The Killing Season Uncut (34 page)

Julia Gillard remained guarded to the end. We walked through the basement corridors of the ABC after her final interview, down in a large props elevator to the back entrance where her Comcar was waiting, engine on. She told me as she had at our first meeting that I must examine the role of the media in supporting Rudd's return. We said goodbye as formally as we began.

At the end of his interview, Rudd posed for a photo with the crew on the lot at Gore Hill, then left too in his Comcar. The crew and producers and I sat outside, drinking beer, talking quietly under the sodium lights. I hadn't asked everything I wanted to, but I think I'd asked enough.

From
The Killing Season
family, thank you to Louie Eroglu, Greg Nelson, Lile Judickas, Simon Brynjolffssen and Deb McNamara, and to the following who assisted with the book: researcher Anne Worthington; peerless producer Justin Stevens, who brought so much game; executive producer Sue Spencer, who made the series happen and read the chapters of this book too.

Thanks to Deb Masters, original and gifted. Our intuitive collaboration brings the richest pleasure.

A special thanks to Dougal Robinson, who provided valuable additional research on the series and was an inspiring reader of the manuscript.

Thank you to everyone who was interviewed for the series, but particularly the staffers and public servants who didn't have to say yes.

Thank you to Melbourne University Press: Paul Smitz for his patient editing; Cathy Smith; Sally Heath, for her guidance of the book, its ideas and direction.

Thanks to Louise Adler, the source of all the best ideas.

And from Sarah to Tony, thank you for everything.