A Novel of Australia

The Australian Labor Party, under Prime Minister Pat Kelly, has just won a double dissolution election and passed its’ Emissions Trading Scheme legislation aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions. It now looks set for a long term in government.

Opposition Leader Mike Townsend has other ideas. A man of vision, he has ambitions to transform his country but needs the undivided loyalty and focus of his team. Also a committed republican he agrees to co-operate with the Prime Minister to establish the Republic sooner rather than later. He secures the reluctant support of his party for this endeavour. He and Kelly must co-operate in the republican campaign, even as they battle each other for political supremacy.

Brigadier Jim Laidley is the commander of Australian Forces in Afghanistan. A brilliant officer, he is headed for the top, until a sequence of tragic circumstances rob him of both his career and his wife.

Dr Alan Sheppeton is a Nobel Peace laureate and a committed environmentalist, who believes that neither side of politics is doing a very good job in relation to climate change. While he is recuperating from a major illness, he is convinced to run for the office of President.

The lives of these men become linked as Australia is confronted by a new wave of terrorism and controversy surrounding the response to climate change.

The Republic comes to pass and Mike Townsend, now Prime Minister, finds that his ambitions are threatened by an enemy within his own ranks, and by the President whom he helped install.

The crunch comes when Mike has to balance the benefits of a major resources discovery, which could put Australia in an unassailable energy position, against the demands of the environment.

A Climate for Change examines issues surrounding the Australian republic and climate change in the context of a political conflict.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Peter O’Brien is retired and lives with his wife, Barbara, at Batemans Bay on the south coast of NSW. He graduated from the Royal Military College in 1970 and served as an infantry platoon commander with the 4th Battalion Royal Australian Regiment in South Vietnam. He served in the Army for 21 years, retiring as a Lieutenant Colonel. After he left the Army Peter joined the computer industry, first as a software engineering manager and then as a sales account manager.

The O’Briens have two adult children, a son, Rod, and a daughter, Natalia. They have two young grandsons – Zeke and Zane.

Peter’s interests are music (particularly classical), scuba diving, golf and the Spanish language. He and Barbara also compete in ballroom dancing competitions and are members of the Batemans Bay Sing Australia choir.

A Climate for Change is Peter’s first novel. He would like to write another.