A message for our whitebread, lacklustre leaders

Contrast the image of John Howard — in a bullet-proof vest, staring down a hostile crowd to do what was right, not what was popular — with what passes for political leadership now.

Labor Leader Anthony Albanese and Prime Minister Scott Morrison during Question Time in the House of Representatives. Picture: NCA Newswire/Gary Ramage

There’s an image that has been playing on high rotation in my mind in recent weeks. Many of you will recall it.

It’s 1996, and prime minister John Howard is standing on a stage, addressing thousands of furious gun owners at Sale, in rural Victoria.

Nobody knew until afterwards, but he was wearing a bullet-proof vest underneath his sensible, scholarly, brown suit. Such was the tension surrounding the government’s decision to ban high-powered weapons following the slaughter at Port Arthur.

That image, that time was formative for me. It spoke powerfully of courage in public life. Conviction. Doing what’s right over what’s popular. Staring down the mob. About conversations that shaped our nation and the courage to have them.

Recently, I’ve had this image and others rolling through my mind like an old-school film clip, stuck on a reel to reel. Call it compare and contrast. My thoughts, thrust back in time to a moment in Australia’s history which demanded and delivered exceptional courage and character.

Then-prime minister John Howard, wearing what appears to be bullet proof vest under his suit jacket, fronts up at a hostile pro-gun rally to make the case for gun reform in Sale, Victoria. Picture: Ray Strange

Fast forward to February 2022 and amid the looming threat of ­rising inflation, a critical national skills shortage and a fractured federation, the political class has been talking about bread for nearly a fortnight.

Apparently, this is where we’re at. We’re not yet officially in an election campaign, but it’s already on. I’m probably more politically engaged than most, but even I’m already wondering if I’ve got the stamina to make it through.

The tediousness of it all. The cosmetic agendas, transparent like a Tupperware lunch box in their lack of ambition. I’ve seen less dribbling in a roomful of ­toddlers.

As if talking about bread, debating whether white or brown bread is more elitist and, wait for it, sexist (a conversation seriously entertained this past week on the ABC’s The Drum program) wasn’t bad enough, there’s the one with the text messages. If we’re going to explore that thread, may I politely suggest we must demand the text exchanges of every federal MP from every party in relation to the performance of their leader.

Anthony Albanese says the texts proved the Prime Minister is not fit to be leader. What shallow nonsense. I would admonish Albanese to be careful, oh so careful of the standard you attempt to apply to others in a moment of shallow opportunism.

The 1996 image of Howard standing up for his convictions spoke powerfully of courage in public life. Picture: Strange Ray

As a voter, as an employer, a business owner of two decades standing, and an often-resentful taxpayer, let me break this news to the political class. The things you obsess about? We don’t care. The manoeuvring and gameplaying, the pettiness and the short-sightedness. Those of us in the real world and real economy can’t ­afford such bourgeois luxuries. I don’t care who sent those texts but I will say that whoever leaked them has some serious repenting to do.

When filling up my car last week, paying $2.10 a litre for fuel (not even the top shelf juice, it was middle of the road) I wasn’t standing at the bowser thinking, oh my god I wonder if the moderates will have the numbers against the PM? I thought, shit, $2.10 a litre? That’s not good.

When I’m paying my mortgage, when I’m buying groceries (which doesn’t include bread, it’s not a universal metric), when Premier Mark McGowan blinked and betrayed 2.5 million West Australians, keeping them locked needlessly inside Australia’s most picturesque prison, I was not sitting there thinking, OMG white bread is so sexist … nobody was.

Those of us with the ability to contribute to this discourse must do better.

Does the Prime Minister have a job on his hands? Absolutely. Does the Opposition Leader need to stand for something (anything)? Yes.

Before we fire the gun on the race proper, may I offer some advice to a few of those jostling at the starting line? As a lifelong conservative voter, let me say to my party, find a fresh voice. Work out what you stand for. Find a spine. Write the vision, make it plain so that those of us watching can run with it too. To the gutless leakers and underminers? Stop it. It’s undisciplined and embarrassing.

The ALP used to be the party that stood for everyday Australians. Now, they’re mortgaged to the radical green left, or (depending on the day) sucking up to billionaires. Labor’s now the party of the woke, not the working class.

The “independents”. Climate 200 and friends. Just GetUp! by another name. Australia doesn’t need a bunch of wealthy elitists running single-issue, ideologically driven agendas. And, last, to anyone else who fancies themselves a kingmaker – find the sensible centre and you just might be.

As I reflect again on that image from 1996, I find myself wondering where are the leaders who come with the courage to die for their convictions? Where are the leaders with conviction? Consider this conversation a call to go higher. To do better. A call not just to the party I vote for, but to all who seek to serve this country. There is no greater honour. Be worthy of it. Be worthy of us.