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Bulldozed: Scott Morrison’s Fall and Anthony Albanese’s Rise
‘I don’t hold a hose, mate.’ Scott Morrison, 20 December 2019, on the Black Summer bushfires
‘It’s not a race.’ Scott Morrison, 10 March 2021, on the COVID-19 vaccine rollout
Between 2013 and 2022, Tony Abbott begat Malcolm Turnbull, who begat Scott Morrison. For nine long years, Australia was governed by a succession of Coalition governments rocked by instability and bloodletting, and consumed with prosecuting climate and culture wars while neglecting policy.
By the end, among his detractors — and there were plenty — Morrison was seen as the worst prime minister since Billy McMahon. Worse even than Tony Abbott, who lasted a scant two years in the job, whose main legacy was that he destroyed Julia Gillard, then himself, and then Turnbull.
Morrison failed to accept the mantle of national leadership, or to deal adequately with the challenges of natural disasters and the COVID-19 pandemic. He thought reform was a vanity project. He said he never wanted to leave a legacy. He got his wish.
Niki Savva, Australia’s renowned political commentator, author, and columnist, was there for all of it. In The Road to Ruin, she revealed the ruinous behaviour of former prime minister Abbott and his chief of staff, Peta Credlin, that led to the ascension of Turnbull. In Plots and Prayers, she told the inside story of the coup that overthrew Turnbull and installed his conniving successor, Morrison.
Now she lays out the final unravelling of the Coalition at the hands of a resurgent Labor and the so-called teal independents that culminated in the historic 2022 election. With her typical access to key players, and her riveting accounts of what went on behind the scenes, Bulldozed is the unique final volume of an unputdownable and impeccably sourced political trilogy.
‘It’s not a race.’ Scott Morrison, 10 March 2021, on the COVID-19 vaccine rollout
Between 2013 and 2022, Tony Abbott begat Malcolm Turnbull, who begat Scott Morrison. For nine long years, Australia was governed by a succession of Coalition governments rocked by instability and bloodletting, and consumed with prosecuting climate and culture wars while neglecting policy.
By the end, among his detractors — and there were plenty — Morrison was seen as the worst prime minister since Billy McMahon. Worse even than Tony Abbott, who lasted a scant two years in the job, whose main legacy was that he destroyed Julia Gillard, then himself, and then Turnbull.
Morrison failed to accept the mantle of national leadership, or to deal adequately with the challenges of natural disasters and the COVID-19 pandemic. He thought reform was a vanity project. He said he never wanted to leave a legacy. He got his wish.
Niki Savva, Australia’s renowned political commentator, author, and columnist, was there for all of it. In The Road to Ruin, she revealed the ruinous behaviour of former prime minister Abbott and his chief of staff, Peta Credlin, that led to the ascension of Turnbull. In Plots and Prayers, she told the inside story of the coup that overthrew Turnbull and installed his conniving successor, Morrison.
Now she lays out the final unravelling of the Coalition at the hands of a resurgent Labor and the so-called teal independents that culminated in the historic 2022 election. With her typical access to key players, and her riveting accounts of what went on behind the scenes, Bulldozed is the unique final volume of an unputdownable and impeccably sourced political trilogy.
320 pages, Kindle Edition
First published December 1, 2022
158 people are currently reading
651 people want to read
About the author
Niki Savva
5 books45 followersNiki Savva is an Australian journalist, known for her political 'insider' books. Born in Cyprus before emigrating with her family as a child, she became a cadet journalist in 1969, while still in her teens. Savva served as political correspondent for The Australian, she led the Canberra bureau of The Herald Sun and then The Age. In 1997 she moved into politics, working for a decade for Liberal Party Treasurer Peter Costello and Prime Minister John Howard.
Since 2008, Savva has returned to journalism as a columnist for print and television media, presenting insider knowledge of Australia's conservative politics but from a centrist, sometimes progressive, point-of-view. From 2016 to 2025, Savva wrote a series of four insider books on three consecutive Prime Ministers - Tony Abbott, Malcolm Turnbull, Scott Morrison - and their would-be successor, Peter Dutton.
Since 2008, Savva has returned to journalism as a columnist for print and television media, presenting insider knowledge of Australia's conservative politics but from a centrist, sometimes progressive, point-of-view. From 2016 to 2025, Savva wrote a series of four insider books on three consecutive Prime Ministers - Tony Abbott, Malcolm Turnbull, Scott Morrison - and their would-be successor, Peter Dutton.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 191 reviews
May 18, 2025
In 2019, Scott Morrison won the unwinnable election for the Liberal Party. Greatness was expected. Instead, the Australian public grew to despise him. He holidayed in Hawaii as Australia burned ("I don't hold a hose, mate"), incompetently responded to Covid-19 ("it's not a race"), exhibited blatant sexism, and offered no coherent future the for the country. He was a duplicitous liar and should have been ousted by his party as leader. Instead, he led the Liberals to what was then their worst electoral defeat in 2022. The little credibility that he retained was lost soon after news broke that he had secretly appointed himself the minister for several portfolios. His reputation is in tatters.
Nika Savva eviscerates Morrison in this book. She provides an insider's analysis of Morrison's political machinations following many interviews with the key personnel of his government. She also examines the rise of Morrison's political and ideological nemesis, Anthony Albanese. That said, Savva repeats the same point with the same supporting evidence over and over again. This was particularly frustrating because the book is nearly 400 pages. It should probably have been 250 pages with a good editor. This has put me off reading her other two books about the fall of other Liberal Party leaders: Tony Abbott and Malcolm Turnbull.
The electoral lessons of Morrison's defeat in 2022 were ignored by the Liberals (lack of vision, climate change scepticism, poor female representation, and hard right policies). The Liberals suffered their worst electoral defeat a couple of weeks ago. Morrison's successor, Peter Dutton, will go down as the worst opposition leader to contest an election in Australian history. Dutton also unprecedently lost his seat. There is currently an existential struggle within the party—shift to the right or back to the centre. Labor split in the 1950s following a far-left ideological struggle. The Liberals consequently governed for two decades. Are we witnessing a repeat of history? Maybe.
Nika Savva eviscerates Morrison in this book. She provides an insider's analysis of Morrison's political machinations following many interviews with the key personnel of his government. She also examines the rise of Morrison's political and ideological nemesis, Anthony Albanese. That said, Savva repeats the same point with the same supporting evidence over and over again. This was particularly frustrating because the book is nearly 400 pages. It should probably have been 250 pages with a good editor. This has put me off reading her other two books about the fall of other Liberal Party leaders: Tony Abbott and Malcolm Turnbull.
The electoral lessons of Morrison's defeat in 2022 were ignored by the Liberals (lack of vision, climate change scepticism, poor female representation, and hard right policies). The Liberals suffered their worst electoral defeat a couple of weeks ago. Morrison's successor, Peter Dutton, will go down as the worst opposition leader to contest an election in Australian history. Dutton also unprecedently lost his seat. There is currently an existential struggle within the party—shift to the right or back to the centre. Labor split in the 1950s following a far-left ideological struggle. The Liberals consequently governed for two decades. Are we witnessing a repeat of history? Maybe.
December 2, 2022
Excellent and believable.
When Niki mentioned on The Insiders she planned to write a book on the Morrison Government and the election. One of the guests wished her the best in making sense of Morrison Years. Well, Niki achieved an outstanding review of how Morrison at every turn made foolish errors in judgment. This book confirmed what I thought. The man loved the manipulations of winning power. However, had no idea what to do with the power once achieved. Truly a man promoted well above his level of competency. I have always been an Albanese supporter since his early days in Parliament. The man is authentic what you see is what you get and this book supported my belief. The other snippet in this book is how our Governor General and his wife expect all guests/ diplomats to join in a sing-along when presenting their credentials or at a formal dinner. The guests are encouraged to face the guest next to them and sing. A particular favorite is “You are my sunshine”. The lyrics are helpfully printed on the reverse of the menu. This raises two thoughts. I pray I’m never invited to dinner and two can we please have a republic?
