Paul Keating was not in my view a great parliamentarian. He was however a leader and a great politician. Who could forget his hilarious "cooee" to then senator Bronwyn Bishop who was moving to the lower house. Or the withering line about doing John Hewson slowly.
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Above all he wasn't weak. Leadership, discipline and courage are never demonstrated by undermining your own team in order to get what you want. Small people have small dreams, for themselves. Leaders have bigger dreams, for Australia.
Weakness in politics is an ugly trait. It's what undermines do. Keating on the other hand let Bob Hawke know up front it was time for him to go. Bob had a different perspective. That's a common trait among PMs. After a few years in office they all think they are the one and only.
Keating took him on in a direct challenge. And lost. He went to the backbench and won the second time around. And then set about implementing some of his dreams.
Contrast that to what's happening now in the Coalition parties in Canberra. There's a few blokes who think - no, my guess is they are sure - they would be better leaders. They knew it before they got there. Let's rephrase that. They got there in order to fulfil their desired destiny of being leader. That is more important to them than being part of a winning team that delivers good government. You can bet they didn't say that when they were asking to be the candidate. That spiel would have been all about the importance of teams. But they only want the team game played when they're the leader. Cute and dumb.
They pay no respect to the choice of the party room and thus no respect to the choice of fellow members of that room. Which party? The party whose name and resources they used to get elected.
Doesn't sound great, does it? You use a party to get elected, to be part of the team. Then the leadership baton in your knapsack says "You're a natural, give it a go." So you do and you lose. Not happy Jack? Never mind, there's always tough spots in politics and when one arises you can use it to your advantage. Perhaps you don't stand as leader and later regret it. Never mind, you too can cash in on difficulties that always arise. Perhaps create a few of your own.
You think the generally disgruntled who come to you seeking advice and saying you should be leader actually mean it. The truth is they don't want your advice. They want you to tell them if you were leader they'd have their talent properly recognised. They come not to uplift you because you're a great potential leader. They come because they want someone, anyone, to uplift them. If you don't see that you're a dope.
One leadership aspirant in my time promised the portfolio of primary industries to a Liberal, saying his first-hand rural knowledge should be recognised. A nicer bloke you couldn't meet but he got sucked in. It never would have happened. He would have been told that on hearing of the intention to appoint him the Nats said they'd walk out of the Coalition. He would have been called on to recognise the importance of the team and pass on the promised job.
Some aspirants for recognition are quite cagey. They pretend to be an admirer and confidante of more than one aspirant.
Having spent 20 or so years in politics, I've seen plenty of these circumstances. The players change but the gameplay is the same. While the punters can see it a mile off, it appears some of the players are oblivious to how self-serving and ridiculous they look. They don't realise that you get recognised not for wanting a better job but by doing a better job.
A personal story, not about leadership battles, may be instructive for some who think they've got a rough deal or just haven't got the recognition they deserve. It makes the distinction between just thinking you've got a rough deal and earning a better one.
In 1996 when the Howard government was elected I was given an aircraft carrier of a portfolio, the policy area of which was not in my expertise. The government was determined to clear up Labor's debt. As I recall, one quarter of the savings that had to be made were to come not only out of my portfolio, but out of my responsibilities, not the junior minister David Kemp's part.
It's not an easy task telling people they're going to pay more or get less. It's brutal. So if you're the leader, you don't give that job to a mate. Anyway, with the help of some truly excellent public servants it was done. Then I got the sack from cabinet. That's an ouch moment. You've got two choices. You can have a throw down and make it all about you. Maybe that's what Howard and the right wing wanted ... a justification for perhaps getting rid of me completely next time. 'She's done the job now, you can chuck her out'.
My chief of staff offered excellent advice. They want you to crack a mental. Treat this as a little break from the forward line ... a shortish period in the back pocket. Play as hard and well as you can. It will annoy the you-know-what out of them. It was good advice.
As an example, on the upcoming Boxing Day I was on a flight to Melbourne at 6am to do an early press conference promoting the excellent work the AFP had done in chasing down fraudulent Don Bradman memorabilia. The Boxing Day test meant it would run for most of the day. I was back in time for lunch with mates in Adelaide. Not long after, a conservative stopped me at an airport and said he'd seen it on the TV on Boxing Day while enjoying pre-luncheon festivities from a very comfortable couch. He laughed and said "You're never going to bloody give up, are you!"
The best story I heard was when a cabinet minister said to Howard, "You know you'll have to bring her back when Jocelyn Newman goes". Howard is reported as having dropped his shoulders in some sort of acknowledgement of the fact.
MORE AMANDA VANSTONE:
You just don't get promoted in politics by telling everyone how good you are. If you have to tell them it means you're not actually that good.
Whingeing about yourself and where you ought to be is not why your party chose you. More importantly, it's not what the taxpayer thinks you should be doing in the job their hard-earned taxes are paying for. You get promoted by doing your job.
That is the simple point. Just do your job. Do it as well as you can. Put everything into it.
People in the electorate have to work hard themselves and they recognise others who do the same and just get on with the job.
They also recognise those undermining, self-promoting schmoozers and whiners because they see them in their real world as well. Small minded people with small dreams. And they dislike them.
- Amanda Vanstone is a former senator for South Australia, a former Howard government minister, and a former ambassador to Italy. She writes fortnightly for ACM.
