Stephen Mills is the author of "The Professionals: Strategy, Money and the Rise of the Political Campaigner in Australia" (Black Inc., 2014), The Hawke Years (1996) and The New Machine Men (1986). He served as speechwriter to Prime Minister R J L Hawke (1986-1991), worked as a journalist and editor with Fairfax newspapers The Age, the Australian Financial Review and the Sydney Morning Herald, and spent ten years as a public affairs adviser in the financial service sector.