When Niki mentioned on The Insiders she planned to write a book on the Morrison Government and the election. One of the guests wished her the best in making sense of Morrison Years. Well, Niki achieved an outstanding review of how Morrison at every turn made foolish errors in judgment. This book confirmed what I thought. The man loved the manipulations of winning power. However, had no idea what to do with the power once achieved. Truly a man promoted well above his level of competency. I have always been an Albanese supporter since his early days in Parliament. The man is authentic what you see is what you get and this book supported my belief. The other snippet in this book is how our Governor General and his wife expect all guests/ diplomats to join in a sing-along when presenting their credentials or at a formal dinner. The guests are encouraged to face the guest next to them and sing. A particular favorite is “You are my sunshine”. The lyrics are helpfully printed on the reverse of the menu. This raises two thoughts. I pray I’m never invited to dinner and two can we please have a republic?
December 3, 2022
Gossip Girl for the Canberra Bubble. An enjoyable takedown of an odious Prime Minister. Few revelations and lots of repetition however.
April 5, 2023
Written after the last federal election, Bulldozed: Scott Morrison's Fall and Anthony Albanese’s Rise (2022) by Nikki Savva is a first-class political read. A journalist and former Liberal Party senior adviser, Nikki has interviewed all the major players to dissect the dramatic downfall of Australia’s thirtieth Prime Minister. This is a clearly presented narrative of the culmination of events that resulted in last year’s change of the Federal Government. Will Aussies ever forget the graphic television footage of Scomo rugby tackling an eight-year-old boy during the election campaign? It is a thoughtful and engaging presentation of Aussie politics from 2019-2022, with considered insight and analysis that rises above the daily media grab and political spin. It may not be everyone’s cup of tea, but as political books go, this is a four and a half stars read rating. As always, the opinions herein are totally my own and freely given.
December 30, 2022
A disappointing read with a plethora of examples but little in the way of analysis or the implications for Australian government or governance. Even the title was a misnomer. It appears that the author based the title on Morrison's clumsy encounter with young Luca in Tasmania - which is fair enough. But then did not use this image to any lasting effect, except perhaps to sell a few extra books. A bulldozer conjures an image of a large machine exerting its brute force within its chosen environment. It can knock down everything in its path, laying the foundations for the future. Of course the person driving the bulldozer is ensconced inside but separate from the environment. Morrison may have been busy "pulling the levers" to quote Keating but at the end of the huffing and puffing there is nothing to show. So Niki Savva appropriated the image of a bulldozer but then did nothing to expound or explicate. This was typical of this book. A book with considerable insider anecdotes but nothing else. No detailed discussion about policy failures, of leadership, the power and practices of the prime ministerial office nor of anything else. Worst of all there was no substantial discussion about the lessons to be learned.
December 14, 2022
Niki Savva’s scathing criticism of former Prime Minister Scott Minister was not surprising to those of us who have valued both her opinion pieces in The Age and her frequent contributions as a panel member on the ABC’s “The Insiders”. However, the meticulous research contained in this “sprawling” book went beyond what I had expected in recording what we had known about Morrison, in what was hidden from us and from his ministers, in what responsibility the Liberals must take for often choosing to remain silent about his behaviour and, particularly, in the dirty dealings in which he was involved regarding his colleagues and the Australian people.
Savva’s point of view was never neutral, always condemning of Morrison, whom she presented as having been incapable of doing the job required, as narcissistic, duplicitous, deluded and, even in his own mind, “messianic”. In fact, Savva’s analysis of the impact of Morrison’s evangelical faith was at the centre of her portrait. His behind-the-scenes manipulation of the government, of his ministers, of his party, and of the Australian people was revealed with Savva’s “impeccably sourced” material, resulting in a book I found hard to put down.
It made sense after having analysed Morrison’s fall and the 2022 doomed election to move to Anthony Albanese’s rise and his stark contrast to the disgraced former PM. Albanese’s decency and strength of character were clearly projected as what Australia needed to rebuild trust in government and in our future.
Savva’s point of view was never neutral, always condemning of Morrison, whom she presented as having been incapable of doing the job required, as narcissistic, duplicitous, deluded and, even in his own mind, “messianic”. In fact, Savva’s analysis of the impact of Morrison’s evangelical faith was at the centre of her portrait. His behind-the-scenes manipulation of the government, of his ministers, of his party, and of the Australian people was revealed with Savva’s “impeccably sourced” material, resulting in a book I found hard to put down.
It made sense after having analysed Morrison’s fall and the 2022 doomed election to move to Anthony Albanese’s rise and his stark contrast to the disgraced former PM. Albanese’s decency and strength of character were clearly projected as what Australia needed to rebuild trust in government and in our future.
December 4, 2022
A page-turning, behind-the-scenes, and dishing-the-dirt account of the last Australian election, including Scott Morrison’s period of prime ministership and relationships with his colleagues and friends, and Albanese’s own rise and relationships in the Labor Party. Compulsively readable. Savva has a long background in the Liberal (ie conservative) Party circles from which Scott Morrison emerged, and now calls him the worst Prime Minister Australia has had (and Albanese’s first six months as one of the best). It was already generally known that Morrison was widely disliked by the time of the election, and that he is credited with contributing heavily to the loss of the conservative Liberal party to independents and Greens, but the scale of his hypocrisy, multiple failures to act, self-serving actions and betrayal of his close friends is exposed in this book. It also sets out the way his actions and religious beliefs have threatened constitutional parliamentary practice.
January 15, 2023
I’m not really sure how to rate this book. It’s only about 360 pages and not difficult to read but it absolutely killed my reading mojo. Probably it’s something to do with the time of the year when I might have been better off choosing fiction. I keep up with politics enough to have been aware of a lot of the events detailed in the book. There were a couple of revelations though which I found fascinating. Niki Savva has some amazing connections to be able to give details about various events and relationships. She doesn’t hold back in her criticism of Morrison. If you’re at all interested in Morrison’s time as PM then this book certainly covers it and more.
February 23, 2023
I admire Niki Savva. I read her book Road to Ruin and respected her comments on the ABC’s Insiders. She had worked for Costello and Howard so could not be accused of left-wing bias. I thought she demonstrated integrity when she resigned from The Australian when they employed Credlin to publish a column the same day as Savva’s column appeared.
Savva makes no secret of her dislike of Morrison. She was so far ahead of so many others from the Parliamentary Press Gallery. She was up there with Grace Tame with early recognition of the failures and downright nastiness of Morrison.
The book does not follow a tight linear path from when Morrison won the leadership and then the 2019 election through to his defeat on May 21, 2022. It does jump around that period of time. As others have noted there is an amount of repetition where even some sentences are repeated. I guess the speed at which she wrote and the desire to publish while the story was still “hot” meant she didn’t have the time to edit and tighten the script.
As a political animal I do follow Australian politics reasonably closely, however, I don’t have the passion or commitment that I had in my youth. My excuse is that politicians of the calibre of Whitlam, Wran, Uren, Hawke, Keating are not around to inspire the heat and passion I had in the 70s, 80s and early 90s.
Savva follows a general timeline of Morrison’s responses to the 2019 bush fires and COVID through to the election campaign, the aftermath and Morrison’s multiple ministries. She deals with major issues that Morrison failed to successfully deal with in the three years leading up to May 2022, climate, change, political integrity, religion, transgender, women, never apologising or accepting responsibility and blaming others.
I remember clearly hearing Morrison shouting, “And she can go..” about Christine Holgate over the Cartier watches. I thought it was most inappropriate for a PM to use this type of attack. It was something leaders usually left to the attack dogs, Abbott, Angus Taylor, Michaelia Cash. I also thought, who would want a Cartier watch in this time of mobile phones and smart watches? Unfortunately, I was caught up in this wave of criticism of rich over-paid executives getting gifts. Interestingly, it was the soon to be deceased, Kimberley Hitching who set the dogs loose on this one. Morrison coped criticism and flack from many quarters. Did he apologise for his behaviour when it was pointed out that Holgate had done nothing wrong? Certainly not. Would he have said these things if it was Christopher Holgate? I think not. This incident was the first of several high-profile incidents of Morrison’s blindness to his treatment of women and of issues involving women.
