We are facing two elections here in NSW, one for the state government, and then federal almost immediately following.
What a mess we are in, disengagement, distrust, cynicism on the part of the electorate, and flatulent promises and claims by the body politic.
The problem is trust.
There is none.
When I apply what I have learnt in 45 years of commercial life to this problem of trust in politics, I come up with a few simple observations.
Lack of strategic clarity.
There is no consistency between the claims and stated objectives of each of the parties and the experience of those who will be voting. The same party cannot even get their messages consistent between the state and federal levels of the parties, so why on earth do they think we, the electorate will believe their conflicting, fatuous and hyperbolic messages.
No accountability.
As a director of several companies, there are rules that apply that demand truth be told to shareholders. Clearly these rules do not apply to politicians as they talk to their stakeholders, we, the electorate. I would be dragged into court if I told the sort of porkies, used facts selectively and out of context, and generally failed to answer any question in a substantive manner, the way politicians do as routine. They take credit for good things over which they had no influence, and blame the others for any outcome that can be painted as poor. They are simply unaccountable for their promises, there is no sanctions on them beyond the cliché about the ballot box being the ultimate sanction.
We feel scammed every day as a result.
Governance, where is it?
The governance of government, and political processes generally, leaves a lot to be desired. It is appropriate that there are rules about the manner in which public money is spent. However, when the rules get in the way of common sense and equity, while leaving gaping holes through which the scammers can swim, it can be seen as a system that favours those in the know, at the expense of the rest of us. It is also the case that when you regulate something, by definition, behaviour not captured by the regulations is OK, irrespective of the morality of the behaviour. This can be clearly seen in the case of the financial services cesspool uncovered by Royal Commissioner Hayne.
To be fair, public governance is a massive task of strategic and moral leadership, and there are bound to be missteps, but we need to be better than we are, by a mile.
As a final observation, these people cannot govern themselves, why is it then so strange that we do not trust them with the wider task of governing the rest of us?
Absence of cross functional collaboration.
When it is clear that the right hand does not know what the left is doing, and seemingly does not care, why would we trust either? This not only applies to the functions of any individual government, but to each of the three levels we are burdened with, overlaid by the federated structure of states we are left with from colonial times.
We could not design a model better able to stuff up just about everything they touch if we tried!
The only antidote to all of the above is leadership. The sort of leadership that takes responsibility, offers a compelling vision of the future and articulates a credible path towards it, is prepared to take difficult decisions and argue the logic publicly, then lives to be accountable for it all.
Pity there is so little of that going around.
Cartoon header credit: Again, Hugh McLeod at gaping void nails it!
