Having impact vs being seen to have impact - Jun 2023
The aspect of my ‘new’ job as a Federal MP that I am finding the most challenging, is the daily conflict between having impact and being seen to have impact.
Before politics, I had worked driving change in professional services, the corporate sector and the non-profit sector, on boards, on executive teams and as an advisor. In all of those environments, I found that you rarely have the greatest impact by backing someone into a corner.
A real shift in direction is more likely through listening, being rational, giving someone the opportunity to take into account new information and own the change themselves.
In a democracy, an outcome is never the result of the actions of one person. That’s the whole point of democracy. It is about building alliances around issues and choosing our direction collectively.
In politics, shouting the loudest often wins votes and sells newspapers. Faced with a choice between proposing an amendment to legislation that won’t be accepted (but will have your name on it) and quietly suggesting an amendment that ends up in the legislation (but for which you receive no credit), which would you choose?
It depends why you are there.
Straight after the 2022 election, people said to me: “it's the first day of your re-election campaign. You must start campaigning for 2025 now.”
I was a bit horrified. The short-termism we so often see in politics is driven by this focus on the next election.
Every day I challenge myself to think about focusing on the long-term benefit and the actual outcome, not the appearance of an outcome. I do my best to be driven by reason, fairness and open-mindedness, not outrage and the need to own an issue. Holding the Government to account doesn’t always have to be noisy.
Approaching the job in this way means I can sleep at night.
In recent years, we have become used to a Trump version of politics as a cross between entertainment and sport.
But I think the country needs a more level-headed approach, even if it’s not as exciting. I believe that communities like Curtin recognise that most issues are nuanced and outrage only gets you so far.
The open question is whether there is a broad appetite for this type of politics in Australia, or if we are on an inevitable path to polarisation and over-simplification. Unfortunately controversy and combat get attention and sell papers.
Only time will tell. In the meantime, I will keep nudging
