“When we think about the question of good government in Canberra none of the three parties comes to mind as offering a solution to the budgetary crisis. Labor created and sustains it, the Greens were and are complicit, and the Liberals were and are asleep,” writes columnist HUGH SELBY.

Riddle me this, fellow dwellers, in a town that rules the nation but can’t govern itself to save itself.

Last year we had an election with corflute faces of “political talent” disrupting the road verges from one end of the territory to the other. 

The “Labor by name, labour not by nature” team of “All bar and nuttin’ else” came back to blow the dust of sweet nothingness in all our eyes.

It wasn’t that we were deceived by active promises. Rather the opposition lacked the will to offer us any reason to give them a chance. 

Following their inevitable defeat, the diehard members of the “Perpetual Opposition” took up their accustomed seats in the Assembly, checked online for their salary payments, and then – to all intents and purposes – adopted the Rip van Winkle pose for a hibernation of another four years. 

Granted that everyone knows of someone that made a success out of doing nothing, partly because nobody dared to call them out, let alone kick them out, how is it that all of us silently condone a local Assembly that is less productive than a pride of too well fed lions now looking to have a nap?

Every so often, but how often I don’t know, I find a glossy in my letterbox extolling what little our government is doing. I think that you and I, as ratepayers, are likely paying for this “Andrew is good for him and you” promotion.

The glossy says nothing about cost overruns, broken down emergency service vehicles, constant dysfunction in the health services, a corrupt and life-threatening corrective services environment, and the atrocious conduct of our taxpayer funded landlord, ACT Housing.

This gripe list is not exhaustive, so my apologies to the town planners, environmentalists, engineers, teachers and small businesses who could so easily add to it.

It’s a big gripe list, big in all the issues that it raises, big in how much it will cost to put it right, and big in the skillset and time required to stay the course so that Canberra doesn’t come to look and feel like a hick town.

But perennial whinging and listing problems are a waste of time. A start must be made to finding the solution: let’s require the hibernating politicians to do their job as an opposition, to hold the government to account, to give us good reason to change our vote at the next ACT election.

Here’s a plan for action: weekly work

Long-term politicians never forget who votes for them. It doesn’t matter what their party or the media bestows upon them by way of responsibility and accolades, it is their electorate – and only those people – who give and take away the position as being their elected member. 

Peter Dutton lost sight of that nexus. It cost him his job and his aspirations.

That is why a humming electorate office, being seen in and around the electorate, and reporting back, and listening, to the electors throughout the elected term are vital to longevity. 

Senator David Pocock’s regular reporting to everyone in Canberra after his first election turned his first win on preferences to a recent win on primary votes. As a humble hander out of “how to vote cards” for pre-polling, I was struck by how many people took the time to say to me, someone they didn’t know: “I trust David. I’m voting for him”.

There’s another example that stays firmly in my memory. Gladys Berejiklian, former Liberal NSW Premier, ran a friendly electorate office in Willoughby, a Sydney northside suburb. She took the local bus into the city and back. She was seen and behaved as a part of her community. She was liked for herself.

A trustworthy brand – be that of a household whitegoods item, the choice of family car or tradie ute, a home building company, an insurer, or a political name – builds and sustains loyalty.

Sure, there’s an element of “rusted on”, seen most clearly in code and club loyalty, and once upon a fabled time between Ford and Holden owners, Coke and Pepsi drinkers, but it’s a feature of today’s life that changing preferences is a given.

But not always. Take the example of the surfeit of coffee shop cafes around Canberra. Taking four in a suburb close to me, the oldest (more than a quarter century) is always busy, always friendly. The next door place is neither. 

A block away another pair, this time 30 metres apart. One of them always has a steady trade. It’s never empty. The other was never empty when three families ran it. These days it’s a different story. 

Branding as someone or some service that is reliable and trustworthy takes time to create, and ceaseless activity to sustain. It can be lost, as is happening now to Israel’s reputation.

With good reason one can purchase a once noble masthead and call it the Harvey Norman paper. But, and it’s an important “but”, their never-ending advertising works.

It works because when we think about whitegoods, household furniture, tech goods, and flooring, good old Harvey Norman comes front of mind.

When we think about the question of good government in Canberra none of the three parties comes to mind as offering a solution to the budgetary crisis. Labor created and sustains it, the Greens were and are complicit, and the Liberals were, and are, asleep.

If the Perpetual Opposition wishes to be the government, and let’s assume that some of them occasionally have that dream, then they need to brand build, and keep on building from now until the next election.

That means having the humility to learn from local advertisers, and to be seen and heard to be interested in local views. If they want to govern then they should be seen to be ready to invest in sharing views, sharing policies, giving us reasons to give them a go.

A CityNews reader, picking up the paper copy, or reading any of the daily online posts, will see that there is a solid core of repeat advertisers (both business and professional services) who tell readers what services they offer, who and where they are, and why they can be trusted. 

None of these advertisers would continue paying for advertising that didn’t work for them.

Inside the back page of many of the weekly paper editions of CityNews there is a column by a local chartered accountant. Each of her columns sets out one or more problems that brings any of us to contact an accountant for personal, professional or business reasons. She gives good, clear advice, the kind of advice that means that her name, and that of her professional firm, is front of mind.

The “waiting to be in government” Libs can learn a lot from her. They might want to be the weekly feature on a particular page in CityNews and in other media. They might want to share with us all how they could and will put right the governance of this territory.

And if they don’t want to? Well, there’s more than enough time for young, talented, wide awake and hardworking independents to learn from Senator Pocock, be active in promoting their ideas to get Canberra back on track for responsible, affordable government, get elected in 2028 and then clean up the mess.

Author Hugh Selby is a CityNews columnist, principally focused on legal affairs. His free podcasts on “Witness Essentials” and “Advocacy in court: preparation and performance” can be heard on the best known podcast sites.