Paul Gallagher (2)

The book is well named – faith and duty are indeed the recurring themes in this biography of the former federal National Party leader. Indeed, its greatest virtue as a political biography is its willingness to look at the spiritual dimensions of Anderson’s character – an aspect that is obviously a key part of his personality, but one almost ignored in our secular polity. It comes to the fore particularly in the book’s most dramatic and moving passages dealing with the tragic deaths of Anderson’s sister and son. The reader also gets some glimpses of how faith sustains a man operating at the highest levels of government. However, as an insight into federal politics generally, this work is not especially penetrating. We get little sense of how Anderson developed his political philosophy beyond the fact of his birth in the National Party heartland of country New South Wales. It also pushes the idea of Anderson’s sense of duty being his main motivator somewhat excessively: To my possibly overly cynical eye, it strains credibility that someone could rise to be Deputy Prime Minister purely from a sense of duty. But maybe that says more about me than it does about this biography. Faith and Duty is nevertheless a worthy examination of a committed Christian operating in Australian public life.… (més)