Making Australia Slightly Better Than Average Again(TM) is Mark Swivel's soundbite manifesto as he embarks on a bid for the senate in 2019. Swivel argues our political class detached from the rest of us a long time ago and has no real purpose beyond preserving itself. He advocates a new populism that's about making communities worth living in and building a future where government serves us and not the market - where the test is always 'so, tell me how does this bring people together?' An Australia that is Slightly Better Than Average... like the one he grew up in when there was free university education, a sane housing policy, and we all seemed to be part of a national adventure. "Disruption is everywhere except politics. Let's change that." This is Mark Swivel's message to all Australians in this immensely readable, very funny, yet insightful book. Read it and be inspired. What The Barefoot Investor did for personal finance, Swivel does for politics. - Colleen Ryan, Author and former editor of the Australian Financial Review With humour and insight, Mark Swivel skewers our political life: the dominance of corporatism and consumerism and the abandonment of the public sphere. Our politicians are so enthralled by vested interests, so absorbed in their own ambition they are unable to govern in Australia's long-term interest. Swivel rightly argues we all have a part to play in rebuilding and sustaining our Common Wealth. - Anne Cooombs, Activist, author and former chair of Get Up