Crocs in the Cabinet: Northern Territory politics – an instruction manual on how NOT to run a government

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Hachette Australia, Nov 29, 2016 - Political Science - 320 pages

Goings-on in Northern Territory politics from 2012-2016 may read like satire, but it is all true. These are stories you couldn't make up. This book is an instruction manual on how NOT to run a government.

In the Top End, politics is not a numbers game, it is a blood sport.

In comparison to Rudd, Gillard, Abbott and Turnbull, the goings-on in the Northern Territory parliament are like watching a troop of clowns throwing knives into each other's backs.

CROCS IN THE CABINET is partly a serious political book, partly a riotous look at the characters, the scandals and the incompetence of Northern Territory politics. It will make you laugh, cry, wince and shake your head as you read of:

- a minister with a hostess club bill
- a masturbating minister and the lewd videos he sent someone other than his wife
- why a minister shouted 'we are in love' on the floor of the parliament
- how the Chief Minister stared down a coup
- how an MP forced the evacuation of a hotel
- why an MP went fishing instead of dealing with leadership matters
- exactly how bonkers the NT parliament really is.

Written by two of the NT NEWS's best journalists, Walkley Award-winning Ben Smee and award-winning Christopher A. Walsh, this is FEAR AND LOATHING ON THE CAMPAIGN TRAIL meets FAWLTY TOWERS.

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About the author (2016)

Ben Smee (Author)
Ben Smee is the Deputy Editor of the NT NEWS. He won a Walkley Award in 2014 for his coverage of Northern Territory politics during stints as the paper's Chief Political Reporter and Head of News. Ben is also the 2015 NT Journalist of the Year. He previously worked for the NEWCASTLE HERALD where he won awards for his investigations and news coverage, including being selected as a finalist for Walkley Young Australian Journalist of the Year in 2009. CROCS IN THE CABINET is Ben's first book. He lives in Darwin.

Chistopher A Walsh (Author)
Christopher A Walsh is an award-winning political journalist with the NT NEWS. A native of Canada, his work has appeared in a variety of publications there, covering everything from the east coast carnival to politics across the country. His first book, UNDER THE ELECTRIC SKY, was an Atlantic Book Award finalist for Best Literary Non-fiction. From the carnival of Canada to the circus of NT politics, he is currently based in Darwin.

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