Niki Savva
So Greek
Scribe Publications, 2010
From one of the most senior correspondents in the Canberra Press Gallery comes a rare account of life as a political insider.
Born in a small village in Cyprus, Niki Savva spent her childhood in Melbourne’s working-class suburbs — frontiers where locals were suspicious of olive oil, and Greek kids spoke Gringlish to their parents.
Only a few decades later, despite all the challenges of being a migrant woman in Australia, Savva had risen through the ranks of political journalism at The Australian, and had gone on to head the Canberra bureaus of both the Melbourne Herald Sun and The Age.
Then in 1997, family tragedy struck, and she was forced to reassess her career. In spite of her own Labor convictions, she became Liberal treasurer Peter Costello’s press secretary, a role that she kept for six years before moving on to join John Howard’s staff.
This is one of the few books about Australian political life written by an insider with decades of exposure to its major players. Hilarious, moving, and endlessly fascinating, Savva’s is a story that moves between countries, cultures, careers and, ultimately, political convictions.
“A rivetting insider’s account of how politicians, minders, and journalists really operate.”
About the Author
Niki Savva is one of the most senior correspondents in the Canberra Press Gallery. She was twice political correspondent on The Australian, and headed up the Canberra bureaus of both The Herald Sun and The Age. When family tragedy forced a career change, she became Peter Costello’s press secretary for six years and was then on John Howard’s staff for three. Her work has brought her into intimate contact with Australia’s major political players for more than 35 years. She is a regular columnist for The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald, and often appears on ABC-TV’s Insiders.
In March 2017, the Melbourne Press Club bestowed Niki with a lifetime achievement award for ‘outstanding coverage of Australian politics as a reporter, columnist and author’. The Road to Ruin, the first volume in her trilogy about Australia’s Coalition governments that reigned from 2013 to 2022, was a bestseller, and won the 2016 General Nonfiction Book of the Year Award at the Australian Book Industry Awards. The second volume, Plots and Prayers, which dealt with the government led by Malcolm Turnbull and the ascension of Scott Morrison, was also a bestseller.
