Conviction politicians; a thing of the past?

In the current Parliament can anyone point to an elected member who could be said to be a true conviction politician? Think really hard and keep in mind that I am not referring to the convenience conviction politician; you know, the type that only busts out the 'real' conviction come election/poll time (I'm looking at you, real/fake/chameleon/fake/Green/Red Queen Julia...). No, I'm talking about the politician of true, unwavering belief who stood up for what they believed in regardless of the polls. A politician who could speak to the very heart of the matter, said what they thought and didn't treat the public as if they were idiots. But, above all things, a politician who was passionate about something because they believed it through and through, not just because the focus groups indicated that it would be a good vote winner... The sad reality is that if our elected officials were a football team they certainly wouldn't be the A-graders. No, they resemble something of along the lines of an under-12's team (although I use the word team loosely).

I should point out that I am not limiting my criticism here to just those on the government benches, but on the oppositions side also. I believe that the Coalition would have won the last election had Tony Abbott not been leader. Don't get me wrong I like Tony - I do - put I just don't think that he can appeal to enough people to win an election. After all, he is currently up against arguably the worst PM in history yet he is only making modest gains. Some might say that Malcolm Turnbull is a conviction politician; after all he did put his job on the line for a policy he believed in. However Turnbull doesn't quite fit into the category, for my mind, simply because he is unable to electrify the voting public in the same way as a Hawke or Rudd. He is smart, articulate and, more often than not, witty and charming; but he fails to capture the hearts of voters and is clearly not a team player. Joe Hockey is a bright star in the opposition line-up as he talks the language of the everyday Australian (plus he looks jovial and happy). However Joe will need at least another election or so before he will have the skills and profile to consider party leadership.

So now we have a look over at the ALP's side, and does it not look woeful? Wayne Swan has shown that he is no more than a snivelling sycophant who is willing to brown-nose whoever is in the top job, as long as they shield his incompetence from the public gaze (an almost full time job in and of itself...). Lindsey Tanner was the only one in the ALP who I had any respect for, and he was smart enough to abandon ship at the last election. Julia Gillard is convicted and passionate about only one thing: keeping hold of power, regardless of who she has to lie, cheat or jump into bed with to cobble together a socialist coalition.


I believe very strongly in what these two gentlemen tell me to believe...

What about Kevin Rudd? Well Rudd was a conviction politician...until he realised the tide was turning. The moment the Climate Change debate started to look a little on the nose, Rudd was forced to chose which to abandon: policy/belief or sky-high polls. Of course, he chose the latter, and we all know how that turned out for him. And it was probably Rudd's unprecedented fall from grace which has many of the true conviction politicians scared. Why believe in something when you can just follow the trends and focus groups? While Rudd did believe in Climate Change pretty much everything else he did needed to be signed off by researchers who were compulsively testing the electoral waters. And it worked! For the longest time it worked; approval ratings up and beyond the 60% mark (which is easy when your only belief is telling the electorate exactly what it wants to here!).

Conviction politics isn't about popularity or being liked; it is about communicating a vision and moving Heaven or Hell to see it come to pass in the interest in the nation. The reason Gillard's fight to bring us a Carbon Tax is going so poorly is because while she is battling through like the any true conviction politician before her. the trick is we know she doesn't believe it! If she did believe in Climate Change Gillard would have stood before the people of Australia at the last election and said "If elected there WILL be a Carbon Tax under my government because this is what I believe..." The only reason she believes it now is because Bob Brown has TOLD HER to believe it!


John Howard = Absolute Legend

So who was our last conviction politician? Well it just so happens that it was also one of our longest serving prime ministers who brought in and fought for some of the most important reforms in our history. I speak, of course, of John Howard, who stayed on to contest the 2007 election because he believed in standing up for his views and opinions. Howard and his kind, the true conviction politicians, are sorely missed in the current environment. Love them or hate them, you have to respect them...