In the company I keep the topic of Federal Elections keeps coming up with a constant theme: what do they actually stand for? What will we get if Labor is in power? What about the Coalition? Waleed Aly put it well last week in The Age. He writes that Labor is coming to us with “mixed messages and neglected narrative”.  According to Aly, “Labor is in crisis, but not principally for the reasons that occupy the commentariat. It’s not about a bitterly divided caucus, or political miscalculations… It’s not even about policy missteps… Labor’s problems are not nearly so managerial and technocratic. They are much bigger than that.” Aly goes on to say that “Labor’s problem is ideological. It doesn’t really mean anything anymore…” and so voters are giving up on it.

This theme is continued by Tory Shepherd in The Punch.  What we want is policy, not politics, she argues, but Canberra seems oblivious to this.  “In Canberra they’re talking about surpluses and leaderships, campaigns and dates and faceless men and alliances and factions and coalitions and splits.”

However, in middle suburbia the people are asking: how is the Government going to fix things? They are concerned about mental health issues, youth violence, people drowning at sea, single parents struggling to meet the basics, climate change, the cost of living, education, childcare, and the ageing population. Shepherd refers to a recent Community Cabinet in Adelaide to prove her point. She asks the question “Has there ever been a bigger disconnect between what matters in people’s lives and what the political chatter is about?”

This is a serious matter. We’re fed up with the disconnect between Canberra and our everyday lives, between federal politicians and what concerns us most on the ground.

This moves me to think of the bigger question of leadership in general. We have a crisis in leadership in Australia, not just in the political sector but across all sectors of life. Business, religion, media and sports are four of the ‘drivers of society’ that have recently been in the news for problems associated with poor leadership. I was in a group of business people recently who were lamenting the lack of ‘pillars of society’ in Australia. All the candidates of old had let us down in recent years and no-one seems to be filling in the gap.

Painting with a broad brush I know, but this is the general consensus. And we shouldn’t be surprised. Every generation has had this perceived dearth of people who can be trusted and followed. Perhaps it’s worse now or perhaps it’s that we know more about people in leadership through all the forms of media that exist today. And perhaps it’s a problem of the style of media that pushes entertainment more than substance. It’s not all that entertaining to be talking sensibly and debating reasonably about policy related to Asylum seekers, mental health issues, and the struggles of single parents!

The problem of not having good leadership is an ancient one. In the Bible, it’s recorded that Jesus criticised both the religious (Matthew 23) and the political (Matthew 20) models of leadership prevalent in his day and then states that the good leader is one who is committed to serving the people and offers himself as the model to follow (Matthew 20:26-28).  Contemporary movements such as the ‘R-world’ of Michael Schluter and other relational models of leadership pick up on this theme but there is still a long way to go. Imagine: A world of politics and business and media and church with leaders committed to the common good and a willingness to serve relationally to get there.

Enough of this dreaming.  Back to reality…The reality of federal elections and politicians and media and the disconnect between Canberra and everyday life.  How can we encourage our leaders to be more in touch with us and help them know how they can serve the Nation really well? One of the projects that Sophia Think Tank is involved in this year is looking at the issues that really matter as we head up to the elections. What are they? What matters to you at a Federal level? What are you looking for in the candidates that are running for a federal seat to represent you for the common good of our country and the world in which we are situated?

You can help us get the thinking going by telling us below what the big issues are for you in the lead up to the Federal election.

Food for Thought.