Next came Britney Higgins and the “Jen told me” line. This was accompanied by his treatment of his relationship and with Grace Tame, treating her in a condescending manner, always calling her “Grace.” She responded with “Scott”. Who remembers his statement ‘in other countries they would be met with bullets’ when he responded to the March 4 Justice rally? On the night of the budget Fierrevanti-Wells took to him with a verbal hatchet. I love the line where Savva says it is now professional women who are voting and they are doctors, not doctors wives.
Savva delves into the life of Anthony Albanese and his role in the campaign. She writes about the early stumbles in not knowing the cash rate and unemployment rate. I think political journalist get tied up in their own importance and the so-called importance of what they are reporting. There are millions of Australians who never pay an interest in or discuss politics. They might know the names of a couple of politicians, but they have far more important things in their lives. This idea that the ideal voter during the campaign watches and listens to both sides, examines their policies and then on the night before sits down and decides who they are going to vote for is rubbish. More research needs to be done as there are a multitude of reasons for makes people vote the way they do.
Ms Savva gives a detailed account of the campaign for both sides and the Greens and the Teal independents. She describes both party’s actions and re-actions on the night of May 21.
One side light was the Katherine Deves side show. The PMs personal choice for the seat of Warringah. Personally, I find it baffling the vitriol that some have towards such a small minority of transgender people. I have witnessed a couple of teenagers transitioning at high schools I have worked at. It is an incredible emotional roller coaster ride they go through. Why are conservatives so nasty to the most powerless?
It always troubled me that Morrison, Hawke and the Liberals didn’t just let the Murugappan family return to Biloela. They would not have lost any votes, and in fact would probably gained a few. It was a demonstration that some Liberals are just a nasty, nasty bunch
Under normal circumstances the book would have finished there but when the disclosure of Morrison holding numerous portfolios the story continued.
It will be argued that Morrison was Australia’s worse prime minister, Nikki Savva certainly believes so. Whatever the truth about that it is starkly obvious that the Liberal Party has much work to do to re-capture those voters they lost in May, to Labor, Teals and Greens. Is Peter Dutton the person to do that? I have serious doubts. Savva quoted, a liberal politician, Dutton has “a head like a robbers dog.”
Albanese has been impressive over the last seven months but there are undoubtedly troubled waters ahead. He has an impressive team but twenty first century politics in democracies faces great challengers.
Savva makes no secret of her dislike of Morrison. She was so far ahead of so many others from the Parliamentary Press Gallery. She was up there with Grace Tame with early recognition of the failures and downright nastiness of Morrison.
The book does not follow a tight linear path from when Morrison won the leadership and then the 2019 election through to his defeat on May 21, 2022. It does jump around that period of time. As others have noted there is an amount of repetition where even some sentences are repeated. I guess the speed at which she wrote and the desire to publish while the story was still “hot” meant she didn’t have the time to edit and tighten the script.
As a political animal I do follow Australian politics reasonably closely, however, I don’t have the passion or commitment that I had in my youth. My excuse is that politicians of the calibre of Whitlam, Wran, Uren, Hawke, Keating are not around to inspire the heat and passion I had in the 70s, 80s and early 90s.
Savva follows a general timeline of Morrison’s responses to the 2019 bush fires and COVID through to the election campaign, the aftermath and Morrison’s multiple ministries. She deals with major issues that Morrison failed to successfully deal with in the three years leading up to May 2022, climate, change, political integrity, religion, transgender, women, never apologising or accepting responsibility and blaming others.
I remember clearly hearing Morrison shouting, “And she can go..” about Christine Holgate over the Cartier watches. I thought it was most inappropriate for a PM to use this type of attack. It was something leaders usually left to the attack dogs, Abbott, Angus Taylor, Michaelia Cash. I also thought, who would want a Cartier watch in this time of mobile phones and smart watches? Unfortunately, I was caught up in this wave of criticism of rich over-paid executives getting gifts. Interestingly, it was the soon to be deceased, Kimberley Hitching who set the dogs loose on this one. Morrison coped criticism and flack from many quarters. Did he apologise for his behaviour when it was pointed out that Holgate had done nothing wrong? Certainly not. Would he have said these things if it was Christopher Holgate? I think not. This incident was the first of several high-profile incidents of Morrison’s blindness to his treatment of women and of issues involving women.
Next came Britney Higgins and the “Jen told me” line. This was accompanied by his treatment of his relationship and with Grace Tame, treating her in a condescending manner, always calling her “Grace.” She responded with “Scott”. Who remembers his statement ‘in other countries they would be met with bullets’ when he responded to the March 4 Justice rally? On the night of the budget Fierrevanti-Wells took to him with a verbal hatchet. I love the line where Savva says it is now professional women who are voting and they are doctors, not doctors wives.
Savva delves into the life of Anthony Albanese and his role in the campaign. She writes about the early stumbles in not knowing the cash rate and unemployment rate. I think political journalist get tied up in their own importance and the so-called importance of what they are reporting. There are millions of Australians who never pay an interest in or discuss politics. They might know the names of a couple of politicians, but they have far more important things in their lives. This idea that the ideal voter during the campaign watches and listens to both sides, examines their policies and then on the night before sits down and decides who they are going to vote for is rubbish. More research needs to be done as there are a multitude of reasons for makes people vote the way they do.
Ms Savva gives a detailed account of the campaign for both sides and the Greens and the Teal independents. She describes both party’s actions and re-actions on the night of May 21.
One side light was the Katherine Deves side show. The PMs personal choice for the seat of Warringah. Personally, I find it baffling the vitriol that some have towards such a small minority of transgender people. I have witnessed a couple of teenagers transitioning at high schools I have worked at. It is an incredible emotional roller coaster ride they go through. Why are conservatives so nasty to the most powerless?
It always troubled me that Morrison, Hawke and the Liberals didn’t just let the Murugappan family return to Biloela. They would not have lost any votes, and in fact would probably gained a few. It was a demonstration that some Liberals are just a nasty, nasty bunch
Under normal circumstances the book would have finished there but when the disclosure of Morrison holding numerous portfolios the story continued.
It will be argued that Morrison was Australia’s worse prime minister, Nikki Savva certainly believes so. Whatever the truth about that it is starkly obvious that the Liberal Party has much work to do to re-capture those voters they lost in May, to Labor, Teals and Greens. Is Peter Dutton the person to do that? I have serious doubts. Savva quoted, a liberal politician, Dutton has “a head like a robbers dog.”
Albanese has been impressive over the last seven months but there are undoubtedly troubled waters ahead. He has an impressive team but twenty first century politics in democracies faces great challengers.
December 5, 2022
'Even though they could see the ship heading straight for the iceberg, they did not mutiny. Instead, they waited on deck without life jackets, without lifeboats, for the captain to ram it.'
Savva from the outset launches into former Prime Minister Scott Morrison with an absolute blistering analysis. No one is spared as Savva calls those who would not challenge and those who enabled Morrison. How the inaction decimated the Liberal Party at the election and how they stand on the cusp of being made irrelevant. Savva balances out the book by looking at the rise of Albanese, the impact of the Teals and the Greens.
It is a great summary and wonderfully pulled together. With interviews, observations and a journalist who truly knows her stuff. Compelling reading.
Savva from the outset launches into former Prime Minister Scott Morrison with an absolute blistering analysis. No one is spared as Savva calls those who would not challenge and those who enabled Morrison. How the inaction decimated the Liberal Party at the election and how they stand on the cusp of being made irrelevant. Savva balances out the book by looking at the rise of Albanese, the impact of the Teals and the Greens.
It is a great summary and wonderfully pulled together. With interviews, observations and a journalist who truly knows her stuff. Compelling reading.
January 7, 2023
My first Australian political book. A terrific look at the events and reasons behind Morrison’s fall and Albanese’s rise. Absolutely loaded with attributed quotes with gives great authority to the work.
Only reason for not having 5 stars is that it should have had an index (and perhaps even a reference list or publications list) and on occasion there were sections that read like a research dump without narrative.
Sorry to read in the acknowledgments that this may be the last book as I could cheerfully read one of those every 3 years.
Only reason for not having 5 stars is that it should have had an index (and perhaps even a reference list or publications list) and on occasion there were sections that read like a research dump without narrative.
Sorry to read in the acknowledgments that this may be the last book as I could cheerfully read one of those every 3 years.
