utterly false. #Insiders #auspol

My interview with

— White House adviser to Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, Ronald Reagan, Bill Clinton — on the keys to effective leadership, judging presidents and why the US needs “a course correction”.

What makes a leader great? Collaboration with rivals

David Gergen was just 28 when he joined Richard Nixons White House staff in 1971 and went on to serve three other presidents Gerald Ford, Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton giving him an unrivalled...

Troy Bramston Retweeted

Enjoy these ⁦

⁩ interviews. Engaging rivals is what we need. Political debate is too extreme today - both left & right. Too febrile in temperature. People want to be proved “right” rather than get stuff done for their constituents.

theaustralian.com.au

What makes a leader great? Collaboration with rivals

David Gergen was just 28 when he joined Richard Nixons White House staff in 1971 and went on to serve three other presidents Gerald Ford, Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton giving him an unrivalled...

My interview with

— White House adviser to Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, Ronald Reagan, Bill Clinton — on the keys to effective leadership, judging presidents and why the US needs “a course correction”.

What makes a leader great? Collaboration with rivals

David Gergen was just 28 when he joined Richard Nixons White House staff in 1971 and went on to serve three other presidents Gerald Ford, Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton giving him an unrivalled...

Troy Bramston

@TroyBramston

Aug 19

And with #FathersDay just around the corner, well, you know what to do.

Very pleased with this detailed review of my book: "Bramston’s biography presents a complete picture of Bob Hawke the man, union leader, politician and prime minister ... it is thoroughly researched, well written, comprehensive ... and definitive." #auspol

thesydneyinstitute.com.au

“HE’S NOT THE MESSIAH. HE’S A VERY NAUGHTY BOY!”

Bob Hawke: Demons and destiny, the definitive biography By Troy Bramston Viking 2022 ISBN: 9780143788096 RRP $49.99 (HB) Reviewed by Keith Harvey The introduction to Troy Bramston’s Bob Hawke:...

Plenty of examples in vice-regal correspondence where GG counsels PM. GG must uphold constitution. He must have known that ministers need to be revealed to uphold proper cabinet governance and parliamentary accountability. If he did not know this, then he shouldn’t be GG. #auspol

This testifies to a larger point which I’ve made, and others, that the GG is our constitutional guardian. He has a duty to ensure Westminster conventions, protocols and laws are followed. Our system is based as much on practice as law. GG was party to PM’s secrecy. #auspol

Even during 1975 constitutional crisis, GG John Kerr made sure the Vice-Regal Notice listed his two meetings with CJ Garfield Barwick on 10 Nov. (published 11 Nov.) PM Whitlam told Kerr not to meet Barwick. Surely appointing a minister warrants Vice-Regal Notice mention. #auspol

Moreover, GG uses Vice-Regal Notices (or program) to disclose swearings-in, meetings, events, lunches/dinners, even phone calls. They’re listed on a website. He should have dislcosed he signed administrative instruments re Morrison’s appointments. #auspol gg.gov.au/about-governor

The Governor-General’s claim it wasn’t his “responsibility” to notify ministry/parliament of Morrison’s secret ministries doesn’t wash. He should have used his capacity to “counsel, warn” (Bagehot) that they be made public and when they weren’t he should have insisted. #auspol

Thank you! #auspol

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Richard Impiombato

@R_Impiombato

· Aug 17

Just finished @TroyBramston’s outstanding new book “Bob Hawke, Demons and Destiny”. Interesting to note Hawke advocated nuclear power for Australia

Troy Bramston

@TroyBramston

Aug 17

Peter Dutton, successor to Morrison as Liberal leader, has distanced himself from the former PM, making it clear that he would not act in the same way if he was PM and said Morrison acted wrongly. Frontbencher Karen Andrews has urged Morrison to quit parliament. #auspol

Tony Abbott - who has always had a poor opinion of Morrison as PM - savaged the secret ministerial swearings-in as unusual, unorthodox and strange. #auspol

Then Malcolm Turnbull savaged Morrison’s secret swearing-in to multiple ministries as astonishing, appalling, incredible and sinister, and also an affront to Australian parliamentary democracy and Westminster conventions. #auspol

There’s never been a PM before Scott Morrison who has had their legacy shredded so brutally and so quickly by their party. In Saturday

@australian

John Howard told me Morrison had no future agenda, delivered no economic reform and overall record in govt. was “very mixed”. #auspol

Sir David Smith, official secretary to five Governors-General, has died. Smith famously read the proclamation dissolving Parliament on 11 Nov. 1975. I had many conversations/emails with him past 10yrs. He was generous but also mysterious, cunning, clever, faithful. #Vale #auspol

Troy Bramston

@TroyBramston

Aug 16

Parliament should also consider legislation that requires the appointment of ministers to be disclosed publicly, gazetted, tabled in parliament. This would make it an offence not to. We have a Ministers of State Act which governs the ministry; maybe an amendment to this. #auspol

I raised yesterday Morrison being censured by the House of Representatives. The HoR can vote to censure a private member such as Morrison because the House can hold ANY member accountable for their actions. This should be seriously considered. #auspol

The GG must be guardian of the constitution and INSIST on due process, transparency, accountability and upholding Westminster conventions. Morrison’s appointments needed to tabled, gazetted, announced. While GG must accept PM’s advice, this is clearly where Hurley failed. #auspol

There’s been much commentary about GG David Hurley. I’ve read 500+ pages of vice-regal correspondence over a 50-year period with many examples of GGs who have asked their PMs for legal advice, more information, counselled and warned, and that engagements be made public. #auspol

It is unthinkable that a Hawke or a Howard, for example, would have treated their cabinet with such contempt. There is no need for secret oversight of ministers; a competent PM and their cabinet should serve that purpose. There is no precedent for such sinister secrecy. #auspol

We now of course know that Morrison had himself secretly sworn-in to five ministerial portfolios covering seven ministers with most of them having no idea. I have argued

@australian

that the Morrison government will be remembered for scandal and sleaze, now also secrecy. #auspol

My last point is: this is a very serious matter. It violates Westminster convention, legal principle, cabinet practice, parliamentary accountability and public duty. Democracy matters. Both Morrison and Hurley failed their oaths and should be held accountable for it. #auspol

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Bagehot wrote that the sovereign, in a constitutional monarchy, has three rights: the right to be consulted, the right to encourage and the right to WARN. This is where Hurley failed Bagehot’s test, just like John Kerr did in 1975. #auspol

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The GG should follow PM’s advice and regard PM as their chief adviser. This is understood. But the GG, as the monarch’s representative, also has the right to “counsel and warn” their prime minister. This is a convention based on Walter Bagehot’s famous rights of monarchy. #auspol

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GG Hurley says making appointments public was “a matter for the govt of the day”. But the GG should have, at least, disclosed this in the Vice-Regal Notice and ensured it was added to the Government Gazette. BUT GG Hurley should have advised Morrison to make it public. #auspol

421

The former PM also had an obligation to inform Australians. This is where the GG has also seriously failed in his vice-regal duties as the Queen’s representative. David Hurley has confirmed he secretly signed-off on Morrison’s additional ministerial appointments. #auspol

422

I’ve co-authored two books that deal with the relationship/powers between PM, GG, Queen. There’s no precedent for what Morrison did. He had a duty to inform ministers so he can be accountable to cabinet; he had a duty to inform MPs so he can be accountable to parliament. #auspol

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There should be an investigation — as the PM has ordered — and Morrison must be made accountable for these unconventional and unprecedented actions, and quite possibly censured, by the parliament for his secrecy and lack of transparency. He is still the Member for Cook. #auspol

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