Monday, July 21

It's a grey day in Northern Tasmania and the weather matches our mood.  Sadly, today is the day of the funeral of our sister-in-law, Janet.  It was too difficult for us to travel to Bulli for but we were pleased that we could watch the televised service on-line.  We hope we'll see Sandy before too long so we can reminisce about some of the memories we share.

I wrote Ticking Politicians during a previous election campaign and it's still as relevant today as it was then.

TICKING POLITICIANS                                                                    MAY 7, 2020

What makes a politician tick is a question I often ask myself.  What drives a man or a woman to set aside the chance of a normal life and choose to swim among the dreadful dangers that lurk in the vile swamps of our national capital?

What stimulus is strong enough to overcome the innate sense of survival which has evolved over millennia to help us avoid the dangerous pathways where our lives may change for the worse?  Where is the instinct to look for a comfortable and stress-free life?

Is it love for their fellow-humans which provokes the reaction to take the plunge – a desire to be involved in ensuring that the government fulfils its duty to look after the well-being of all its citizens?

Or is it a broader love – for the world, its natural beauty, and all the enormous variety within it?

Perhaps it’s a sense of duty: the understanding that it’s a thankless task but someone has to do it – that sacrifices must be made for the common good and, if I won’t do it, who will?

Then again, it might be a personal belief that one is equipped for greater things and what better way to display extraordinary talent than by basking in the limelight of public life?

For some, it may be a belief that they have been called by God to carry out his work on Earth.

It may be that there are some who believe, naively, that they can make a difference, that their influence will encourage the government to be more generous, more inclusive, more responsive to the needs of the electorate.

Perhaps, for some, it is their ego providing the spur, that insatiable insistence that nobody can do it better.  I wonder whether a thick skin is an essential adjunct to the hyper-functioning ego.  Does the presence of an ego help you to withstand the slings and arrows which beset a politician’s life?

Is it a lust for power – the yearning to feel the buzz of knowing that a simple word from you will change the course of the life of an asylum-seeker, or a fruit-picker from Tonga, or a French au pair?

Is it more mundane than any of the above?  Is it simply personal greed which is the primary motivator?  Is it the lure of access to all the trappings of a privileged life – the chauffeur-driven cars, the luxury jets, the taxpayer-funded junkets, the well-padded expense accounts?

Is it the desire to be ‘set for life’ – the knowledge that a few years in parliament, with all the on-going benefits, will eventually ensure a comfortable retirement income in later years?

Is it the need, perhaps, to please a more powerful sponsor – industry, developer or union?  Is there an expectation of preferment, after a career as an undercover agent, of well-compensated employment when parliamentary life is over?  Are our budding politicians no more than plants in our parliament to promote the interests of powerful benefactors?

Perhaps it’s none of the above or only some of them but, it is just as likely that every one of these is represented in our parliament.  What seems to be patently obvious is that we are not attracting enough of the right people.  Where are the committed men and women with the intellect, breadth of vision and compassion to be the leaders of our community?

Instead, we are at the mercy of too many mediocre, time-serving foot soldiers of corrupt political parties who work under the constant threat that, if they don’t toe the party line, they will lose their seats at the next election. And so their first loyalty is to the political party which holds their future in its hands.  Is it too much to expect that our employees should give their first loyalty to the people who pay their wages?

I know that, nowadays, Politics is regarded more as a career than a civic duty.  Once upon a time, a man (and they were almost all men in parliament) might take some time off from his law practice or running the family farm to spend some time in Canberra.  Now they go straight from school to university, and to a job as a political staffer, until they can snaffle a pre-selection spot.  Nepotism is rife and the only criterion for selection is whether they can win the seat. No points are given for intelligence, or common sense, or honesty, or respect, or that old-fashioned word: honour.  So, it’s no wonder that our parliament is riddled with con-men, shysters, chancers and grifters.

God help Australia!