Read
June 23, 2024i didn't think it was possible to dislike scomo more than i already did
March 7, 2023
Everyone despised Scott Morrison. We know that. Perhaps what we didn’t know before this comprehensively researched book by journalist and former Liberal Party staffer Niki Savva was how much that enmity came from his own side of politics.
As other books have observed in the past couple of years - notably Sean Kelly’s ‘The Game’ - Scott Morrison is a uniquely strange individual, almost completely lacking in empathy, suffering from a messianic complex related to his cult-like Pentecostal faith and chronically unable to tell the truth.
Unlike Kelly’s complex psychological portrait, however, Savva’s book is more a straight journalistic review of Morrison’s term as prime minister from his ‘miracle’ win over Labor’s Bill Shorten in 2019 to his ignoble exit in 2022 to Labor’s Anthony Albanese and a large posse of independents and Greens.
What Savva has is access to all the key figures in the Liberal Party, including his vanquished Treasurer Josh Frydenberg - a victim of the inner city wave of Teal small ‘l’ liberal independents appalled at Morrison’s government and the Liberal Party’s capture by far right religious nutters, unreconstructed 1970s patriarchal sexists and climate change denialists.
While most of what Savva recounts was common knowledge, it becomes evident in this book that had it not been for COVID, Morrison would have been dispatched after his disastrous handling of the bushfires in the summer of 2019-20, when he took off to Hawaii on a family holiday.
But after a brief period of learning his lesson and setting up National Cabinet to deal with the pandemic, Morrison was soon returning to his old ways, exercising bad judgement and running roughshod over normal cabinet processes to get his way on every issue. His blokey staff constantly undermined the state premiers on whom he depended to manage the pandemic by leaking against them to favoured journalists. He took all the credit for everything that went right and deflected the blame to others when anything went wrong.
In short, he was a thoroughly nasty piece of work, for all his sanctimonious religious posturing. And the coup de grace came after the election when another book, written as hagiography from a couple of Murdoch journalists, revealed he had taken on another half dozen ministries behind the backs of his colleagues who held them - including Frydenberg’s.
In an interview with Savva, the defeated candidate for the formerly safe-as-houses Liberal seat of Kooyong described Morrison’s actions as “profoundly disappointing” and “extreme over-reach”.
I guess the big question not tackled by the book is whether the Liberals’ brutal removal after nearly a decade in office - including the loss of its former heartland urban seats - was mainly a reflection of the ruthless ambition, mendacity and sociopathic tendencies of this one individual or more a symptom of a political party that had lost touch with the electorate.
Personally, I think the party’s problems go deeper than Morrison and his removal won’t change the issues. Australia is a much more socially progressive country than is assumed by the Liberal-National Party coalition, who in recent years have imported most of their tactics from the Trump Republican Party in the US. Also, as in the US, the Coalition is aided by a Murdoch-dominated partisan media which employs the same artificially inflated culture wars to fan division and drive clicks. Driving policy change, beyond anything that scratches the culture war itch, is not the aim.
Unfortunately, for the ‘conservative’ parties (and they are no longer conservative in the true sense of preserving institutions but belong to the radical nationalist and ethnocentric right), the simple fact is that Australia is not America. We do not worship guns and religion. We do not see ourselves as having a divine mission to convert the world to our way of seeing things. Australians are practical, decent, live-and-let-live people - socially democratic in nature, predominately secular, and for the most part strongly in favour of separation of church and state.
Hopefully, Morrison’s political demise and the rise of the fundamentally decent Albanese and his much more competent government will lead to Australia taking back its sense of its own destiny and character, not one made somewhere else.
If I had a criticism of Savva’s book, I would point to her failure to link the stain of his prime ministership to the trend elsewhere of nativist, authoritarian and truth-challenged populists who appealed to racists and religious fundamentalists and who sought to discredit the role of government while doing favours for insiders- Trump, Johnston, Orban, Bolsanaro - all cut from the same cloth and all part of the same trend.
But that is a book for someone else to write.
As other books have observed in the past couple of years - notably Sean Kelly’s ‘The Game’ - Scott Morrison is a uniquely strange individual, almost completely lacking in empathy, suffering from a messianic complex related to his cult-like Pentecostal faith and chronically unable to tell the truth.
Unlike Kelly’s complex psychological portrait, however, Savva’s book is more a straight journalistic review of Morrison’s term as prime minister from his ‘miracle’ win over Labor’s Bill Shorten in 2019 to his ignoble exit in 2022 to Labor’s Anthony Albanese and a large posse of independents and Greens.
What Savva has is access to all the key figures in the Liberal Party, including his vanquished Treasurer Josh Frydenberg - a victim of the inner city wave of Teal small ‘l’ liberal independents appalled at Morrison’s government and the Liberal Party’s capture by far right religious nutters, unreconstructed 1970s patriarchal sexists and climate change denialists.
While most of what Savva recounts was common knowledge, it becomes evident in this book that had it not been for COVID, Morrison would have been dispatched after his disastrous handling of the bushfires in the summer of 2019-20, when he took off to Hawaii on a family holiday.
But after a brief period of learning his lesson and setting up National Cabinet to deal with the pandemic, Morrison was soon returning to his old ways, exercising bad judgement and running roughshod over normal cabinet processes to get his way on every issue. His blokey staff constantly undermined the state premiers on whom he depended to manage the pandemic by leaking against them to favoured journalists. He took all the credit for everything that went right and deflected the blame to others when anything went wrong.
In short, he was a thoroughly nasty piece of work, for all his sanctimonious religious posturing. And the coup de grace came after the election when another book, written as hagiography from a couple of Murdoch journalists, revealed he had taken on another half dozen ministries behind the backs of his colleagues who held them - including Frydenberg’s.
In an interview with Savva, the defeated candidate for the formerly safe-as-houses Liberal seat of Kooyong described Morrison’s actions as “profoundly disappointing” and “extreme over-reach”.
I guess the big question not tackled by the book is whether the Liberals’ brutal removal after nearly a decade in office - including the loss of its former heartland urban seats - was mainly a reflection of the ruthless ambition, mendacity and sociopathic tendencies of this one individual or more a symptom of a political party that had lost touch with the electorate.
Personally, I think the party’s problems go deeper than Morrison and his removal won’t change the issues. Australia is a much more socially progressive country than is assumed by the Liberal-National Party coalition, who in recent years have imported most of their tactics from the Trump Republican Party in the US. Also, as in the US, the Coalition is aided by a Murdoch-dominated partisan media which employs the same artificially inflated culture wars to fan division and drive clicks. Driving policy change, beyond anything that scratches the culture war itch, is not the aim.
Unfortunately, for the ‘conservative’ parties (and they are no longer conservative in the true sense of preserving institutions but belong to the radical nationalist and ethnocentric right), the simple fact is that Australia is not America. We do not worship guns and religion. We do not see ourselves as having a divine mission to convert the world to our way of seeing things. Australians are practical, decent, live-and-let-live people - socially democratic in nature, predominately secular, and for the most part strongly in favour of separation of church and state.
Hopefully, Morrison’s political demise and the rise of the fundamentally decent Albanese and his much more competent government will lead to Australia taking back its sense of its own destiny and character, not one made somewhere else.
If I had a criticism of Savva’s book, I would point to her failure to link the stain of his prime ministership to the trend elsewhere of nativist, authoritarian and truth-challenged populists who appealed to racists and religious fundamentalists and who sought to discredit the role of government while doing favours for insiders- Trump, Johnston, Orban, Bolsanaro - all cut from the same cloth and all part of the same trend.
But that is a book for someone else to write.
December 2, 2022
Good read
Normally expect a biased account from Nikki but this is one of the rarer warts and all books that doesn't skate over mistakes made by the authors preferred party.
Normally expect a biased account from Nikki but this is one of the rarer warts and all books that doesn't skate over mistakes made by the authors preferred party.
December 30, 2022
Andrew Carr got it right when he described Niki Savva's book as 'Gossip Girl for the Canberra Bubble.' Except it's worse than that, and far more disappointing, without the original intrigue and drama of elite American teenagers.
