The Alfred Deakin Prize for an Essay Advancing Public Debate: Shortlist 2006

Judges

Morag Fraser (Convenor), Peter Browne and John Button

The essay, that nimble excursion into ideas, will often reflect the thinking of the times, even if it turns such thinking on its head. This year’s 44 entries are a snapshot of our current preoccupations, and this not being a time of leisured pondering, it is unsurprising that there should be an air of urgency about many of the entries. Urgency can make for compelling reading, and we recommend the essays to any Australian interested in a broad scan of national and international concerns. But urgency has had its effect upon form. Vivid narrative, exposition and even editorialising have, in some instances, displaced reflection. Such entries would have found a more appropriate home in the John Curtin Prize for Journalism.

We invited essays that contributed to the national debate by the quality (length was not an issue) of writing. ‘Debate’ is one crucial term here: in discriminating between many fine pieces of work we looked for writing which left the reader with room to move, which persuaded but did not coerce. ‘Quality’ is the other criterion: we looked for writing which enticed the reader, sometimes by its ironic temper, sometimes by its capacity to distil complex ideas and argue with both rigour and elegance - writing that would stay in mind long after the reading was done.

A shortlist of three necessarily excludes some exemplary essays. The judges would like to commend John Hirst’s How Sorry Can We Be?, Robert Manne’s Little America and The Unknown Story of Cornelia Rau, Louis Nowra’s Cacophany and Murray Sayle’s Overloading Emoh Ruo. We also applaud the enterprising publishers who have made their own contribution to enlightenment by sticking with issues of national importance well after the media caravan has moved on.

Shortlist

All three shortlisted essays were distinguished by their capacity to surprise.

	The Tortures of Heritage Waleed Aly (The Age) In The Tortures of Heritage, Waleed Aly explores the history and symbolism of two great architectural monuments, Cordoba's Grand Mosque and Istanbul's Hagia Sophia. In the process, he has to rethink his beliefs about empire, conquest, and the appropriation of sacred places, whether mosque by Christians or church by Muslims. 'When buildings or land matter more to us than people, we have lost perspective.' Aly's essay is an exercise in finding a new perspective and in exploring its corollary: the difficult understanding that goes beyond tolerance.
	Relaxed and Comfortable: The Liberal Party’s Australia Judith Brett  Quarterly Essay/Black Inc Judith Brett's Relaxed and Comfortable, The Liberal Party's Australia is also more interested in understanding than in taking sides. In this subtle and persuasive essay Brett identifies the way John Howard has skilfully positioned himself in the centre of national life, marginalising critics in parliament and the media. Using a series of deftly sketched profiles of 'ordinary people who vote Liberal', she shows how the Coalition government has been able to transcend longstanding partisan divides in Australia. This entails, as Brett puts it herself, 'taking seriously what people say about what they believe'.
	Is the Media Asleep? David Marr    from Do Not Disturb: Is the Media Failing Australia? Black Inc David Marr's essay begins with a question: Is the Media Asleep?  His answer, mediated through reflections on Operation Relex, the Al-Kateb case and the Cornelia Rau affair, is an indictment of Australia's recent human rights record, and the indifference of corresponding media coverage. Memorably structured and biting in its wit, the essay lets the record speak for itself. Using voices from both sides of the political fence, it prompts disturbing questions about the way Australia -government, people and fourth estate - has winked at systematic abuses of liberty.