The Prime Minister’s call for a ceasefire on industrial relations and two respected former Premiers’ acknowledgement of the benefits of State cooperation could be harbingers of a new, and better, way of making Australia’s future.
But that is far from certain.
Despite the rebranding of COAG as National Cabinet and an almost-universal exhaustion with hyper-partisanship and the culture wars, the unusual period of cooperative politics and federalism in response to COVID-19 has been short-lived. Its brief moment of glory has been bookended by revelations of subverting the democratic system, first by the Coalition and now by the ALP.
In challenging times, our values can be tested. What is really important to us? Are we focussing on the right things? If we don’t know the answers to those questions, it’s a great time to pause and reflect, so we can let our values guide what is most important to us. Every upset we face is an opportunity for growth. In our values-based leadership work with parliamentarians we talk about pausing to ask ourselves what we call "transformative questions" for those times when we are being challenged.
The 2019 Australian Election Study found that only 25% of Australians believe that people in government can be trusted — a record low. The recently released 2020 Edelman Trust Barometer found that government leaders are close to being the least trusted, globally, to address countries’ challenges. But this isn’t really news, or a surprise, to most Australians. Whatever your analysis of the trust crisis globally, I’m sure we can all agree that there is something unprecedented going on when it comes to trust and confidence in democracy and its institutions.