Let's start with missing the mark of the target audience. As a science communicator, the importance of knowing your audience has been drilled into me. Clearly, this book is pitched to a wide audience, a general audience with some interest in politics. And that's certainly how the book is marketed, with the "Bulldozed" title latching onto a defining political moment in the federal election campaign that every Australian who hasn't been living under a rock would be familiar with. The lay person who does not rigorously follow every political development should be able to understand what Savva discusses. And, as someone in that category, I think Savva did a good job of providing enough context for the average Aussie reader. Of course, political afficiandos are likely familiar with many of Savva's examples and their political context so might have been a bit bored, but you can forgive Savva that since they're not really the primary audience. However, where Savva truly let's her lay audience down is on insights.
It's an "insiders' story" without insight.
While Savva's excellent connections in the Liberal party and politics more broadly come through as she outlines a range of quotes from ministers, political staffers and others, there's no real analysis. The book is pretty much just a list of quotes that Savva has helpfully put in context. It provides a decent summary of Morrison's time as leader, but that's it. It only goes into the second lowest level (out of six) of Bloom's Taxonomy of learning: comprehension or understanding of the facts. It doesn't extend up to any analysis or insight, let alone synthesis, comparisons, evaluations etc. It doesn't even group these facts into themes. For example, Savva could have examined Morrison's time in office as a demise of the traditional Liberal party and structured the book into areas that the Liberal party needs to look at if it wants to win back it's heartland - women, integrity, climate - topics that are clearly pretty topical right now as the media and many experts were quick to point out. That's just one example Savva could have picked from the smorgasbord of available options. My other suggestions as an interested voter (and not any kind of political expert) would be the past and future of the Liberal party given Savva's tight connections there, comparison with past Liberal (and/or other) leaders, Scomo as a case study for leadership in general, or a more even comparison between Scomo and Albo with insights into Albo's future (this last one is definitely what I expected based on the book's front cover). Instead, it seems that Savva chose none. This lack of analysis is a devastating disappointment for someone who read this book with the hope of gaining a few political insights. I think it's an especially big let down given the target audience are people interested in politics but who aren't experts and aren't across everything and therefore would be eager for some guidance on what we can learn from Scomo's and the Libs' colossal failings and what it means for current and future governments. But sadly, the only tidbits of analysis were limited to a few isolated sentences that had already done the rounds in the media, e.g. "There's no such thing as a safe seat anymore" and "The Liberals need to work hard if they want to win back their heartland." It's as Andrew Carr says: there are 'few revelations' (even for the lay person with little political engagement, like me).
Carr also highlights how there was 'lots of repetition '. And there certainly was lots of repetition (get it?). Repetition is another key tool in a communicator's arsenal and I'm all for gently reminding the reader of key topics or examples. However, recycling sentences word-for-word between chapters and using the same quotes more than once, or even twice (not to mention how many times was "I don't hold a hose" splashed around!?) was a bit much, not to mention confusing as I found myself repeatedly asking "Didn't I read this sentence already?".
Another critical theme for communicators is the message and a primary embodiment of this is the title. So, as a science communicator, I can't help but highlight a few critiques of the communication and messaging of the front cover. The title "Bulldozed" doesn't seem to align with the subtitle "Scott Morrison's fall and Albanese's rise", unless Albanese is meant to be the bulldozer. Second the image of Albo rising above Morrison does not reflect any kind of bulldozer imagery. Instead it reflects the subtitle and suggests a focus on Albo, leading readers to assume the book might cover the decline of Morrison and the policy and power vacuum he left, to be followed by a substantial discussion on how Albo rose to fill that gap and his future leadership. Except that it doesn't. At all. Albo barely gets one dedicated chapter, and again, there's not much that would be new and interesting to the target audience. But fair enough if Savva didn't want to focus on Albo. If so, it would have been better to highlight Morrison in the image, maybe with a photo of him driving a bulldozer? Or the image that made the sobriquet famous: poor little Luca Fauvette being knocked to the ground by a man twice his size. And speaking of sobriquets, I don't know about the "Bulldozer" title if it's meant to be an analogy of Morrison's leadership. The term "bulldozer" signifies someone "exercising irresistible force, especially in disposing of opposition" and in politics, this is presumably so they can push through their own agenda and policies. Except Morrison had no policies to push through. He was only concerned about his image, pulling a range of stunts to get himself in the limelight and hopefully ingratiate himself with voters, which obviously failed abysmally as he had no substance at all behind his various fake facades, and Aussies knew it. So if we're going for a short phrase analogy of Morrison, I would say "Scotty from marketing" is much more apt. But of course, that's been thrown around a lot, so I can see the marketing benefits of "Bulldozed". If that's the go, then please at least make sure it's framed in a way that fits the narrative of the book. For example, Savva could have interpreted the bulldozer analogy with a blokey Morrison sitting high up and isolated in his bulldozer cabin, cutting himself off from all his advisors and knocking down any who got in his path. The accompanying cover picture could have been a cartoon reflecting this, or a collage of Scomo in his truck and the trail of destruction (like the fires, Hawaii, the vaccine roll out...) behind him. And the subtitle should be moulded to match.
My final comments are that despite clear criticism of Morrison most of the time, Savva seems to give him too much undeserved credit, especially at the start of the pandemic. As a Victorian, I'm not sure anyone was enamoured with Morrison even in the early days. Sure we got more furious as time went on, but Scomo never started on our good side as he was so speedy to sanitise his hands of responsibility and sweep it all onto state leaders like Dan Andrews. Only to then attack Dan and fellow Victorians of doing everything wrong.
It seems appropriate to conclude with the conclusion, which I'm sorry to say was another disappointment. This should be Savva's chance to tie things together, return to the start with an insight for the future (maybe lifting up the limp bulldozer analogy in the process) and hammer home the key message. But you can't give future insights without insights. And sadly again, Savva concentrates on transcribing quotes rather than adding substantive analysis of what Albo's past actions might say about his future. In the absence of analysis, I hoped I at least might enjoy a laconic last line from a talented journalist. But alas, disappointment strikes again, so there wasn't even that.
Let's start with missing the mark of the target audience. As a science communicator, the importance of knowing your audience has been drilled into me. Clearly, this book is pitched to a wide audience, a general audience with some interest in politics. And that's certainly how the book is marketed, with the "Bulldozed" title latching onto a defining political moment in the federal election campaign that every Australian who hasn't been living under a rock would be familiar with. The lay person who does not rigorously follow every political development should be able to understand what Savva discusses. And, as someone in that category, I think Savva did a good job of providing enough context for the average Aussie reader. Of course, political afficiandos are likely familiar with many of Savva's examples and their political context so might have been a bit bored, but you can forgive Savva that since they're not really the primary audience. However, where Savva truly let's her lay audience down is on insights.
It's an "insiders' story" without insight.
While Savva's excellent connections in the Liberal party and politics more broadly come through as she outlines a range of quotes from ministers, political staffers and others, there's no real analysis. The book is pretty much just a list of quotes that Savva has helpfully put in context. It provides a decent summary of Morrison's time as leader, but that's it. It only goes into the second lowest level (out of six) of Bloom's Taxonomy of learning: comprehension or understanding of the facts. It doesn't extend up to any analysis or insight, let alone synthesis, comparisons, evaluations etc. It doesn't even group these facts into themes. For example, Savva could have examined Morrison's time in office as a demise of the traditional Liberal party and structured the book into areas that the Liberal party needs to look at if it wants to win back it's heartland - women, integrity, climate - topics that are clearly pretty topical right now as the media and many experts were quick to point out. That's just one example Savva could have picked from the smorgasbord of available options. My other suggestions as an interested voter (and not any kind of political expert) would be the past and future of the Liberal party given Savva's tight connections there, comparison with past Liberal (and/or other) leaders, Scomo as a case study for leadership in general, or a more even comparison between Scomo and Albo with insights into Albo's future (this last one is definitely what I expected based on the book's front cover). Instead, it seems that Savva chose none. This lack of analysis is a devastating disappointment for someone who read this book with the hope of gaining a few political insights. I think it's an especially big let down given the target audience are people interested in politics but who aren't experts and aren't across everything and therefore would be eager for some guidance on what we can learn from Scomo's and the Libs' colossal failings and what it means for current and future governments. But sadly, the only tidbits of analysis were limited to a few isolated sentences that had already done the rounds in the media, e.g. "There's no such thing as a safe seat anymore" and "The Liberals need to work hard if they want to win back their heartland." It's as Andrew Carr says: there are 'few revelations' (even for the lay person with little political engagement, like me).
