Nick Greiner has certainly learnt his lesson about Australian politics in the 1990s. How dare he be so courageous as to say something about gutlessness in Australian politics. And what a foolish fellow to imagine that the Australian media would have treated a thoughtful hypothesis of trends and ideas in any way other than in terms of personalities. Mr Greiner has clearly been in the business environment too long _ fancy imagining politicians (former or present) actually reading the text of what he said before opening their mouths.
The reaction to Mr Greiner’s speech was a delicious confirmation of its content _ the price of courage in Australian politics these days is to have your ideas spun, misinterpreted and hit with a fear campaign so that retreat or defeat is inevitable.
It means, of course, that any attempt at worthwhile reform is doomed. It means that change that result in dishing out govenment money gets done, but changes for greater efficiency or changes with short-term painfor long-term gain get taken off the agenda.
The fault lies with both the politicians and the voters. It lies with the voters who make themselves susceptible to the spin. That susceptibility is expressed in the polling booth, in answers to opinion polls and through the media. It also lies with politicians who play up to it, at the expense of promoting long-term policy ideas.