There’s never anything wrong with a bit of housekeeping. How sly, and how demure, was the title of the speech given by former Labor attorney-general Nicola Roxon: “Ten Housekeeping Tips for a Future Labor Government.” As if the formidable lawyer and politician, former associate to High Court judge Mary Gaudron, had slipped on a pinny and started helpfully dusting the corners of the creaking, cracking institution called the Australian Labor Party.
As if. Roxon had both a large and small target in her sights, and she wasn’t holding a feather duster to do them both over. As is now well reported, Roxon forcefully attacked the personality, style and approach of the former prime minister Kevin Rudd and his disorganised, cruel and selfish style of government. She also had her say about how to run a good one.
Nicola Roxon is as canny as they come: she of course knew that the headline from her speech would be “Bastard!” But the framework within which Roxon calculated her demolition of the former prime minister is equally as interesting as the headline insults, and they are really much more challenging. Roxon is the author of the catch-cry that Rudd was not the messiah, and her speech unstitches the relatively recent Labor culture of imbuing the leader with all power, all wisdom, all authority at the expense of a cabinet of equals.
Her tips include Labor governments allowing ministers to act and have real responsibility with consequences if they fail to deliver; she said the party needs to welcome debate, not fear it – “we have to learn that disagreeing on an issue doesn’t mean you don’t or won’t support a leader or a group”. And as well as behaving politely and reasonably, Roxon wants Labor prime ministers to accept they are not always right, and cannot fix everything.
Roxon was delivering the John Button Oration, and as I heard this speech given in the memory of a fine man and politician, I heard the deliberate echoes of a time when a huge personality, Bob Hawke, ran a cabinet of equally huge egos and mentalities and allowed them their say and their portfolios. It was a different time, one that started to change under a controlling Paul Keating and then an even more controlling John Howard.
Roxon didn’t make mention of a similar culture taking root on the conservative side of politics, too, but evidently it has. Politics has been changed in Australia to the point where voters have been required to see an entire party as embodied by one person only – one leader – and where voters have treated these parties, and their potential as a government, as the vision and ambition of one person only.
It’s their triumph if they get it right; it’s entirely their fault alone if they don’t. It’s an absurdity. It’s untrue, and it’s a wasteful disavowal of a parliamentary system that has served this country well for so long.
Australia is not a presidency, despite the now entrenched style of our federal election campaigns. Despite the way an election is pitched now by all – by the media, the parties and the leaders themselves – we do not elect a prime minister, we elect a parliament of individuals who are mostly aligned by party connection and form themselves into a representative government.
Our governments are at their best when there is a vehement contest of ideas, when, as Roxon said, cabinet labours and struggles over policies; when individuals dissent and speak out and sometimes even step down because they so strongly disagree with the policies adopted. The strongly argued dissenting case is one of the great contributions a politician can make to posterity and to future good policy.
Roxon wants to see the return of the true ministerial system: with clear delegation, clear autonomy and authority, and the ability for all to be heard within a robust and respectful governing group. It takes a particularly strong individual to allow all that. Not a messiah, not a god. But a thoughtful, smart, secure, emotionally intelligent adult. Let me know when you next spot one.
Virginia Trioli is co-host of ABC News Breakfast on ABC1 and ABC News 24, 6-9am weekdays. To read more from Virginia Triloli, visit www.theweeklyreview.com.au/mouthing-off. Follow Virginia on Twitter: @latrioli
