“It’s time that our feckless political leaders had the courage to share the truth instead of lies. They can make a start with housing: what’s achievable in what time frame,” writes HUGH SELBY.

Pope Leo (born Robert Prevost) was asked when he arrived in Spain this month whether he supported Real Madrid or Barcelona. 

According to columnist Peter FitzSimons, in the Sydney Morning Herald, on Saturday, he replied: “The Pope is for all teams. Prevost is for Real Madrid”.

Our political leaders can learn so much from Robert Prevost about the separation of public and private roles. There are requirements for public office in a democracy, especially responsibility, humility, and truth telling being both powerful and necessary.

Last month the Pope issued a statement about, “Safeguarding the human person in the time of artificial intelligence”.

Not being religious, it was by lucky chance I was told about it. You can find this beautifully expressed, well-reasoned, rather lengthy statement here. 

His Holiness deals with all of the following: the co-existence of the word of his God and the developing social sciences; the historical foundations and the principles of the Church’s Social Doctrine (which takes in, for example, the equal dignity of all human beings, human rights, and, the common good);  how to approach AI so that humanity is enhanced, not lost; truth, work and freedom;  and the contest between the pursuit of power for its own sake and pursuing love to build peace. 

For this article I am working with his important comments about truth in democratic politics.

However, before getting to that, and to encourage a wider reading of all that he wrote, I include his insight about AI, cut from a much longer discussion: “(AI) may imitate language, behaviour and analytical skills, or even simulate empathy and understanding, but they do not understand what they produce, for they lack the affective, relational and spiritual perspective through which human beings grow in wisdom.” 

There’s a dearth of such wisdom in the actions of our federal and local political leaders.          

Those who have power, who should understand those perspectives, choose to ignore them, and misuse communications. That approach, says his Holiness, “is pure power detached from truth, which subtly or overtly imposes what it wishes others to accept as true”. 

In my simpler, secular words, convenient cover-up spin and propaganda has replaced admitting there’s a problem, taking responsibility and embarking on a workable solution. And that is so pertinent for current federal and ACT politics.

He says: “The search for truth is an essential element of democracy, which is itself a means of contributing to the common good. When questions about what is true lose their appeal, and a pragmatism takes hold that is content with what appears useful or effective, then democratic life is weakened.

“After all, democracy does not consist of rules and procedures alone, but above all of a solid concordance with the facts and a genuine commitment to the good of individuals and society as a whole.”

The housing crisis

Let’s take the housing shortfall as an example of a current determination by our political leaders to mislead.

Our nation, and the ACT, has a housing crisis. Not only does accommodation cost far too much (be that to rent or buy), but there is a shortage of domestic dwellings in the private and public housing sectors.

The required inputs for housing are that there be enough: serviced land, building materials, qualified trades, architects, building certifiers and buyers with a capacity either to borrow to buy or pay the rent.

Master Builders ACT noted in CityNews (June 9) that, “residential land supply in the 2024-25 program fell nearly 27 per cent short of forecast, while no mixed-use or commercial land was released despite commitments to do so”.

It also pointed out (ABC Online, June 10): “In some suburbs, for example Whitlam, the price of land… has gone up 74 per cent since 2020. 

“So a 500 square metre block of land, the average price was around about $400,000 back in 2020. Now we’re looking at around $700,000 for a block”.

Housing Minister Berry claims that her government’s target of 26,000 homes in the next five years is “an ambitious target” but “achievable” (ABC Online, June 10).

That assertion, minister, lacks any truthfulness. You must know that.

There’s a dearth of qualified workers. For every three jobs advertised only one is filled. Without the skilled workers, your promises are not only wrong, but dangerously misleading, the more so when the skills shortage is likely to get worse, not better.

In early February the Housing Industry Association drew attention to the increasing decline in the number of construction apprentices in training.  The number of dropouts exceeds the number of those completing apprenticeships.

Recent modelling by the Association found that we need at least another 83,348 workers across the top 12 trades in residential construction to meet or even get close to the (federal) government’s 1.2 million homes target. 

They explain why we need to return to technical trade colleges, such as we had last century.

Meantime we had best look overseas, and look better than we have done. “Tradies” are just 2.5 per cent of the total temporary skilled visa workforce, highlighting a major gap between skilled immigration intake and the needs of our housing and construction sectors. 

The industry associations have made the problems starkly clear. 

But if the federal and local politicians are bothering to take note of those realities, they are not sharing those truths, or even acknowledging them in their public statements.

A possible start would be an industry and politicians round table.

That might lead to some candour by our politicians about the problems and how to solve them; something other than the empty promises that ignore all the practical problems. 

Some plain speaking, honest speaking, would go a long way.

Those problems range across skills training, retention of apprentices, pay and conditions, maintaining currency in trade skills, managed skilled trade immigration for both short and long-term stays, simplified building-application processes, robust building-certifier systems, encouraging quality modular building systems, financial assistance to those building new dwellings to live in, and enabling long-term renters to have an opportunity to purchase.

When Jesus said to his followers: “The Truth will make you free” he was referring to the truth of his teachings. Those teachings are at the heart of the Pope’s recent statement. It’s time that our feckless political leaders had the courage to share the truth instead of lies.

They can make a start with housing: what’s achievable in what time frame.

If we are to be both one nation, and a vibrant democracy, the time for truth telling is now.

Hugh Selby is the CityNews legal affairs columnist, but sometimes his social conscience gets the better of him.