“To your surprise, I’ll be giving a negative view of the Howard government,” jokes Robert Manne to the crowds gathered at the Sydney Writers’ Festival, including Liberal stalwarts such as MP Tony Abbott and John Howard’s biographer, Peter van Onselen.

The crowd laughs uproariously: if there is one thing Manne, Professor of Politics at Melbourne’s La Trobe University, is known for, it is that he never has a good word to say about the Howard cabinet. From censorship to asylum seekers, the Iraq War to the Stolen Generations, Manne has commented upon them all – and few have been complimentary. His detractors call him an “ideology hunter” driven by personal vendettas against those who have wronged him. His supporters call him one of Australia’s foremost intellectuals and applaud him for being one of the few ‘progressive’ academics who was prepared to stand up and make his views heard during the Howard years.

For someone who has spent much of his career mired in controversy, in person Manne is reticent and anxious not to be misunderstood. He insists on reading his responses to the Festival crowds and later, during our interview, is anxious to know if he will be quoted verbatim. He is in town to promote the book, Dear Mr Rudd: Ideas for a Better Australia, a collection of 20 letters by activists, academics and public commentators to the new Prime Minister, compiled and introduced by Manne himself. Conceived last year, when it became obvious that support for the Howard government was waning, the book is essentially a wish list for the new government on issues such as the republic, foreign policy and climate change. Not surprisingly, it had Howard supporters foaming at the mouth before it even hit the shelves.

But what does this really mean for the rest of us? It may be a fresh set of faces on the television each night, but politics is still a game for middle-aged men discussing interest-rate rises and the Reserve Bank. All evidence suggests that the Australian public and young people in particular, are becoming increasingly disengaged from politics. In 2001, the Australian Election Study found that 51 per cent of people aged 18 to 24 had “not much” or “no” interest in politics. Political party membership is dropping at an alarming rate, with less than three per cent of people actively involved in political parties in 2005. In the same year, the Australian Electoral Commission estimated that 19 per cent of 18 to 25-year-olds – about 400,000 young people - were not registered to vote. It was one of the lowest enrolment figures of any age group. So what is different this time around?

“It is a pity that a large number of active people of all ages, but particularly younger people, don’t feel that they have a role in shaping the future,” Manne tells me as we sit in the busy foyer of his hotel.

“For those people that care about indigenous politics, or care about the environment or conditions of employment or third-world poverty, there is only one way in which you can make an impact and that is to be involved in the political process,” he says.

While it was easy to perceive politics as being dominated by the concerns of the baby boomers and Generation X, he says thinking that politics has nothing to do with you, or not being interested at all in politics is “wrong”.

“[People] have the vote and it’s a responsibility,” he says.

More specifically, younger people brought a different set of priorities to politics than the older generations, and a unique way of looking at the world. Not only were they more media and technology-savvy, they were also more concerned with long-term environmental and climate-change questions that would impact upon their future.

“If things go wrong, that generation will bear the brunt of it,” he says.

“So [young people] can make a difference, and ought to make a difference, ought to make their voice known, because it is their world that is up for grabs.”

So young people should be more involved, but will the new government really make a difference? It seems it might already have. According to the opinion polls, people under the age of 30 were the greatest supporters of Kevin Rudd during last year’s election, and Manne believes it was this support that was probably the deciding factor in Rudd’s subsequent victory.

“My guess is that there is a different feel about the [Rudd government], particularly for young people,” he says.

He feels that younger people see the Rudd government as more likely to take a “fresh” approach to politics and to respond to real-life events rather than simply toeing an ideological line. By comparison he says, the Howard government seemed “stale and dug-in on certain questions”, unwilling to shift their stance despite public pressure to the contrary. The result was that many people felt they had no role to play in the political process.

“I think now there is much more openness to discussion and to the involvement of citizens in political participation than there used to be, even if they don’t hold the same views as the government,” he says.

“[Rudd] has hit a popular chord, and while that doesn’t mean that people feel he is going to listen to them, it does mean they don’t feel that he is closed off to them. I think that is important.”

But will this translate to a new breed of active and politically-engaged citizens? Manne isn’t sure.

“It’s clear that people who have a real interest in politics are likely to become more engaged and to think that their ideas might have some effect,” he says.

“I’m not sure about the mass of the citizenry. There is still a sense that no-one can make a difference and that is not likely to go away overnight.”

In Manne’s opinion, the future of political participation now lies with the internet, and with virtual social movements such as the online group Get Up! in particular.

“I do think it’s more likely that lively debate will happen through the internet, through websites and blogging,” he says. “The more that happens, the more likely we are to have an active citizenry.”

“It’s wrong to think you either have a heck of a lot of influence or none at all,” he says. “You’ve got to be active but also realistic about what any one particular age cohort or any particular website or party or movement can do. It’s a democracy and that means you’ve got to win out in a very long debate.”

Mr Manne's new book 'Dear Mr Rudd: Ideas for a Better Australia' is published by Black Inc. Agenda and is now available at bookstores nationally.