NINE YEARS AGO the political landscape in Australia was very different. John Howard was heading into an uncertain election campaign after losing ground in 1998, Mark Latham’s star had yet to ascend and Kevin Rudd was a first-term backbencher still learning the political ropes. It was also, in some ways, a more innocent Australia: pre-9/11 and pre-Tampa.

Waiting in the wings was another political unknown, the Labor leader in the Australian Capital Territory, Jon Stanhope. Before the year was out he would become the territory’s fifth chief minister since self-government in 1989. Unlike all other heads of government at that time, he is still in office, and he also holds a record unique in Australian politics: twelve years in parliament and all of them as a party leader. Of the current crop, only South Australia’s Mike Rann has led his party for longer.

Earnest rather than charismatic, devoid of flamboyance almost to the point of dullness, Stanhope is largely unknown beyond the territory, but is one of the most intriguing political figures in Australia as well as the most resilient. He is certainly the most...