Editorial: Why it’s time to move past the pub test

Politicians knock them back like there is no tomorrow, talk show hosts give them a swig from time to time, business leaders tend to pour over them and – yes – even mums and dads raise their glass to them.

Opposition Leader Peter Dutton (left) and Prime Minister Anthony Albanese

Politicians knock them back like there is no tomorrow, talk show hosts give them a swig from time to time, business leaders tend to pour over them and – yes – even mums and dads raise their glass to them.

Pub tests, not to be confused with pub quizzes or pub crawls, increasingly form part of the conversations in which we judge individuals, organisations, decisions, proposals, actions, behaviours or policies.

As their popularity spills over, concern is brewing that their spirited use is far from the best way to determine whether something is fair, reasonable or appropriate.

When something “passes the pub test”, it is considered to be fair by the standards that the average pub patron would apply when discussing the matter over drinks.

If it fails the pub test, the same bunch of pub-goers would likely deem it to be unreasonable, inappropriate or unsavoury.

While many toast the pub test as a reliable temperature check of how society might view something or someone, critics of this rudimentary assessment tool believe it is losing its froth.

They argue that acceptance or rejection of someone or something by a local pub crowd – real or imaginary – is a lazy and often alcohol-fuelled substitute for a reasoned argument.

Consider, too, that venues vary enormously – from the basic roadhouse serving booze with a meal to rustic country pubs, local taverns and up-market city bars.

Each is likely to have a different client base, meaning that what passes the pub test at one watering hole might fail miserably at another.

We should stop referring to the pub test as a reflection of what Australians really think, believe and value.

So what form of real-life assessment would help us to raise the bar and broaden our horizons?

One such option is the neighbourhood test – imaging how something or someone would be viewed by the people in your street or gauged by a chat at the local shopping centre or over the back fence.

Before making an important decision, business leaders might turn to the customer or future-generations test, talk show hosts to the grandma test and politicians to the commonsense test.

The pub test might have served us well in the past, though we have most likely outgrown this tool – and it is probably time to switch the tap off.

Professor Gary Martin is a social affairs and workplace expert

Originally published as Editorial: Why it’s time to move past the pub test