From the AHA National President SCOT T LEACH AHA|SA President David Basheer is currently on leave.
A Fractured ‘Body Politic’ Makes Your AHA More Important Than Ever “…democracy is the worst form of government – except for all the others that have been tried…” Winston Churchill
What also became rapidly clear on election night was the fracturing of our body politic – perhaps permanently.
The famous British Prime Minister would know the truth of those words. In July 1945 the great wartime leader was unceremoniously booted from office after leading Britain to victory over Nazi Germany that same year.
Labor won the election with a majority – just (and congratulations to Anthony Albanese for proving a boy from a housing commission in the backblocks of the Inner West can make it to the top office in the land).
Proving once again the public usually won’t thank you for what you’ve done – but are more interested in what you are going to do.
In fact, we are lucky to have a man of Albanese’s character in the top job at this time. As the manager of house business in the Gillard era he was able to use his considerable negotiating skills to steer more than 300 pieces of legislation through Parliament. This made her Government one of the most productive in our history despite being in minority.
Churchill’s words and his fate sprang to mind as I watched the election results roll in on the night of Saturday, 21 May from behind the bar at The Rose of Australia. It soon became clear our former PM Scott Morrison was to share Churchill’s fate – despite steering Australia through the choppy waters of the pandemic relatively unscathed.
Those skills will be needed yet again as election night saw Labor return to power with less than 33 percent of the vote, with one in three voters
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turning to independents or minor parties. The rise of the teals and a new crossbench of 16 in the lower house (and my congratulations to them all) marks the fracturing of our Parliamentary system. For good or ill - depending on your views - I believe it is here to stay. The voting figures speak for themselves. In 1951 almost 98% of the vote went to the two major parties – in 2022 that figure was at an all-time low of 68.5%. And once elected, Independents have a way of increasing their majorities. Just have a look at that great friend of our industry (yes I’m being sarcastic) Andrew Willkie. In the 2010 Federal election, Wilkie, in the Tasmanian seat of Denison, was elected on a primary vote of 21.3 per cent, following Back to Contents
