The amount to which you agree with Julianne Schultz’s picture of modern Australia, and the directions we have to go in order to advance, will depend to some extent on which side of politics you follow.

As Schultz herself says in the conclusion to her 416-page treatise, we can’t move on as a nation until we properly address climate change and right the historical wrongs of violence, racism and oppression visited upon First Nations people.

As Schultz lays out her case, working strongly in her favour is her talent as a writer – her prose is a pleasure to read, even if it gets a bit florid at times (‘three score years and 10’ instead of ‘70 years’).

There’s something of an underlying structure to it all, with chapters roughly covering everything from the recent all-female Australian of the Year recipients, Australia’s response to COVID, the constitution, the media’s outsized role in politics, Rupert Murdoch, and almost everything in between, as it relates to the kind of country we are (and want to be).

But in another sense, it’s a little more freewheeling, a stream of consciousness on a range of subjects, how they intertwine and occasionally unravel.

Like all the best socio-political polemics, you won’t agree with everything Schultz says, but because she’s an experienced and well-informed scholar, plus being a talented wordsmith who eloquently puts forward her arguments, The Idea of Australia is hard to ignore.

Reviewed by Drew Turney