This is the inside story of Australia’s two years of hell, when the country was besieged by crisis after crisis, and a rolling series of challenges and setbacks.

Much of what took place behind the scenes will astonish the public.

Plagued reveals how the critical decisions were actually made, decisions that will forever change the nation’s place in the world.

In early 2020, Covid-19 breached Australian shores, triggering twin crises: health and economic. The nation had not endured trials of this scale and impact since the Spanish flu and the Great Depression.

Simon Benson and Geoff Chambers – two of Australia’s top political journalists – were granted exclusive access to the crucial machinations of government at the country’s highest levels, not just within the corridors of power but also behind doors normally sealed. They delve into the depths of power and the cabinet room to reveal how decisions that would change the course of Australian history were actually made, but which did not prevent the federal government’s crushing defeat in the 2022 election.

Plagued chronicles a period of upheaval punctuated by the pandemic, natural disasters and political scandals within a world becoming more precarious with the rise of autocracy.

It is a story of profound political intrigue, one in which Australia, its politicians, public servants and institutions were tested like in no other period in modern memory.