MPs ask AFL players for career advice and start training with Leon Bignell leading the way

You wouldn’t think AFL players and MPs had much in common, but Speaker Leon Bignell says both deal with volatile careers that could be ended at any time.

Parliamentary Speaker Leon Bignell has consulted with the AFL Players’ Association and will also institute national-first professional development training for MPs as part of a scheme to help politicians prepare for life after they lose their seat.

Mr Bignell said many MPs struggled to re-adjust to regular life, often battled with mental health issues and found it difficult to gain post-parliamentary employment. He said there were similarities between AFL players and MPs in that they “quite often have high-profile careers that can get cut short’’ whether through being delisted or losing an election.

All 69 South Australian state politicians have been invited to a professional development day next month. Picture: Brett Hartwig

“You put your heart and mind and soul into everything and it becomes all consuming in your life,’’ he said. “And all of a sudden, your colleagues stop ringing, people down the street walk on the other side of the road because they don’t know what to say.’’

As a result, all 69 South Australian state politicians have been invited to a professional development day next month, and another in August, which the Labor-turned Independent MP, Mr Bignell said 30 MPs had already said they would attend. He predicted the training days would become a regular occurrence and said there would be better training for newly elected MPs starting after the 2026 election.

The courses will be run at no cost to taxpayers by the McKell Institute for Political Leadership. The day will include four sessions that cover subjects such as policy making, collaboration and negotiation, personal resilience and “advice for identifying and enhancing skills and capability for current and future career impact and success’’.

“It’s something that the private sector and the public sector have been doing for years, it’s kind of a little odd that we haven’t done it earlier than this,’’ he said.

Mr Bignell said the idea had been sparked by a study by Deakin University into the Victorian parliament, which investigated how MPs coped with life after politics.

The report’s author Dr Amy Nethery found that “MPs who leave parliament unexpectedly can feel a deep grief response, in the sense that they have irretrievably lost their identity, sense of purpose, and status’’.

Mr Bignell said other reforms could include allowing former MPs the chance to have a final speech to outline what they believe to be their achievements while in office. He said he would be writing to all former MPs to ask if they would like to contribute a speech that would be held in a “virtual’’ book in the parliamentary library and available online.

Mr Bignell said he believed most voters would support MPs undertaking professional development.

“I think what we should all be able to do is, make democracy better, make our parliament better, and hopefully this will be one step in that direction,’’ he said.

Originally published as MPs ask AFL players for career advice and start training with Leon Bignell leading the way