Paul Kelly: an analysis of his political thought and his role as a public intellectual

Abstract

For nearly four decades Paul Kelly has been widely regarded as one of Australia’s most distinguished political journalists and historians. This paper considers Kelly’s extensive publications outside of his newspaper journalism. In addition to his most well-known accounts of contemporary political history, Kelly has produced many articles, essays, speeches and chapters in edited collections. The paper draws on that extensive body of Kelly’s work to identify key strengths and weaknesses of his methods, analyses and prescriptions. It also explores the relationship of this body of work to the disciplines of Australian political science and Australian history, including analysing some of the critiques which academics have made of his work. For example, Sean Scalmer and Jackie Dickenson suggest his insider status is inimical to his being a genuine critic of power. Robert Manne concurs with this view and also argues Kelly misunderstands the nature of neo-liberalism and its effect on Australian public policy. Geoffrey Stokes and Judith Brett, among others, contest Kelly’s highly influential model of the Australian settlement. Nonetheless, the quantity and quality of Kelly’s contribution to Australian political writing suggests that he should be regarded as one of Australia’s most significant public intellectuals. As such, his career presents a useful case study about the meaning and value of this role in the Australian context, as well as the relationship between political journalism and academic writing.