Political journalist and author Troy Bramston joins Democracy Sausage to discuss his new biography of Gough Whitlam and asks how a government could be so transformative yet so chaotic.

How did Whitlam's government profoundly change Australia in less than three years despite being shambolic and scandal-prone? Could Whitlam have avoided the Dismissal if he'd passed supply in the House of Reps? And did the hostile media environment contribute to the government's downfall, or simply report on its dysfunction?

Troy Bramston is a political journalist with The Australian and author of Gough Whitlam: The Vista of the New, published by HarperCollins to mark the 50th anniversary of the Dismissal.

Marija Taflaga is the Director of the ANU Centre for the Study of Australian Politics and a Lecturer at the ANU School of Politics and International Relations.

Mark Kenny is the Director of the ANU Australian Studies Institute. He came to the University after a high-profile journalistic career including six years as chief political correspondent and national affairs editor for The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age and The Canberra Times.

Democracy Sausage with Mark Kenny is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Pocket Casts, Google Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. We'd love to hear your feedback on this series, so send in your questions, comments or suggestions for future episodes to democracysausage@anu.edu.au.

This podcast is produced by The Australian National University.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.