The kids of politicians are often asked if they’ve considered the same path as their parents.
asserted
they → ask → parents
Some of us have.
asserted
Some → have → us
It’s a consideration coloured by lived experience, good and bad.
asserted
It → ’ → experience
The warmth and purpose of public service are difficult to separate from its uglier realities: rage, vitriol, abuse – and sometimes violence.
asserted
warmth → separate → realities
“I don’t know how your old man does it,” people would say to me when Dad had an office in the same building as Helen Haines.
asserted
Dad → know → Haines
Representative democracy rests on a beautifully simple proposition.
asserted
democracy → rest → proposition
Communities choose people to advocate for them in the places where decisions are made.
asserted
decisions → choose → places
Those advocates carry with them the needs, hopes, frustrations and ambitions of the people who sent them.
asserted
who → carry → them
For representation to work, we need our parliamentarians to be able to connect with community.
asserted
parliamentarians → work → community
They need a ready, patient ear.
asserted
They → need → ear
They need empathy and to be open to different experiences and perspectives.
asserted
They → need → experiences
They must balance competing needs against domestic, economic and geopolitical realities, and explain their decisions with respect and patience.
And then, if it turns out that kind of person hasn’t earned the confidence of their community, we can replace them.
asserted
we → balance → them
That’s the extraordinary promise of our system.
asserted
That → ’ → system
We don’t have to like our politicians or agree with them.
asserted
We → have → them
We should question, probe and challenge.
asserted
We → question → ?
We can be blunt, put a counter-view, campaign against them or simply vote them out.
asserted
We → put → them
But somewhere along the way we’ve begun to confuse the right to hold politicians accountable with carte blanche to make their lives unbearable.
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lives → begin → blanche
To scream abuse at them out the car window as they host a community gathering on a quiet suburban street.
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they → scream → street
To force them to glance over their shoulder as they put something in the boot of their car in case someone’s ready to ram them – whatever the reason or motivation.
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reason → force → them
A beloved wife, mother and grandmother in hospital, having lost both legs and fighting for her life after an attack in the community she represents, is not something we should accept as part and parcel of public life.
asserted
we → lose → life
In any other workplace, repeated threats, harassment and intimidation would be recognised by those responsible for governance as serious psychosocial safety risks requiring action.
asserted
threats → repeat → action
Yet we seem to accept that the very people responsible for making these laws should absorb those same risks as part of the vocation.
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people → seem → vocation
MPs cannot simply put a barrier between themselves and the people who threaten them: their job depends on being accessible to the public.
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job → put → public
The very openness we demand of them is what makes them vulnerable.
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them → demand → them
If we make the price of political service the willingness to endure hatred, we risk selecting our representatives not for their capacity to serve, but for their capacity to survive.
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we → make → capacity
That’s a different ask, isn’t it?
asserted
it → ’ → ?
We’re no longer looking for an empath, we’re looking for a warrior.
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we → look → warrior
We should want a great many kinds of people to choose a path to its epicentre.
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kinds → want → epicentre
We should want decent, loving, thoughtful and capable humans like Helen Haines.
asserted
We → want → Haines
We should want people who are unsure sometimes and connected enough to their communities to understand the nuanced needs they represent.
asserted
they → want → needs
And we should want them to be able to remain those people once they’re elected.
asserted
they → want → ?
Because if the only people willing to enter parliament are those who can withstand everything we throw at them, we may find ourselves represented by people who have learned not to feel very much at all.
uncertain
who → enter → people
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asserted
that → get → own
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