York Park Group and Hill of Content co-founded the Australian Political Book of the Year Award in 2022.

The Award recognises the vital part political books play in promoting a better understanding of Australian politics and public policy.

The costs of political amnesia

This year, the Shortlist event featured a panel discussion on ‘The costs of political amnesia’.

Emeritus Professor Paul Strangio, one of the country's leading historians of political leadership, and Professor Sally Young, a political scientist and media historian, spoke about how the stories a nation chooses to remember, and those it forgets, shape its politics.

Moderated by Sumeyya Ilanbey, Victorian political correspondent with the Australian Financial Review, the conversation covered a range of issues – from the roles historians, authors and journalists play in helping a society remember and understand its past; the revival of debates once thought settled – from abortion to paid parental leave; and what Australia's political history can teach us about the rise of populism and the surge of support for One Nation three decades on from the party’s arrival in 1996.

The 2026 Shortlist

The Award's judges are Emeritus Professor John Warhurst AO of the Australian National University, Kerrie O'Brien, senior writer at The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald, and political analyst Barrie Cassidy.

In determining the Shortlist, the Judges said: “We were privileged to have the opportunity to read this year’s entries. Selecting the top four entrants proved to be a challenging task”.  

The 2026 Shortlist is:

• Troy Bramston's Gough Whitlam drew praise as a masterpiece of detail and forensic research that also tells a great human story, breathing new life into a short-lived government now five decades old through previously unpublished archival material and scores of retrospective interviews.
• Virginia Haussegger's Unfinished Revolution tells the important, and often forgotten, story of the feminist fightback in Australia since the 1970s. The judges described it as a highly personal and meticulous account that captures both the momentum and the rage of the women's movement.
• Niki Savva's Earthquake is, in the judges' words, the definitive analysis of the 2025 re-election of the Albanese Government, “the election that shook Australia”, delivered with Savva's trademark access to the key players.
• Paul Strangio's The Alchemy of Leadership, a study of seven prime ministers from John Howard to Anthony Albanese, was described as a compelling and masterful synthesis, with sharp judgement on why most of them fell short amid policy stagnation and declining public trust.

The 2026 Award Winner will be announced by the Treasurer, the Hon. Dr Jim Chalmers MP, on Wednesday 28 October 2026 at Old Parliament House in Canberra.

Previous winners of the Australian Political Book of the Year are: Naku Dharuk: The Bark Petitions by Clare Wright (2025); Flawed Hero: Truth, Lies and War Crimes by Chris Masters (2024); Bulldozed: Scott Morrison’s Fall and Anthony Albanese’s Rise by Niki Savva (2023); and Telling Tennant’s Story: The Strange Career of the Great Australian Silence by Dean Ashenden (2022).

The winner of the 2026 Australian Political Book of the Year Award will receive a total of $15,000.

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