Normal people would be insane to enter politics

Nicolle Flint faced outright hostility from moderates within her own party in South Australia because she is a conservative. Picture: Keryn Stevens

The announcement by Nicolle Flint last Friday that she will depart federal parliament at the next election is not just an indictment of the foul culture that women face in politics. Her decision is a reminder that politics is no longer a sane career choice for many clever, normal people.

That reality is not just a problem for political parties; it points to a deeper predicament that threatens the good governance of this country.

Consider what 42-year-old Flint faced. Not just vicious intimidation from haters within left-wing groups such as GetUp and Extinction Rebellion but outright hostility from moderates within her own party in South Australia. Why? Because she is a conservative. Her own side of politics, the woke mob within the state Liberals, refers to her conservative faction as “the Taliban”.

Flint stood out because she is single, striking, smart and committed to mainstream Australian values. If she were unattractive, married, less intelligent and a political weather vane she might have been a better fit for sections of politics and the media.

Instead, Flint put up with sexist commentary about her clothes, her appearance, obscene smears of “skank” and “slut” written on windows of her electorate office. She was subjected to the depraved outburst by an old male journalist, the foul-mouthed Mike Carlton, who wrote this when he watched Flint on the ABC’s Q&A sitting next to Jimmy Barnes: “Never have I admired Jimmy Barnes so much as tonight. How does he not leap from his seat and strangle the Liberal shill on his right?”

One of the attacks on Flint’s electorate office during the 2019 federal election campaign.

Then Flint endured the rank silence from the sisterhood who rushed to Julia Gillard’s side when Alan Jones made comments that he never should have made about her. The crooked morality of women pretending to be feminists is far more demoralising that the nasty and narcissistic rants of a forgettable little man such as Carlton.

The simple truth about Flint’s exit from Canberra is that the Liberal Party should never have lost her. It’s not just that Flint is a woman. She is a talented Liberal. And the party is not so flush with talented people that it can afford to lose a young woman who should have had a long and distinguished career in politics.

The most unfortunate part of Flint’s decision to walk away from politics is that it makes eminent sense. There are many reasons sane and talented people turn their backs on a career in politics — not just in the Liberal Party, right across the spectrum.

The ugly factions top the list. Both main parties, and probably any political party with more than three people, are riven with vicious factional battles that are far worse, far more soul destroying to normal folk than party vs party battles. It is no coincidence that the quality of MPs in Canberra and across state parliaments has diminished as the power of the factions has increased.

There are a few exceptions, to be fair, including NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian. But they are exceptions because most factional bosses are more concerned with filling parliamentary seats and administrative positions with uninspiring hacks who toe their line rather than seeking out clever people who would be great for the country. The passion of factional chiefs for power and influence, not policies and ideas, corrodes the quality of candidates because their shenanigans are a turn-off to decent people who might consider politics.

The mediocre quality of the political class also can be traced back to late 1974 and early 1975 when the number of staff an MP employed doubled. Inevitably that meant skilled office workers in an MP’s office were outnumbered by unskilled political operatives, and this new febrile environment created a career path for a so-called professional class of politicians (an oxymoron if ever there were one). It led to an explosion of young ex-political staff members entering politics supported by MPs trying to build their own Lilliputian power bases.

The net result? It is hard to think of a less qualified group of people who are handed as much power as politicians are given over the lives of millions of others. Builders, plumbers, electricians all require years of training. A lawyer, a nurse, an engineer needs years of study. Increasing numbers of politicians come to Canberra with no real-life training in anything at all except the ugly art of getting ahead in politics. That disconnect from real life makes them supremely untrained to decide policies that govern our lives.

It doesn’t help that promotions are increasingly untethered from talent, too. What faction are you in? Are you a woman? Are you a member of a minority? What religion are you? Where in Australia do you come from? Identity politics is rife across politics and it is dumbing down the governing class.

To make matters worse, the system is so skewed against ability that ministers, especially certain protected species, are rarely performance-managed out of their jobs when they underperform, lest it upset the women’s collective, or factions, or some other criteria that got them a ministry. Why would any talented, successful person waste time with a system that entrenches mediocrity over merit?

NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian. Picture: Getty Images

The week that marks the 25th anniversary of the election of the Howard government is a reminder that quality begets quality. Glance at the names of John Howard’s first cabinet: Peter Costello, Peter Reith, Amanda Vanstone, Alexander Downer, John Anderson, John Fahey. Or Bob Hawke’s cabinet: Paul Keating, John Button, Mick Young, Peter Walsh. And the opposite is also true. Today, we are governed by far too many managerial-level politicians who set a new low standard for other politicians.

Over the years, when a young man or woman expressed an interest in politics and asked me for career advice, I used to tell them to go get a career first, a real one to build up some terrific skills. Canberra needs successful, hardworking and smart people.

Now when I am asked the same question, I suggest that they steer clear of Canberra. Or be very aware that they will join an insular group of politicians and factional bosses who will likely be suspicious of a talented person from outside politics who might show up their mediocrity. Hopefully, some of those people will take my earlier advice because someone has to start lifting the standard of politics.