Carr also highlights how there was 'lots of repetition '. And there certainly was lots of repetition (get it?). Repetition is another key tool in a communicator's arsenal and I'm all for gently reminding the reader of key topics or examples. However, recycling sentences word-for-word between chapters and using the same quotes more than once, or even twice (not to mention how many times was "I don't hold a hose" splashed around!?) was a bit much, not to mention confusing as I found myself repeatedly asking "Didn't I read this sentence already?".
Another critical theme for communicators is the message and a primary embodiment of this is the title. So, as a science communicator, I can't help but highlight a few critiques of the communication and messaging of the front cover. The title "Bulldozed" doesn't seem to align with the subtitle "Scott Morrison's fall and Albanese's rise", unless Albanese is meant to be the bulldozer. Second the image of Albo rising above Morrison does not reflect any kind of bulldozer imagery. Instead it reflects the subtitle and suggests a focus on Albo, leading readers to assume the book might cover the decline of Morrison and the policy and power vacuum he left, to be followed by a substantial discussion on how Albo rose to fill that gap and his future leadership. Except that it doesn't. At all. Albo barely gets one dedicated chapter, and again, there's not much that would be new and interesting to the target audience. But fair enough if Savva didn't want to focus on Albo. If so, it would have been better to highlight Morrison in the image, maybe with a photo of him driving a bulldozer? Or the image that made the sobriquet famous: poor little Luca Fauvette being knocked to the ground by a man twice his size. And speaking of sobriquets, I don't know about the "Bulldozer" title if it's meant to be an analogy of Morrison's leadership. The term "bulldozer" signifies someone "exercising irresistible force, especially in disposing of opposition" and in politics, this is presumably so they can push through their own agenda and policies. Except Morrison had no policies to push through. He was only concerned about his image, pulling a range of stunts to get himself in the limelight and hopefully ingratiate himself with voters, which obviously failed abysmally as he had no substance at all behind his various fake facades, and Aussies knew it. So if we're going for a short phrase analogy of Morrison, I would say "Scotty from marketing" is much more apt. But of course, that's been thrown around a lot, so I can see the marketing benefits of "Bulldozed". If that's the go, then please at least make sure it's framed in a way that fits the narrative of the book. For example, Savva could have interpreted the bulldozer analogy with a blokey Morrison sitting high up and isolated in his bulldozer cabin, cutting himself off from all his advisors and knocking down any who got in his path. The accompanying cover picture could have been a cartoon reflecting this, or a collage of Scomo in his truck and the trail of destruction (like the fires, Hawaii, the vaccine roll out...) behind him. And the subtitle should be moulded to match.
My final comments are that despite clear criticism of Morrison most of the time, Savva seems to give him too much undeserved credit, especially at the start of the pandemic. As a Victorian, I'm not sure anyone was enamoured with Morrison even in the early days. Sure we got more furious as time went on, but Scomo never started on our good side as he was so speedy to sanitise his hands of responsibility and sweep it all onto state leaders like Dan Andrews. Only to then attack Dan and fellow Victorians of doing everything wrong.
It seems appropriate to conclude with the conclusion, which I'm sorry to say was another disappointment. This should be Savva's chance to tie things together, return to the start with an insight for the future (maybe lifting up the limp bulldozer analogy in the process) and hammer home the key message. But you can't give future insights without insights. And sadly again, Savva concentrates on transcribing quotes rather than adding substantive analysis of what Albo's past actions might say about his future. In the absence of analysis, I hoped I at least might enjoy a laconic last line from a talented journalist. But alas, disappointment strikes again, so there wasn't even that.
December 11, 2022
What really jumped out at me, apart from the utter shambolic remnants of
the Liberal party is that their one aim from the start was to return to government.
Who cares if their policies are so 1956, that as a whole they seem to be the laziest
bunch who haven't had a single worth while aim in a decade - screw the voters,
we need to be returned because we are born to rule!!
I am a Labor voter and was a bit hesitant about reading this Niki's book but she is
certainly fair minded - even giving kudos to some of the LNP's most odious
ministers. On the plus side, I learned a lot more about Brigitte Archer and my liking
for her is justified - she was not only strong and resolute in her convictions, she was
one of the only members who stood up to Morrison's bullying, not to mention telling
Frydenberg a few home truths.
What I didn't like was Savva's obvious devotion to Josh Frydenberg. It was news to me
that the only reason for his loss in Kooyong was the toxicity of Morrison - I seem to
recall that Frydenberg's vicious trashing of his home state had a lot to do with turning
his electorate off him. Sava indicates (and I think secretly hopes) that he will come
back in the future to lead the LNP - I for one hope and pray that he doesn't.
the Liberal party is that their one aim from the start was to return to government.
Who cares if their policies are so 1956, that as a whole they seem to be the laziest
bunch who haven't had a single worth while aim in a decade - screw the voters,
we need to be returned because we are born to rule!!
I am a Labor voter and was a bit hesitant about reading this Niki's book but she is
certainly fair minded - even giving kudos to some of the LNP's most odious
ministers. On the plus side, I learned a lot more about Brigitte Archer and my liking
for her is justified - she was not only strong and resolute in her convictions, she was
one of the only members who stood up to Morrison's bullying, not to mention telling
Frydenberg a few home truths.
What I didn't like was Savva's obvious devotion to Josh Frydenberg. It was news to me
that the only reason for his loss in Kooyong was the toxicity of Morrison - I seem to
recall that Frydenberg's vicious trashing of his home state had a lot to do with turning
his electorate off him. Sava indicates (and I think secretly hopes) that he will come
back in the future to lead the LNP - I for one hope and pray that he doesn't.
December 23, 2022
An interesting read that I wouldn't read again - and that needed a better edit!
I came to this book having read the author's account of the Abbott years, which was well structured and contained fascinating insider insights.
This book does some of the same. It catalogues the insider accounts of Morrison's government and Albanese's election campaign, with strikingly frank interviews particularly from the conservative side of politics. It feels a little like that access is lopsided - there's not the same depth of interviews with labor apparatchiks.
Where this book is let down, though, is it's form. The reader is left to work hard to determine the links between anecdotes, the theme and focus of each chapter, and the decisions on chapter length and sequencing of the material. The writing often quotes large amounts of interview material without reflecting on why it was included or how it integrates with other views. And it's repetitive - often the same anecdote is shortened or lengthened in several places in the book.
My advice - read the first chapter (50 pages) and put it down. That chapter's got all the juicy parts, the rest feels like filler!
I came to this book having read the author's account of the Abbott years, which was well structured and contained fascinating insider insights.
This book does some of the same. It catalogues the insider accounts of Morrison's government and Albanese's election campaign, with strikingly frank interviews particularly from the conservative side of politics. It feels a little like that access is lopsided - there's not the same depth of interviews with labor apparatchiks.
Where this book is let down, though, is it's form. The reader is left to work hard to determine the links between anecdotes, the theme and focus of each chapter, and the decisions on chapter length and sequencing of the material. The writing often quotes large amounts of interview material without reflecting on why it was included or how it integrates with other views. And it's repetitive - often the same anecdote is shortened or lengthened in several places in the book.
My advice - read the first chapter (50 pages) and put it down. That chapter's got all the juicy parts, the rest feels like filler!
May 21, 2023
Surprised that even reading this a year on from the 2022 election, the book still felt fresh. A bit of repetition perhaps reflective of a rush to publication. Honestly I enjoyed the chapters on the ALP election campaign more than the insider views of the operation of the Morrison government. The author seized a rare opportunity to get almost unprecedented levels of uncensored opinion from interviewees thanks largely to the election outcome and zeitgeist.
September 3, 2025
Niki Savva is an incisive journalist with an incredible career that's given her contacts throughout the Australian political landscape. She worked as a political advisor for Peter Costello and that pretty much tells you want you need to know about her personal politics: small 'l' liberal who's clearly horrified by the direction that the Liberal party has pursued over the last decade.
