Pollies - Get Back in Your Box!
BUSNEWS 21 Feb 1996A popular local radio program had a phone-in contest : What gift would you like to receive in a small box.
Not surprisingly, given the totally obtrusive invasion of electioneering into our privacy over the past few weeks, many listeners responded with variations on the political theme.
My favourite was asking for both Paul Keating and John Howard in a little box with the lid permanently nailed down.
Such cynicism regarding our mighty leaders!
What has happened to all those people in WA who, when I first arrived here 26 years ago, held a political party near and idear to their heart, right up there beside their footie club and favourite brand of stubbie ?
Opinion polls across the nation have clearly indicated a big shift in our attitude to politics, the political parties, and politicians. We no longer believe anything they say.
Why the change of heart ?
Fewer than 15 years ago (which is long in power-politics but not long in any sense of history) I remember our newly elected Prime Minister, Bob Hawke, thanking the electors for his mandate and promising to honour and faithfully fulfil the decision making power the people of Australia had invested in him as Prime Minister. He even used the word "paternalistic" for his right to make decisions on our behalf.
We never questioned the traditional governance belief that elected people made decisions for us, without needing to ask our opinion or seek our advice.
Possibly that is why we have had the Great Aussie Whinge and the Aorta Response ("they ought to do something about it") to government for the past 150 years.
We officially condoned the system and abdicated our right to be consulted and involved in the decisions government made, but we still complained like Jerry Seinfeld's mother when we did not like the decisions made.
Aussies seem to be telling pollies that we no longer want to play that game. We want to have more say and more on going involvement in who decides what about our country, our jobs, our families, our lives.
We want to have a say. We want to be heard and heeded. If we insist, however, on being a real player in the game, we have to accept our individual share of responsibility for the outcome.
Good heavens! - are we growing up ? Are we seriously saying that yes, I want a say and will be culpable for my part in the whole thing ?
I detect a resounding "You betcha" out there in the burbs.
And not just in politics and government, but in our work lives, too.
We want to have a greater more real say in our workplace, in the definition of our jobs, in the goals our organisation is striving for, in the ways and means of working towards those goals, and so. Maybe even in who gets hired and fired, who gets promoted, who gets a bonus, and especially - who has a say in all of these.
Warning for Jurassics: The message is loud and clear for those who are listening. We are no longer prepared to be told what will be, who will be, or how they or it will be. The old ways are not acceptable.
George Bernard Shaw wasn't actually referring to Aussies when he wrote the following, but his words seem amazingly appropriate to the moment:
People are always blaming their circumstances for what they are. I don't believe in circumstances. The people who get on in this world are the people who get up and look for the circumstances they want, and, if they can't find them, make them.
Look out Pollies and Jurassic Establishment Generals, we insist on making our future.
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