A million words have already been written about our new Prime Minister and he’s been in the job barely four days.
In fact he hasn’t even been able to move into his new office yet, but it hasn’t stopped the rush to fill media space with commentary upon commentary.
It’s ironic, I know, for me to say that as I am about to assail you with yet more opinion about our politics.
Bu it is more than annoying to see the impatience, the indecent haste to move on to the next challenge for PM, to the next poll, to the next Jarryd Hayne to what will happen next in The Bachelor.
We seem unable to reflect for a reasonable period on something that’s happened before getting on to the next issue.
Even “the sky will fall in’’ news events are destined to leave us bored and wanting something new before too long.
So maybe that’s the question: did we get bored with Kevin Rudd, Julia Gillard and Tony Abbott or were they discarded because they just didn’t measure up to being Prime Minister?
Were they Prime Ministerial mediocrities?
Let’s look at it this way: Between 1983 and 2007 – that’s 24 years – we had three very good Prime Ministers, by any measure: Bob Hawke for eight years, Paul Keating for five and John Howard for 11 years.
And no matter which side of politics you sit on, they were very, very good years for our country.
But just as importantly, all three managed to get past their first term without any dramas.
Paul Keating challenged Hawke in 1991 – four elections after winning in 1983.
John Howard was never challenged, although his treasurer Peter Costello almost did.
Look what followed these giants of Australian politics: We almost elected Mark Latham in 2014, but went ahead and put Kevin Rudd in, who was knifed by Julia Gillard before he could go back to the people in 2010.
Rudd got even in 2013 when he knifed PM Gillard, lost the election and handed the reins to Abbott.
Earlier this year, just 18 months into the job, Abbott nearly lost a leadership vote to an empty chair. And now he’s well and truly gone.
Is Malcolm Turnbull, then, like the last three Prime Ministers or more like the 1983-2007 ones?
We know what would be in the country’s best interests, but it’s worth noting John Howard talked him out of quitting in 2010, after he lost the Liberal Party leadership to Abbott by one vote.
Hopefully Howard saw something in Turnbull that others haven’t; maybe something that reminded him of himself perhaps?
One of my best mates, a newspaper photographer, tells me the story of how he was out on assignment in western Sydney, waiting to photograph Prime Minister Howard.
Well, the PM’s limo turned up early, and the photographer was surprised to see the Prime Minister get out of the car and walk up to introduce himself.
“He asked me a lot of questions,’’ the photographer recalled.
[social_quote duplicate=”no” align=”default”]“The PM wanted to know if I had a family, a mortgage, how I was coping with interest rates.[/social_quote]
“He was really interested to know, and you know what, I started supporting him from that day on.’’
How in touch are the Prime Ministers we’ve had in the Twitter and Facebook era?
Nowhere near as much as John Howard, I’d bet, or Keating or Hawkie.
Leaders who are in touch, really in touch, are more likely to make the people feel less disconnected from politics, less powerless.
Which is how a lot of communities across the country feel like, including here in the south west, Macarthur and up to Liverpool.
Is anyone listening to calls for no cemetery in the Scenic Hills of Campbelltown, or an intermodal terminal and a recycling centre right next to Moorebank residents?
It doesn’t feel like anyone is listening to the pleas of local residents fighting to maintain their amenity.
And just maybe that could be the biggest challenge for our new Prime Minister, to change the political culture so the voices of the people can be heard loud and clear across our land.
It’s time to reconnect the people to political discussion, which has been hijacked by the extremes of the left and the right, especially on radio.
It’s time to give them back their political voice.
