Brandis makes a Brexit, but ex-attorney-general has final advice for his Canberra clients

George Brandis has some departing words of wisdom for Canberra. The former attorney-general on Sky News, yesterday:

The mistake most people make is that they stay too long. They get addicted to politics. They get addicted to the atmosphere of Parliament House and they can’t bear to leave … I wasn’t going to make that mistake.

Not that Brandis is speaking about anyone in particular. The Australian, April 21, 2015:

Wayne Swan says he’ll remain in parliament as a Labor mentor.

Nobody in particular at all. The Australian, December 14:

Malcolm Turnbull’s regret over citing the loss of 30 Newspolls for toppling Tony Abbott has made an impression on the former prime minister, who says he will respond to the concession in time … Mr Abbott said he would reply to the comment “down the track” but did not want to cause a distraction ahead of the critical Bennelong by-election …

But Brandis’s lesson is an important one. The next high commissioner to the UK on Sky News, continued:

I’ve been the attorney-general; I was the minister for the arts, twice; I’ve been the leader of the government in the Senate … Most people leave this place disappointed. I leave this place feeling very well satisfied with the contribution I’ve been able to make.

Sometimes you have to get out. The Moody Blues, November 13, 1964:

Since you gotta go, oh you’d better / Go now, go now, go now (go now, ooh)

It’s a lesson a certain prime minister of yore failed to heed. Janet Albrechtsen in The Australian, September 8, 2007:

John Howard has been the finest prime minister Australia has had … But now he must go … The Howard factor is there. Where once it meant success, now it presages defeat. A defeat that perhaps can only be avoided if Howard steps aside.

Look how that turned out for us all. Dennis Shanahan in The Weekend Australian, November 25:

The 2007 election marks the beginning of leadership changes, a failure of economic reform, a fragmentation of the mainstream political parties …

The German Chancellor is someone else who should really get out. Roger Boyes writing in London’s The Times, November 22:

Germans have become too comfortable with the rule of Angela Merkel … For the past 12 years the Chancellor has ducked big choices about Germany’s role in the world, about the need for change, and now the country is paying the price.

As should South Africa’s President. The Times, yesterday:

Cyril Ramaphosa, the new president of South Africa’s ruling African National Congress, has embarked on a battle for the soul of the once-vaunted liberation party as he seeks the early exit of Jacob Zuma as the country’s leader.

We in Australia have a bigger problem throwing people out before their time. Shanahan in The Weekend Australian, continued:

… two first-term elected leaders, (Kevin) Rudd and Tony Abbott, being toppled by their own party; another, Julia Gillard, being removed by her parliamentary colleagues after her election; and yet another, Malcolm Turnbull, facing inevitable removal …

But Brandis’s words will linger in Malcolm Turnbull’s ears. One day, all leaders, all politicians, need to get out. The former attorney-general on Sky News, yesterday:

You need to go out on a high …