According to an ABC report Political Analyst Dr Troy Whitford believes Australians are disillusioned by the political leadership being displayed by the two major Australian political entities, Labor and the Liberal-National Party Coalition:
"...there's a great deal of negativity and cynicism in the air towards leadership in Australia at the moment,"
He goes on;
"There's a growing sense of disillusionment in our political system that's catching on. In some respects, it can be quite a long-term and dangerous problem,".
Dr Whitford then makes a similar observation about political leadership generally that I made when I looked, more particularly, at why Julia Gillard was not striking notes of resonance with the Australian people.
In a recent blog post I stated that Ms Gillard did not meet the historical ideal of the rough and tumble Aussie, the type you believed in and trusted enough to allow them to make the hard decisions on your behalf. The one you would willingly follow “over the top” of the trenches if necessary.
She, I said, is not a Menzies, a Hawke, a Whitlam. She is not a Jack Lang or Billy Hughes, not even a Jo Bjelke Peterson.
Big, bold characters. Full of belief, not only in themselves and where they believed they could take the country, but the country itself. People who radiated confidence and purpose.
Dr Whitford I believe is making a similar point though he chooses a few different exemplars, the more father like leaders from our history:
"In comparison to previous times, most of our leaders - Menzies, Chifley, McEwen - were held in greater regard because they were either seen as being more statesman-like or more pragmatic with policy."
So I agree with Dr Whitford's analysis as it concerns leadership types that Australians are looking for, and, I think I know where he is coming from generally. But, can what Australians are feeling at the moment be called disillusionment? Cynicism? I do not believe it is anywhere near that easy to pigeon hole.
I would use a much harder term I would say what they are feeling is “fear”. Fear of the unknown, fear of what tomorrow will bring.
Australian's today are generally better educated then previous generations. We have, with information technology growing so quickly, more exposure to issues that perhaps our parents and certainly our grandparents would not have been exposed to.
I have chosen my words very carefully here; the Australian people are “exposed" to issues but they do not necessarily “understand” them, nor, know how we, as a nation, should handle them.
I will use myself as an example. I am university educated, of mature age, consider myself well read and, for want of a better word, worldly. But I have a lot of problems with fully understanding the totality of the issues we face as a country today.
Think about it. Asylum seekers, live cattle exports, Afghanistan, carbon emissions issues, foreign policy, how to deal with a rising China, global economic crisis, immigration. All that before the average Australian starts to worry about day to day stuff, Interest rates, rising utility prices, child care costs et al;
To carry forward the military analogy we are like soldiers on a battlefield, seemingly outflanked, bullets whizzing around our heads and just, emphasis on just, weathering a withering barrage of artillery.
What do we do? Where do we go? We haven’t the time to think.
Where is the general? Tell us what to do! Save us!
Alas, we look around and there is no general. No one that we can put our faith in without having personally to be experts on military strategy.
We just want someone to say “follow me lads it will be OK!”
We have not got that in Australia at the moment. It is not Julia Gillard, it is not Tony Abbott.
We are not sitting back and basking in the self ameliorating righteousness of “Disillusionment”. We have not drifted off into “cynicim’, as the Doctor argues, we are as a nation deeply troubled and extremely worried.
Whilst not many, I feel, would admit to it, we do not understand and the vacuum of leadership, the lack of a group or an individual to be able to enlighten us does not exist.
Therefore, we as a people, feel deep uncertainty, we are scared and we do not have anyone who radiates strength and purpose to alleviate us so we do not need to fully understand.
Someone that we trust in enough to follow “over the top” and believe that at the end of the day “She’ll be right mate!”
No Doctor we are not disillusioned. We are not Cynical. We are scared.
Australia's Political Leadership clouded by negativity.
