David Solomon’s ‘Footnotes’ reveals the stories behind Australian politics and journalism – including the moments that never made it into print.

Being appointed press-gallery bureau chief and political correspondent for The Canberra Times was daunting for a number of reasons, chief among them the roll call of those who had gone before.

Gay Davidson, the first woman to head a parliamentary bureau, under whom I’d been lucky enough to work as a cadet; Eric Walsh; Jon Gaul; and two quite different Tonys: O’Leary and Wright.

But casting the biggest shadow was David Solomon.

Some years after my stint in the House and by then a practising lawyer, I got to ask High Court Justice Stephen Gageler (now the Chief Justice) at a conference how he thought knowledge of the Court now, with instant publication on its own web site and judgment summaries, compared with the days when media outlets had their own High Court correspondents.

I started to recall some of the names: Verge Blunden, from The Sydney Morning Herald, Bill Goff at AAP …

“David Solomon!” His Honour intervened, with a raised judicial eyebrow that silently said, “Why in heaven is counsel running a good case but not starting with his best........

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