FOR THE POLITICAL NEWBIE…

                                                                    Keith Suter’s Local Notebook:

                    50 Things You Want to Know About Australian and World Issues… But Were too Afraid

                                                                                  To Ask  

Suter, known for his regular appearances as foreign affairs expert on Seven’s Sunrise, avoids what could have been a fragmented account of randomly collected current affairs hot topics. The 50 questions are addressed in separate chapters that seamlessly merge into a logical narrative. Worries about water supply for example, are placed within the context of environmental ethics and the value of those ethics within a capitalist society then questioned in consecutive chapters.

This establishes the book’s other major strength: relevance.  Whether debate over school uniform or uranium, these topics are placed into their respective context; the author using known historical facts (the book has no footnotes) to compose a clear narrative of just how any one issue has gotten to how it is understood today. These are punctuated by accompanying anecdotes, observations and historical titbits that can be both thought-provoking and entertaining. The result is a comprehensive yet brief analysis of 50 pertinent topics.  If the question is not one that individual readers are asking, they will be by the end of the chapter. 

The author’s primary concern is to analyse the importance of the issues to Australia, and while the outcome is a measured representation of the broad brown land, accounts of necessarily but briefly mentioned foreign elements can be vague (in “some African countries” women can be thrown out of the family home for rejecting a husband’s advances) if not incorrect (Islam is opposed to birth control).

The book has two overarching themes which are enmeshed in Suter’s previous work on globalisation: the challenge in modern times to keep oneself employable rather than employed, and the general political illiteracy of Australian population.

Acknowledging the latter could prove difficult when addressing what is an assumedly Australian audience. He skilfully avoids talking down to his readership by providing comprehensive definitions of deceptively common terms like ‘graffiti’ or ‘abortion’ in an effort to ascertain he is on the same page as his audience.

Suter offers a by and large objective account, though his opinions on cooling controversies (for instance, the invasion of Iraq and the WMD validation) are already well-known. But the book is educational. As well as being a stimulating introduction to the history and context of key subjects in Australia today, Local Notebook invites the reader to delve further on the addressed topics.

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