Last November, ABC1 ran a four part series called The Howard Years. Much anticipated, it had the cooperation of practically everyone involved in the government that ruled from 1996 to 2007. But it was marred by a simplistic narrative and an obsessive desire to avoid being seen to unfairly criticise the former prime minister, which made for frustratingly one-dimensional viewing.

On Tuesday this week, SBS began its three part series Liberal Rule: The Politics That Changed Australia. It is the better of the two series, and its makers obviously had no qualms about criticising the former government. But it does have flaws, the most serious of which is the way it does this criticising.

As Tuesday’s opening episode showed, Liberal Rule has a sense of political history, of the vagaries of politics. It has memory. Tuesday’s title, “Cycles of Power,” was apt, as it recognised the part that timing and luck play in political success. The first half reprised how we got to here: quickly snapshotting John Howard’s early life, his 1974 entry into parliament, the Whitlam dismissal, Howard’s rapid rise up Malcolm Fraser’s ministerial ranks and the thirteen opposition years from 1983, culminating with the election of the Howard government in March 1996. All was done with sympathy for its subject and was an enjoyable frolic down memory lane for the viewer. The second half of the episode dealt mainly with the Howard government’s economic record.

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