Which brings us to the topic of this book: the waning days of the Morrison government and the election of Anthony Albanese, ending 12 years of continuous Coalition rule. This is relatively recent memory for most Australians, and it's only the backroom detail that Niki reveals here that's actually new, because all of it was right in front of Australians if we were paying attention. But when presented in one place, as a continuous narrative and collection of political disasters that the coherent story of incompetence really comes clear.
It's fair to say that Savva is far from an unbiased commentator here; her contempt for Scott Morrison and anyone associated with him is visceral and visible on every page. But truth is always the greatest defense against libel.
Which brings us to the topic of this book: the waning days of the Morrison government and the election of Anthony Albanese, ending 12 years of continuous Coalition rule. This is relatively recent memory for most Australians, and it's only the backroom detail that Niki reveals here that's actually new, because all of it was right in front of Australians if we were paying attention. But when presented in one place, as a continuous narrative and collection of political disasters that the coherent story of incompetence really comes clear.
It's fair to say that Savva is far from an unbiased commentator here; her contempt for Scott Morrison and anyone associated with him is visceral and visible on every page. But truth is always the greatest defense against libel.
May 27, 2023
I was a reluctant reader as I didn’t want to read or think about Morrison ever again. But Savva weaves a good story, and I appreciated the ‘behind the scenes’ insights into Australia’s political processes. Engaging and insightful.
August 20, 2023
Very very interesting- a great insight into the insane (insane) world that is politics.
January 8, 2023
ScoMo and his demise
Niki Savva has demonstrated again, how connected she is in Coalition circles and her ability to craft a story. Bulldozed is an easy read and reminds us of all the reasons ScoMo had to go and gives a peek into the new PM, Albo.
Niki Savva has demonstrated again, how connected she is in Coalition circles and her ability to craft a story. Bulldozed is an easy read and reminds us of all the reasons ScoMo had to go and gives a peek into the new PM, Albo.
December 20, 2022
Feel like I need to have a wash after wading through this book! What a grub!
December 3, 2022
Informative, but for a journalist she’s a pretty shit writer
January 18, 2023
This could have been titled Contempt. Both in the ways Morrison has treated us – and the way in which Savva sees Morrison. She loathes him!
This book explores the failure of the Coalition government at the last election through the prism of Morrison, the Bulldozer of the title. I liked this from a review: “The book takes its name from its subject, who lamely tried to explain his penchant for being both unaccountable and a ditherer, as (a) a virtue, and (b) merely a misconception by voters. ‘You know, over the last three years and particularly the last two, what Australians have needed from me going through this pandemic has been strength and resilience,’ he boasted. ‘Now, I admit that hasn’t enabled Australians to see a lot of other gears in the way I work. And I know Australians know that I can be a bit of a bulldozer when it comes to issues and I suspect you guys know that too.’
A shorter Morrison might have read: ‘I don’t boast enough. I’m too dedicated, too effective, and I’ve erred in not telling you sooner.’” (https://www.smh.com.au/politics/feder...)
While Savva was writing this book, news broke that Morrison had made himself Minister of [almost] Everything. Of this Savva wrote: “Although all the people who mattered, including those closest to him, already knew all they needed to know … knew he was secretive and that he lied: that he was stubborn; that he bullied people; that even if he sought advice, he seldom took it; and that he had little interest in policy.”
Savva also looks at where the 2022 election defeat has left the party: “This Liberal Party now lies in tatters, captured by minorities of cranks and extremists, beholden to fossil fuel interests, and with increasingly tenuous links to the lived reality of the nation. Many of its leading members denigrate the values and lifestyles of those they need to support them. The party has a massive problem with women.“
She is well connected and obviously a lot of insiders spoke to her about what went on behind the scenes with the Morrison government. She is pretty scathing about the timidity of the people dubbed as ‘Moderates’. “They ‘spurned’ Julie Bishop to block Dutton with Morrison and then failed to extract a price – ‘he owed them, and yet they stayed mute … even when it became obvious they had been manipulated, even when it became obvious he wasn’t up to the job. They held back at critical points until it was too late to extract concessions that might have saved them, saved him from himself, and saved the Liberal Party from near oblivion.’ Instead, Savva explains, they dug in and cheered on an emperor ‘who was not only stark naked but, as they later discovered, stark-raving mad’.” (https://www.smh.com.au/politics/feder...)
She also writes about how sections of the media gave Morrison a pretty free ride for a long time, Reviewer Mathew Ricketson comments on this: “The quick-drying cement on the Coalition government of 2019–22 is that it was led by someone vying with McMahon for the title of Australia’s worst prime minister, whose deep personal unpopularity always made a 2022 election loss more than likely. But if the outcome was that obvious, why did so much media coverage either downplay what now seems conventional wisdom or ignore it altogether?” (https://insidestory.org.au/no-one-dar...)
I found the book repetitive (man – it needed a good editor!) but engrossing. The Game by Sean Kelly is probably a more subtle and complex perspective on Morrison but they certainly work as companion pieces on what has been one of the most difficult periods of Australian politics and a nadir in terms of poll-driven, divisive political emptiness.
This book explores the failure of the Coalition government at the last election through the prism of Morrison, the Bulldozer of the title. I liked this from a review: “The book takes its name from its subject, who lamely tried to explain his penchant for being both unaccountable and a ditherer, as (a) a virtue, and (b) merely a misconception by voters. ‘You know, over the last three years and particularly the last two, what Australians have needed from me going through this pandemic has been strength and resilience,’ he boasted. ‘Now, I admit that hasn’t enabled Australians to see a lot of other gears in the way I work. And I know Australians know that I can be a bit of a bulldozer when it comes to issues and I suspect you guys know that too.’
A shorter Morrison might have read: ‘I don’t boast enough. I’m too dedicated, too effective, and I’ve erred in not telling you sooner.’” (https://www.smh.com.au/politics/feder...)
While Savva was writing this book, news broke that Morrison had made himself Minister of [almost] Everything. Of this Savva wrote: “Although all the people who mattered, including those closest to him, already knew all they needed to know … knew he was secretive and that he lied: that he was stubborn; that he bullied people; that even if he sought advice, he seldom took it; and that he had little interest in policy.”
Savva also looks at where the 2022 election defeat has left the party: “This Liberal Party now lies in tatters, captured by minorities of cranks and extremists, beholden to fossil fuel interests, and with increasingly tenuous links to the lived reality of the nation. Many of its leading members denigrate the values and lifestyles of those they need to support them. The party has a massive problem with women.“
She is well connected and obviously a lot of insiders spoke to her about what went on behind the scenes with the Morrison government. She is pretty scathing about the timidity of the people dubbed as ‘Moderates’. “They ‘spurned’ Julie Bishop to block Dutton with Morrison and then failed to extract a price – ‘he owed them, and yet they stayed mute … even when it became obvious they had been manipulated, even when it became obvious he wasn’t up to the job. They held back at critical points until it was too late to extract concessions that might have saved them, saved him from himself, and saved the Liberal Party from near oblivion.’ Instead, Savva explains, they dug in and cheered on an emperor ‘who was not only stark naked but, as they later discovered, stark-raving mad’.” (https://www.smh.com.au/politics/feder...)
She also writes about how sections of the media gave Morrison a pretty free ride for a long time, Reviewer Mathew Ricketson comments on this: “The quick-drying cement on the Coalition government of 2019–22 is that it was led by someone vying with McMahon for the title of Australia’s worst prime minister, whose deep personal unpopularity always made a 2022 election loss more than likely. But if the outcome was that obvious, why did so much media coverage either downplay what now seems conventional wisdom or ignore it altogether?” (https://insidestory.org.au/no-one-dar...)
I found the book repetitive (man – it needed a good editor!) but engrossing. The Game by Sean Kelly is probably a more subtle and complex perspective on Morrison but they certainly work as companion pieces on what has been one of the most difficult periods of Australian politics and a nadir in terms of poll-driven, divisive political emptiness.
