Thanks for this, Tim. The arrogance of so many "this will never work!"
It's well past time we considered alternatives. The narrative of MP's "burnt out" (with broken-down marriages/ excessive drinking/ missing kid's milestones) surely opens the way for a new paradigm. I also believe it could be a way to include retirees/those with disability/ students/ single mums and dads/ carers/ etc. etc.
Making our democracy more representative.
There are many options for renewed citizen democracy - especially as our workplaces are transformed by WFH as you point out.
This is a great piece, Tim, and reminds me of one from Katharine Murphy who had similar obversations as yours (https://meanjin.com.au/essays/political-life/). Funnily enough, she's now employed on Albo's staff - I wonder how she's going? Whenever I'm amongst chit-chat about politicians' income I keep tight-lipped because I'm one of those weirdos who thinks they earn too little. You couldn't pay me enough to take on the life of a federal MP, let alone a cabinet member.
I don't think we should ever excuse how politicians treat their staffers, but I think it's pretty clear that this working culture is totally pervasive in our politics, from top-to-bottom. Most importantly, it keeps away normal, well-adjusted citizens who could only handle the insane demands of political life with a job-sharing scheme! It was totally shameless of Albo to cut down on staff allowances, as if giving those popular indepdents a harder time is going to somehow win votes. Utterly petulant nonesense.
I felt a bit lost in terms of how this problem can be delivered to an unsympathetic electorate, but your writing on the independents has convinced me that we already are, at least indrectly. I hope that, as their vote-share grows, we start to see a healthier political culture that entices the best of us.
My reaction when I saw the announcement was to wonder if it was constitutionally viable; if it is then I think it's a brilliant experiment to conduct. Who cares if it fails? At least we tried, and we'll learn things in the failing.
I'm not sure why there is an assumption that grassroots political reform has to be neat and orderly; the first few decades of the federation were messy as we established the conventions that parliament now lives or dies by.
The way institutions and their enablers are organising and circling the wagons to preserve their power and influence and maintain those conventions just means that the grassroots reform of our politics will get messy and maybe a bit chaotic as we work out what sort of country we want to be and how we want to be governed. That's not a bad thing, it means we can test and experiment and keep the things that work and discard the things that don't.
Yes, there’s got to be a better way. I love the idea of letting a thousand flowers bloom and picking the ones that work. We can’t be afraid of failing in the first instance and job-sharing is well worth a try. It would quickly diversify our parliament, I’m sure. Thanks for always thinking Tim!
Have been through a similar arc on this issue Tim - from "you have got be kidding!" in the morning to, also having heard the interview you refer to above, landing at "well, it's not fabulously functional now - perhaps it is time to go new pathways".
And I love that you close with Rory Stewart's reflections on UK parliament - I finished the day with the "can't look away for a second car crash documentary series" that is the Boris Johnson story on ABC. Such a bracing combination of political bed covers pulling with multiple human failings - and even the odd shred of sympathy. No matter how bad our system has become, we have nothing on the land that beget us. Woah!!
Terrific read TD. All I can say is let the reformation begin and it can't come soon enough eg. re: the housing affordability crisis. Under the current duopoly just what will happen when there is no solution found for a generation unable to afford a house? What comes after reform? Another 'R' word?
The better thing to do would be to expand the Senate and the House. Australia has a very high numbers of electors to districts (sometimes 110k to an electorate while Canada and the UK have around 72k). Australia would do better to have a broader backbench and cross-benchers that could exercise more control than the concentrated power of the Cabinet. More committee assignments for the MPs and Senators so that this question of burnout can be addressed.
Also would throw in multi member districts for proportional representation rather than this poor single member district system of winners take all. Imagine one person being able to effectively represent their community when over 40% did not vote for you!
Thanks for this, Tim. The arrogance of so many "this will never work!"
It's well past time we considered alternatives. The narrative of MP's "burnt out" (with broken-down marriages/ excessive drinking/ missing kid's milestones) surely opens the way for a new paradigm. I also believe it could be a way to include retirees/those with disability/ students/ single mums and dads/ carers/ etc. etc.
Making our democracy more representative.
There are many options for renewed citizen democracy - especially as our workplaces are transformed by WFH as you point out.
Thank you for taking this seriously.
Wendy Harmer
This is a great piece, Tim, and reminds me of one from Katharine Murphy who had similar obversations as yours (https://meanjin.com.au/essays/political-life/). Funnily enough, she's now employed on Albo's staff - I wonder how she's going? Whenever I'm amongst chit-chat about politicians' income I keep tight-lipped because I'm one of those weirdos who thinks they earn too little. You couldn't pay me enough to take on the life of a federal MP, let alone a cabinet member.
I don't think we should ever excuse how politicians treat their staffers, but I think it's pretty clear that this working culture is totally pervasive in our politics, from top-to-bottom. Most importantly, it keeps away normal, well-adjusted citizens who could only handle the insane demands of political life with a job-sharing scheme! It was totally shameless of Albo to cut down on staff allowances, as if giving those popular indepdents a harder time is going to somehow win votes. Utterly petulant nonesense.
I felt a bit lost in terms of how this problem can be delivered to an unsympathetic electorate, but your writing on the independents has convinced me that we already are, at least indrectly. I hope that, as their vote-share grows, we start to see a healthier political culture that entices the best of us.
My reaction when I saw the announcement was to wonder if it was constitutionally viable; if it is then I think it's a brilliant experiment to conduct. Who cares if it fails? At least we tried, and we'll learn things in the failing.
I'm not sure why there is an assumption that grassroots political reform has to be neat and orderly; the first few decades of the federation were messy as we established the conventions that parliament now lives or dies by.
The way institutions and their enablers are organising and circling the wagons to preserve their power and influence and maintain those conventions just means that the grassroots reform of our politics will get messy and maybe a bit chaotic as we work out what sort of country we want to be and how we want to be governed. That's not a bad thing, it means we can test and experiment and keep the things that work and discard the things that don't.
Yes, there’s got to be a better way. I love the idea of letting a thousand flowers bloom and picking the ones that work. We can’t be afraid of failing in the first instance and job-sharing is well worth a try. It would quickly diversify our parliament, I’m sure. Thanks for always thinking Tim!
Have been through a similar arc on this issue Tim - from "you have got be kidding!" in the morning to, also having heard the interview you refer to above, landing at "well, it's not fabulously functional now - perhaps it is time to go new pathways".
And I love that you close with Rory Stewart's reflections on UK parliament - I finished the day with the "can't look away for a second car crash documentary series" that is the Boris Johnson story on ABC. Such a bracing combination of political bed covers pulling with multiple human failings - and even the odd shred of sympathy. No matter how bad our system has become, we have nothing on the land that beget us. Woah!!
Terrific read TD. All I can say is let the reformation begin and it can't come soon enough eg. re: the housing affordability crisis. Under the current duopoly just what will happen when there is no solution found for a generation unable to afford a house? What comes after reform? Another 'R' word?
The better thing to do would be to expand the Senate and the House. Australia has a very high numbers of electors to districts (sometimes 110k to an electorate while Canada and the UK have around 72k). Australia would do better to have a broader backbench and cross-benchers that could exercise more control than the concentrated power of the Cabinet. More committee assignments for the MPs and Senators so that this question of burnout can be addressed.
Also would throw in multi member districts for proportional representation rather than this poor single member district system of winners take all. Imagine one person being able to effectively represent their community when over 40% did not vote for you!
As it turns out the idea is a marketing exercise to sell tshirts and tote bags in the very fashionable High Street Armidale.