On 3 March 2012, Alex Mitchell reviewed Rob Chalmers’ Inside the Canberra Press Gallery for The Canberra Times’ Panorama section (p30). Mitchell describes Inside the Canberra Press Gallery as “a memoir in which he [Chalmers] recorded the highlights of his gallery career and his perceptive insights into the character of the nation’s political leaders.”
Mitchell’s praise for Chalmers’ writing continues “His observations are acidic, perceptive, laconic and pure Chalmers…a page-turner of historic significance” and concludes ”Independent journalism took a blow when Chalmers stopped patrolling the corridors of power in Canberra.”
June Verrier reviews Inside the Canberra Press Gallery in the Spring 2012 edition of Australasian Parliamentary Review. She encourages “Political junkies and everyone who has worked in Old or New Parliament House” to read the book, which “at worst could be seen as a series of rollicking stories, and at best a collection of fascinating and unique observations from ringside seat on history.” The stories from Inside the Canberra Press Gallery raise important questions about the parliamentary people and process, as well as offering historical insights: “Fascinating, too, are his reflections on the faceless men, the power of caucus, last stand of the hustings and the shift to TV campaigns…a huge amount of history and a whole bevy of issues and episodes which were turning points in one way or another for Australian politics.” Verrier also praises the closing pages of the book: “[Chalmers] goes on in his Epilogue to sum up the problems that have come to beset parliamentary democracy — prime ministers too powerful, party discipline too tight, presidential style political campaigns — and take the toughest of challenges to suggest what could be done about it. Here Chalmers is at his most thoughtful.”