Barack Obama pointed out that people – being hungry for solutions to the problems they now face – need to see what real leadership looks like, who will deliver the solutions to those problems. But, says HUGH SELBY, we have no such leadership in Australia. “We’re in a bad place”. 

“All of the great leaders have had one characteristic in common: it was the willingness to confront unequivocally the major anxiety of their people in their time. This, and not much else, is the essence of leadership”. 

So said John Kenneth Galbraith, prominent Canadian-American economist, diplomat, public official, and a 20th century intellectual leader.

That people around the globe are now more than a little anxious is clear from the daily news of marches and riots, food and water shortages, ever more serious natural disasters associated with climate change, living within bombing distance by missile or drone from Netanyahu or Putin, or within the reach of Trump’s ICE thugs as they knock on doors, and pull people from cars and trains.

Here, our governments are failing to ensure: food on the table; enough housing; adequately resourced schools and hospitals; skills training; job security; and, real wages.

It’s 2026 and in Australia there’s no proposal from any major party for a national, funded, dental health scheme, the limits on gambling and its advertising are a sick joke, housing targets likewise, and legal aid, far too often, is no-aid.

These same governments wilfully pursue vanity projects, being outlandishly expensive, long-term, debt-making projects that have neither a sound financial basis nor a proven need: eg, light rail in Canberra, the sports stadium in Hobart, the nuclear submarine AUKUS project. These are black hole debacles, as it now seems is the Snowy Hydro project.

Following the recent, awful attack by a mentally ill man on much loved independent MP Helen Haines, some politicians have jumped on a bandwagon of “I’m a victim, too”, because – they claim – people have threatened or said nasty things to them.

Sad to say, many in the community view many of our elected politicians – especially those from the major parties – as parasites, living off the community host and doing nothing of value, as people not deserving of respect.

Civil respect, politeness and manners are a two way street.

Megadebtor Barr’s government has no interest in explaining its decisions about funding choices, debt levels, prison management, school staffing, hospital waiting lists, the public housing waiting list while there are hundreds of vacant properties, or even the wilful neglect of traffic signs on our roads. Why then should the anxious give them any respect?

Exploitation is dead easy

Those who seek success must take the opportunities. As the major parties shrug off widespread criticism, One Nation has exploited loathsome labelling of political opponents. It has stooped, too, to collateral damage. 

In its “please explain” animations, apart from calling Andrew Hastie a traitor and describing Senator Lambie’s medical problems, they have trawled the sewage in their misuse of the prime minister’s wife and son, and their attacks on the e-safety commissioner.

Those verbal calumnies tap directly into current widespread anxiety and the need for scapegoating: “We, struggling in the land of plenty, are not to blame. They, who ignore us, are”.

One Nation grabs voter fears, repeatedly cartoons those responsible for those fears, and then uses clever, often amusing dialogue, to drive home not just the responsibility but the moral emptiness of its government targets. And it’s doing it over and over and over again.

They are far better communicators than the major parties, even if they are – par excellence – calling the kettle black. Their audience doesn’t notice or doesn’t care.

But One Nation’s success is more than just playing upon fears.

For all their misinformation, lies and half truths, they have outgunned the major parties in gathering and keeping the hearts and minds of more and more voters. 

Go to One Nation’s issues page and see 28 of their policies. Click on any of them for easy-to-follow points, along with lively videos to be more persuasive.

Go to Labor’s policy page. It, too, has simple language, but there are no graphics and no videos. It’s boring.

Go to the Liberals. They, too, have simple language. Unlike One Nation and Labor, they make clear their policy priorities: simple graphics with numbers: lower taxes are first, cheaper power is second, less migration and more homes is third. Again, no graphics and no videos. Also boring.

The Nationals do boring in less space.

Of the four parties only One Nation reaches out to people and has them coming back to their website again and again. It does that with those “please explain” videos (the ones with the loathsome jibes). These are typically four to six minutes, and are loaded with entertaining, biting criticism of their political opponents, and collateral “targets”. 

These South Park imitations are, as they say, “extremely popular”.

None of the parties give costings, nor explain the funding for their policies; that is, how our taxes will be enough to cover the costs of their programs.

However, this week the Liberals have said that by cutting funds for energy renewables, social housing and other funding they can offer tax breaks.

The verification detail is missing. It is also a policy founded on “screw the environment and screw the have nots”.

Without costings, without clear priorities and without funding details these promises are fake, deceptive, illusory.

If only we had leaders

There’s no current politician in Australia with the skills of Barack Obama. He recently spoke for 45 minutes to a Democrat Party rally in Detroit. You can find it here.

It’s worth a look because as a speaker who can move people with basic truths, while keeping the show civil and rant free, he is a master.

He went directly to the “major anxieties” of many Americans. He showed how Trump had caused and/or exacerbated those problems. He pointed to a few of Trump’s U turns. All of this he did while dealing nicely with interjections, and pleasantly making certain that everyone knew that booing was not allowed.

He told everyone: “There’s a moral component to the choices we face right now….”.

We need people, Obama said, who are not there (in politics) to enrich themselves, but to serve.

He pointed out that people – being hungry for solutions to the problems they now face – need to see what real leadership looks like, who will deliver the solutions to those problems.

Both Obama and Galbraith point to true leaders being the ones who confront the major anxiety.

Ignoring those anxieties or downplaying them, as our major parties are doing, or exploiting them as One Nation does, are not leading.

We’re in a bad place.

News all day, every day at CityNewsQBN.com.au.