Politics in government is not that far divorced from politics in business, community and life.
So as you read this article consider that within a month of its posting, the Prime Minister of Australia, Tony Abbott, will come under challenge. There is every likelihood that Mr Abbott, like many in politics and corporate life is divorced from a reality beyond their perception. They are not used to being challenged. They struggle with the concept that, having climbed up through the internal structure of the organisation they are in to take the pivotal role, they will fail. Human nature. Today it's about individualism, it's about ME.
The Australian Government under Tony Abott and his chosen Ministers focus on denigrating the Opposition.
Australia's power elite, political and corporate, are massaged by sycophants who tell them it's all going well, how great they are. The error of many is to employ clones, friends and old buddies from their past workplaces, who add to their insularity.
Tony Abbott's advisers will prove to be insular along with his coterie of chosen Ministers.
If Australians gave as much attention to politics as they do to sport there would be a completely different quality of candidates and a completely different outcome in our Parliaments. But the bulk do not so we have a duopoly manipulating our democracy costing billions.
This week Australia's Immigration Minister Dutton showed us the calibre of his representation and Ministry making asides to PM Abbott about water lapping at the doors of people in the South Pacific.
Peter Dutton was an under performing Minister in the Health portfolio and is shunted to another one. Why? Well KPIs have nothing to do with being a Minister. He is member of the Praetorian Guard protecting the incumbency of the Australian Prime Minister.
Australians, the community, business and media hold the current Australian Cabinet members in contempt evidenced by polls, Sky television Friday show, the abuse of Federal Minister Barnaby Joyce by a semi literate radio shock jock.
Politicians bear derision, and recrimination, because the money is good and they ultimately have the last laugh because they manipulate everything from local government to the state, territory and federal parliaments. They also have worked their way up the slimy pole of the party to get there. Many (for example in the Labor Party) could not get a job outside of the sinecure they have and if they did (eg some former lawyers) would suffer embarrassing exposure. but if your pension is in the millions who cares about history, expose and derision?
"In private and public conversations, on talkback radio and other media, and in all the polls the same sense emerges of deepening alienation from party politics.
In itself this is no bad thing. To recognise the problem is a necessary first step towards resolving it, if not immediately, then over time. But any proposed cure will flounder if it does not rest on careful diagnosis of the ailment.
The symptoms of our democratic deficit provide a useful starting point.
The juvenile shadow boxing that passes for debate in federal and state parliaments is one such symptom.
“Puerile politicians, corruption and slick campaigning are just the symptoms of our electoral malaise.”
Political corruption is another. In NSW, the Independent Commission Against Corruption has revealed what many have long suspected - that the parliament had been infected by widespread corruption, and that the infection had engulfed both major parties. Parliaments in other states have not been immune to the disease. Not surprisingly, a recent Transparency International survey found that 58 per cent of Australians believed political parties to be corrupt or extremely corrupt.
The money-politics nexus has other, less sensational but no less troublesome dimensions. Foremost among these is the growing dependence of political parties on private gifts and donations for electioneering purposes. And with this comes increasing reliance on paid advertising in which the political message centres more on advertising technique than policy content.
What these various symptoms indicate is a more general but disturbing trend: the inability of our leading politicians to articulate a thoughtful let alone imaginative approach to policy." (Extract: The poor health of Australia's democracy, Author:Joseph Camilleri, Latrobe University)
"Bad policies and embarrassing behaviour have become so routine that they are able to hide in plain sight. The default rightwing settings of the political class see to it that dissent is massaged to the margins, writes Tim Dunlop.
The general dissatisfaction with Prime Minister Tony Abbott is palpable and this is reflected in the various opinion polls. It is even felt within his own party and, as we know, he only just survived a number of recent attempts to remove him from the job.
Dissatisfaction with the PM extends to the Government he leads, and again, this is reflected in opinion polling.
To even mention various ministers - Hockey, Pyne, Andrews, Dutton - has become a shorthand way of talking about incompetence, from issues to do with the budget, through to Pyne's bizarre designation of himself as "the fixer", to Dutton's mishandling of the Medicare co-payment.
Things got so bad at one stage that an establishment journalist such as Laura Tingle felt compelled to write a piece in which she said that "we actually are being governed by idiots and fools" and she marshalled evidence to support the case.
The disturbing thing about her piece, though, was how little impact it had.
Indeed, the idea that the current Government is perhaps the worst in living memory and that the PM in particular is a national embarrassment has become so taken for granted that it has all become a bit passé."(Extract: Tony Abbott and the normalisation of bad politics, By Tim Dunlop, 24 Apr 2015, 8:36am)
"Last weekend’s Labor conference highlighted some of the challenges surrounding the national conversation on business and the economy. Party leader Bill Shorten said he remained committed to improving trade relations with China and the rest of Asia. But the 'but' loomed larger in his listeners’ minds than the affirmation.
He now wants the government to work with “the Labor team to get the best deal” for the China free trade agreement that’s already been signed.
His critique of the FTA comes from unions, led by the tainted CFMEU. Its claims about the deal opening Australia to unqualified Chinese workers paid a pittance have been challenged by Trade and Investment Minister Andrew Robb. And we’re still awaiting a response from the critics of this aspect of the deal that convincingly cites the 1000-page text." (Extract: Labor's FTA debate is poor politics, Rowan Callick - The Australian, 30 Jul, 8:19 AM |
The author argues Australia's potential is being stymied by the current lack of poor political leadership on both sides of politics, which is leading to policy inertia.
He cites the current debate about tax reform as evidence that quality of political leadership is not up to scratch in steering Australia toward better policy outcomes.
He states Australia needs to reform its GST and make the tax system simpler and more user-friendly for all taxpayers.
And while the current political leadership seems able to steer these and other policy ideas into political reality, the tax reform conversation is still worth having to raise public debate and awareness.
'[W]e willingly pay tax because most of us know that generally government is good,' the author states.
'But even without increasing the tax take, the way it is collected has to change. We just need first-rate leaders to do it.' (Extract: Poor Leadership Blamed for Tax Reform Impasse, Democracy Renewal)
There is a plethora of examples that show the low level of candidate and performance.
Yet the Australian Liberal party has star performers who could assume office to retake the parties high ground. Foreign Minister Julie Bishop, Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull and Trade Minister Andrew Robb, There are star women on the back bench yet the nation is lumbered with semi talented white male stale career politicians who do not get the message because they do not have to. They run the game and WE LET THEM.
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In Australia's media September 12, 2015, are a myriad of stories about another attempt to remove the Prime Minister Tony Abbott, about failed and underperforming Ministers.