The Brandis Canon

Over the past four years, taxpapyers have helped underwrite the cost of George Brandis’ wide ranging tastes in newspapers, periodicals and books to the tune of over $12, 000, with several thousands of dollars potentially spent on subjects previously questioned by the Australian National Audit Office as “at risk of being outside the scope of the entitlement”.

Included in the impressive survey of fine reading are lives of the Popes, Stalin, Trotsky and Christopher Hitchens; biographies of historians ranging from Manning Clark to Hugh Trevor Roper; histories of Byzantium, Berlin and the Spanish Civil War; biographies of FDR, Eisenhower, JFK, LBJ and Obama; essays and writings by Orwell and Nietzsche; a collection of Isaiah Berlin’s letters; and a survey of the life and works of a Scottish colourist. A select list is provided at the end.