CARRICK: Principles, Politics and Policy
Graeme Starr
With a Foreword by Hon John Howard AC OM
ISBN: 9781921421655
Binding: Hardback
Pages: 400 pages
Price: $49.95
Government,
Policy and Politics Series, Public Policy Institute, Australian Catholic
University.
Sir John Carrick has
been one of the more influential leaders in Australian politics and public
policy over more than half a century. He is the only person to figure
prominently in the governments of three of our longer serving prime ministers –
as strategist for Sir Robert Menzies, Senate Leader in the Fraser Government,
and mentor of John Howard.
This biography covers
Carrick’s early life, his wartime experience with Sparrow Force on Timor, years
as a prisoner of the Japanese (including time as a slave near Hellfire Pass),
and his work with the Mountbattens in Singapore at the end of the war. Drawn
into a career in politics, he was for more than two decades general secretary
of the NSW Liberal Party, and served fifteen years in the Senate, with seven
years as a senior Cabinet minister (Education and National Development and
Energy). He reinvented Australian politics for his time, and his commitment to
principle won the respect of people on all sides of politics. His
continuing role as a leading figure in education reform has earned him the
highest national honours and recognition from the universities and other
educators. His story is of great value to everyone interested in World War
II and prisoners of war, and to all readers and students of Australian politics
and history.
Dr Graeme Starr, with wide professional experience in practical politics, has written
extensively on political science and public policy and taught at several major
Australian and American universities. He now lives at Wentworth Falls and
is a Visiting Fellow at the Public Policy Institute of the Australian Catholic
University.
