Canberra Confidential screened on the ABC tonight and you can watch it via that link or soon enough on iview.
For the purposes of disclosure I should note I got a Burmese curry out of it to share my ideas on stories they could include, and I was invited to a preview screening at the National Museum last week but had other things to do. While I doubt she remembers my name; over a decade ago Annabel Crabb and I used to sneak out of our press gallery offices and find ourselves at the same press conferences of visiting world leaders that it appeared no one else in the Canberra Gallery could take the time out of party gossip to make it to. (I once ended up asking Mikhail Gorbachev questions due to being one of very few non-cameraman or sound techs in the room).
After the preview screening last week the ruling elites of Canberra took to Twitter to howl they had once again been done down by cliche.
It’s true that if you’re a very keen student of local and Australian politicial history there’s not much new in there.
As well they used some really flimsy material early to smear conservative leaders, to balance the weightier Labor scandals.
But while those who walk the corridors of power will be on nodding terms with these scandals the rest of the population probably will come at it for the first time.
Which is no bad thing.
Annabel does come across as far too twee at times. But she is a journalist and not an actress.
And the conclusions that Canberra is becoming a fortress of secrets, because that’s what Australia wants us to be, bears some thinking about.
(Also the establishing shots of the landscape are really nicely done and show off what little remains of the Griffin legacy use of the landscape)
Well worth a watch.
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