Given the number of tough-skinned street pugilists who have made their way through State Parliament down the years, such a comment is not to be taken lightly.
Rodney certainly has a way with words; they are never wasted and are precisely targeted. When Rodney takes aim, he doesn’t miss.
And the reputation he developed during his time as Minister for Education in the Wran and Unsworth State governments has been sustained since by a literary output that greatly helped Jackson Wells promote his new book and disseminate his message through the media.
Rodney came to us asking for help promoting the book, Power Crisis: The Self-Destruction of a State Labor Party. With only a short time until launch, and with Rodney stumping up most of the costs himself, we offered our services pro-bono and hit the pitch running.
Power Crisis tells – as its centrepiece - the dramatic story of the falls of the Iemma and Rees governments set against the complex and intriguing background of the wider collapse of the NSW ALP.
Never holding back, Power Crisis positions contemporary Labor within a well researched historical context. Rodney laments the rise of the professional politician, detached from the people and reliant for a sense of direction on focus groups not the broader community. The book is comprehensive, pointed and an uncomfortable truth for members of the NSW ALP.
In his radio and television interviews. Rodney was sharp, focused and ruthless in his analysis. Some people mistook this biting criticism as an attack from a fleeing party member, but it came from a deep passion for the party. Power Crisis laments but it never forsakes.
To promote the book, Jackson Wells worked in conjunction with Melbourne-based Cambridge University Press, focusing our efforts on Sydney.
We developed and disseminated media teasers, media releases and column items and organised book reviews and radio, TV and press interviews as well as publishable extracts.
Initial interest begat further interest and this begat greater interest and soon Rodney to the State political media what an apple is to a pie.
Many thousands of words were written and many pointes of view expressed.
Even before its formal launch, Power Crisis had shot to number one on Abbey’s best seller list.
Rodney is a polished media performer (which made us look real good) and handled interviews with great panache and often daring.
The launch at the Sydney Cricket Ground (where Rodney is chairman) was a huge success. Over 250 people attended: former Test cricketers, print journalists, TV crews, radio presenters, unionists, ALP members, former NSW Premiers and a few Liberals mixed in for purposes of anthropology.
The launch in the Members’ Pavilion was held a cold, wet night – but only outside.
Senator John Faulkner launched the book and was no less critical than Rodney, although it was far more difficult to extract a juicy quote or a headline from a speech that wanted to make a point without creating a tidal wave.
Power Crisis is into its second reprint charging along nicely.
Its main thesis has entered political culture and Rodney Cavalier is a very proud author. Let’s hope that twinkle in his eye is a sequel.
