I have come to enjoy listening to politicians’ valedictory speeches as they drift off into retirement, as it is one of the rare occasions when they speak honestly, no longer tied to the party’s ‘groupthink’.
We got a classic example of this honesty in last year’s parting address from Joe Hockey, where after spending a year feverishly defending negative gearing (see here, here, here, here, here, here, here and here, to name just a few), he departed from the Coalition line and admitted that negative gearing should be restricted to newly constructed dwellings so that it boosts supply:
“…negative gearing should be skewed towards new housing so that there is an incentive to add to the housing stock rather than an incentive to speculate on existing property…”
We got some more honesty yesterday in the parting address from the country’s longest-serving resources minister, Ian Macfarlane, who savaged the “win at all costs” political culture that has engulfed modern politics, claiming that it was “destroying public confidence” in democracy and has left politicians looking like “clowns” at a “circus”. From The Australian:
[Macfarlane] expressed heartfelt concern about “where politics in Australia is heading, particularly in the last five years” since the dawn of the Abbott-Gillard era.
“Bipartisanship is not the norm in 2015. The fierceness of personal politics and the lack of respect for other people’s views, combined with the win-at-all-costs, winner-takes-all politics attitude may provide a spectacle for the media, but it is destroying public confidence in this institution,” he told parliament.
“Is it any wonder when politicians regularly denigrate their political opponents, and the media are only too happy to join in, that we now find ourselves being referred to in the general populace as clowns and this place as a circus?..
He noted that politics originated in ancient Greece with the theory of “influencing other people”.
“I doubt the ancient Greeks aspired to do that by obliterating the reputation of their opponents in order to convince others of the value of their own arguments,” he told parliament.
Mr Macfarlane said bipartisanship was “not easy” and “often attracts criticism from your own side”.
“But it did bring good policy outcomes regardless of which side was in government at the time…”
I wholeheartedly agree with Macfarlane’s critique and feel his pain. Regardless of what side of the political fence you sit, it’s hard to view modern politics in a positive light.
Rather than engage in bipartisanship on important topics where there is broad agreement that reform is needed, politicians too often engage in fear campaigns denigrating any proposal for reform that comes from the other side.
I have been particularly disappointed by Malcolm Turnbull’s performance since becoming Prime Minister. Like most people, I was thrilled when Turnbull took over the Prime Ministership from Tony Abbott, believing that we had a leader that would place good policy over short-term political opportunism. He even promised us such an approach:
“Ultimately, the prime minister has not been capable of providing the economic leadership our nation needs… We need a different style of leadership. We need a style of leadership that… respects the people’s intelligence, that explains these complex issues and then sets out a course of action that we believe we should take… We need to respect the intelligence of the Australian people. We need to restore traditional cabinet government [and] put an end to policy on the run and captain’s calls”.
– Malcolm Turnbull, launching his leadership challenge, 14 September 2015.
Yet what we have seen ever since is a Prime Minister completely devoid of policy and intent on running a disgusting scare campaign against Labor’s negative gearing and CGT policy (despite previously admitting they are unproductive tax shelters), and serving Australia’s youth a housing shit sandwich at the same time as he slashes education funding.
No wonder Ian Macfarlane is leaving politics with a bitter taste in his mouth. Politics has become a farce.