December 14, 2022
**** Bulldozed: Scott Morrison’s Fall and Anthony Albanese’s Rise The title comes an expression of Scott Morrison’s style – deriving in particular when he crash tackled a seven year old boy in a football match. Savva let’s us know early in Chapter 1 what she and what his colleagues thought of him: “They knew he was secretive and that he lied; that he was stubborn; that he bullied people; that even if he sought advice he seldom took it and that he had little interest in policy. They know that Morrison was a deeply flawed personality, a duplicitous and damaged leader with limited horizons and appalling judgement … He ignored advice from almost ever quarter to go to an early election, then grew paranoid that the Dutton and Frydenberg camps were plotting a coup. Even though they could see the ship heading straight for the iceberg, they did not mutiny. Instead, thy waited on deck without lifejackets, without lifeboats, for their captain to ram it.”
That says it all. Morrison was mad, they knew it, but thought that if they changed leadership, (a) they would still crash, because of the Abbott and Turnbull leadership changes, and (b) Morrison would exact a terrible revenge in his vindictive rage that would tear the Liberal Party apart. Which he already had anyway. Chapter 1 summarises where Morrison went wrong, which was in almost everything he did and said, most of the book goes into that in detail, which makes astonishing reading: the way he mistrusted all his colleagues, Frydenberg in particular, while demanding absolute loyalty from them. It is simply amazing that such a psychopathic character could ever be elected to the top job in Australia. Other chapters go into the election campaign, and the different styles: Morrison at his worst, Albanese at his best (apart from a calamitous stumble in the first week); delegating to his colleagues, all carefully selected for what they were best at, in particular Katy Gallagher, Jason Clare and Penny Wong , while remaining the clear leader. Albo’s style is the direct opposite of Morrison’s. The final chapter is suggesting what Albo needs to do for the next election: the most important focus Savva thinks is tax reform in which he can bury the tax cut promise. Although Savva was once a Liberal staffer to Peter Costello, she is very positive about Albanese: his decency, clever judgement, and sense of fairness. This says a lot about her objectivity.
That says it all. Morrison was mad, they knew it, but thought that if they changed leadership, (a) they would still crash, because of the Abbott and Turnbull leadership changes, and (b) Morrison would exact a terrible revenge in his vindictive rage that would tear the Liberal Party apart. Which he already had anyway. Chapter 1 summarises where Morrison went wrong, which was in almost everything he did and said, most of the book goes into that in detail, which makes astonishing reading: the way he mistrusted all his colleagues, Frydenberg in particular, while demanding absolute loyalty from them. It is simply amazing that such a psychopathic character could ever be elected to the top job in Australia. Other chapters go into the election campaign, and the different styles: Morrison at his worst, Albanese at his best (apart from a calamitous stumble in the first week); delegating to his colleagues, all carefully selected for what they were best at, in particular Katy Gallagher, Jason Clare and Penny Wong , while remaining the clear leader. Albo’s style is the direct opposite of Morrison’s. The final chapter is suggesting what Albo needs to do for the next election: the most important focus Savva thinks is tax reform in which he can bury the tax cut promise. Although Savva was once a Liberal staffer to Peter Costello, she is very positive about Albanese: his decency, clever judgement, and sense of fairness. This says a lot about her objectivity.
December 28, 2022
There are two things that make this book fascinating. The first is the access Savva has as someone who has in the past worked for the Liberal Party. She was on John Howard’s staff for three years, for goodness’ sake, and obviously there are members of the Liberal Party, some willing to be identified and others who remain anonymous, who are comfortable dishing her the dirt.
The second is how much Savva, as an ex-Liberal staffer, loathes Morrison. Most of us hate him for the damage he did the country; Savva also hates him for the damage he did the Coalition. Her initial acceptance of him does mean that those of us who had Morrison’s measure from the beginning get to feel slightly superior: we KNEW what he was like from his time as Immigration Minister; we KNEW that his Pentecostal Christianity was dangerous; we KNEW he was gone from the moment his holiday in Hawaii during the Black Summer and his lies about it were leaked.
In the acknowledgments Savva writes “I apologise for whatever part I played in his rise. All I can say is that I tried to make up for that later, after I got to know him better, but by then a lot of damage had been inflicted on the body politic.” p. 389.
Although many of us were ahead of Savva (and most other journalists) in our accurate assessment of Morrison, we’re never going to have her access to politicians, so this book is well worth reading for the quotes - and the description of Katherine Deves’ meltdown on election night.
The second is how much Savva, as an ex-Liberal staffer, loathes Morrison. Most of us hate him for the damage he did the country; Savva also hates him for the damage he did the Coalition. Her initial acceptance of him does mean that those of us who had Morrison’s measure from the beginning get to feel slightly superior: we KNEW what he was like from his time as Immigration Minister; we KNEW that his Pentecostal Christianity was dangerous; we KNEW he was gone from the moment his holiday in Hawaii during the Black Summer and his lies about it were leaked.
In the acknowledgments Savva writes “I apologise for whatever part I played in his rise. All I can say is that I tried to make up for that later, after I got to know him better, but by then a lot of damage had been inflicted on the body politic.” p. 389.
Although many of us were ahead of Savva (and most other journalists) in our accurate assessment of Morrison, we’re never going to have her access to politicians, so this book is well worth reading for the quotes - and the description of Katherine Deves’ meltdown on election night.
January 5, 2023
Niki Savva is a very astute political journalist and her account of the depth of Morrison's delusions about a god he imagines chose him for success, greatness and miracles goes some way to explaining how he lied to everyone and trashed our consititution by secretly appointing himself to five ministries. Her summation of the man towards the end of almost 400 pages based on meticulous research, interviews and detail is that he had a messiah complex, he was inadequate for the role of PM, and he was the worst Prime Minister, and the only one to be censured by the Parliament of Australia. It was his personality flaws of arrogance, being tin-eared, blinded by his evangelical cult, dismissing all women as inferior, and refusing to listen or take advice from those best positioned to give it that made him so unsuitable for high office. He wasn't up to the job but his lust for personal control and power knew no bounds. The question is, why did people vote for him, especially in 2019? Anyone who did, will wonder why, if they read this book. For those who do, it is a valuable insight into what Scott Morrison did in office to deserve his singular legacy as worst PM since Federation on 1 January 1901.
February 16, 2023
Wow. Talk about well-researched.
I have no stake in this book whatsoever, other than I hated Scott Morrison's guts, after his famous "I don't hold a hose, mate" and "it's not a race" missteps. I did however, take some delight in how thoroughly Niki Savva discussed what happened during the final months leading up to the 2022 Federal election.
She divided each section into covering how Scott Morrison lost the votes (and his popularity) due to his reactions to events, such as the devastating bushfires (when he secretly flew off to Hawaii), Grace Tame and Brittany Higgins, the COVID vaccination rollouts, and to the very last when he secretly appointed himself to 5 portfolios already held by his Ministers. She also wrote about how Anthony Albanese and his team executed their plans, leading to Albanese's subsequent rise to become our current Prime Minister.
While I don't have an encyclopaedic knowledge of the names mentioned in the book, I appreciated her insider's knowledge, and ultimately came away with a better understanding of what had transpired during those tumultuous years.
I have no stake in this book whatsoever, other than I hated Scott Morrison's guts, after his famous "I don't hold a hose, mate" and "it's not a race" missteps. I did however, take some delight in how thoroughly Niki Savva discussed what happened during the final months leading up to the 2022 Federal election.
She divided each section into covering how Scott Morrison lost the votes (and his popularity) due to his reactions to events, such as the devastating bushfires (when he secretly flew off to Hawaii), Grace Tame and Brittany Higgins, the COVID vaccination rollouts, and to the very last when he secretly appointed himself to 5 portfolios already held by his Ministers. She also wrote about how Anthony Albanese and his team executed their plans, leading to Albanese's subsequent rise to become our current Prime Minister.
While I don't have an encyclopaedic knowledge of the names mentioned in the book, I appreciated her insider's knowledge, and ultimately came away with a better understanding of what had transpired during those tumultuous years.
December 29, 2022
This is a good read if you have a working knowledge of the Australian political system, followed the Morrison government sagas superficially and now want a detailed read putting it all together. This is not a great or fresh read if you’re unfamiliar with Australian politics, followed the Morrison sagas closely as they occurred or read the author's columns in The Australian or the Fairfax newspapers at the time. Niki Savva has great sources and great turns of phrase which are her strengths, but narrative prose is a weakness. Repetitive and needs a good edit - clearly rewritten before publication to update for the Morrison additional ministries. For close followers of Australian politics, only a few new insights.
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