“If one wants to see useful change in government service, then articles and letters must start by recognising both the general apathy that most of us have to politics and politicians and their indifference to us.” HUGH SELBY despairs at an electorate seduced by political illusions.

Our national leaders, Dee and Dum, one comfortable in the cloth, the other desperate to avoid the ignominy of defeat and the road to political has-been, are tip-toeing around the new, unwelcome reality. 

That reality is that our expectations of trade, defence, dealing with climate change and our standard of living have all been upended by Donnie.

We have a choice for government next month between a Labor Party that has deserted the workers it once represented, and a Liberal Party that is so il-liberal that it has purged those who were once its heart and soul. 

Today’s party politicians make mugs of most of us, but not of everyone. Remember the exhausted Cobargo firefighter (whose town had been ravaged by the bush fires on the NSW south coast) refusing Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s “media glow” attempt to be friendly. That was followed by a local woman demanding help from our PM. Relive those moments here.

But, as you remember, that was not the end of some straight talking that summer. Remember Nelligen volunteer fire fighter Paul Parker who got global attention? 

This week’s letters to the editor in CityNews are, as usual, interesting, well thought through, and timely. They zing. But the hard truth is that their effect, and that of longer opinion pieces, is zilch. The utterly exhausted firefighter volunteers, saying much less, did much better.

Why is that?

How have we come to be a community in which government (both elected and officialdom) can safely ignore the repeatedly described problems in health, transport, education, housing, corrections and even dangerous trees?

The following answer is not pretty, or nice, or even hopeful because, alas, we have the politicians we deserve.

Chasing illusions

We live with hope, fear and greed. Successful party politicians get that. “Make America great again” messaged all three: “I give you hope, they haven’t; “You will soon be worse off under them”; and, “Follow me and I will improve your life fortunes”. 

The accurate reporting of facts and policy doesn’t matter because most of us do not engage. The dangers of smoking nicotine have been known for decades. Nice warnings don’t work: “Smoking kills” is not enough. Much better to go with, “You smoke, you die” for fear; and, “A good kiss is tobacco taste free” for hope. 

The messaging must be simple, very simple: for example, “A GST will cost YOU money”; “Make America Great Again”; and, “China is a threat”.

Repetition is essential, especially if the message is false; for example, Clive Palmer’s nonsense on climate change, and the Liberals’ rubbish on Nuclear energy. Repeat it often enough and it becomes an everyman’s belief.

The personal details of the Promise Maker don’t matter: Trump’s criminal history, his minimal tax payments, his treatment of contractors and his outlandish lies didn’t and don’t matter. Likewise, Clive Palmer’s poor attendance at our Parliament when he was elected, and his treatment of mining workers don’t matter.

However, success – be it political, financial, even social – is a wonderful skin for masking lies. Recent examples are Trump, Boris Johnson, Netanyahu and Putin. The same can be said about some social media influencers. It seems that we have a foolish trait to believe in those who are, or seem to be, powerful. They, in turn, exploit that wish.

The easiest messaging is to confirm what your target supporters already think. The party faithful are not doubters, nor are the “rusted on” viewers of mass media. The message confirmation is a reward for the audience.

But, despite best efforts, stuff ups do occur. How to respond?

Today’s golden rule when attacked, called to account, criticised, is do nothing for as long as possible, because the speed of the news cycle replaces the story with a new one. This works day in and day out, month by month and year after year. You don’t believe it? Think about the cost blowouts on the shiny red tram fiasco; unchecked corruption within ACT Corrections; poor planning decisions; a Territory budget in dire straits, ACT housing that needs an umbrella inside; and, weekly bad news about health services.

Those are all much repeated topics deserving a response. They get none.

Sometimes this approach doesn’t cut it. The issue is getting away and causing damage to the political core. What to do? Two recent examples are instructive: pass poor and unnecessary special laws to deal with antisemitic scribblings; pretend to do an about face on the “go to the office, no more work from home” when it looks like a vote loser. 

Why “pretend” rather than “commit”? Well, our Donnie admirer committed to it. Ergo, withdrawing it is false because it’s what he wants to do. Alternatively, he always knew it was bad policy and it was simply an election spam. That translates to he lied when he introduced the idea. Not pretty.

Much easier, because it draws upon the basic human prejudice of wanting to be superior to some other group, is to single out a target group that can’t fight back to take the blame. In today’s Australia that is refugees, recent migrants and international students.

Our history of tolerance this past two hundred years has not been admirable. Both major parties are willing to play the race and religion cards

By the by, it was silly for Labor to claim price gouging by our supermarkets when the evidence doesn’t back it up and those supermarkets can fight back aggressively.

International students are a recent addition to the target catalogue. They were a great idea (especially for university finances) until our own people couldn’t find affordable rentals. It’s much easier to kill that goose (and leave universities scrambling) than come up with a credible housing program and how to address the skilled tradespeople shortage.

A month or years of fairy floss

The immediate question is, “What does all this mean for this election campaign?”:

1.  The major parties are, as usual, treating us as fools – buying our vote with our taxes.
2. This should be an election about the cost of living going up when wages are fixed: that is, the standard of living for many people is going down.
3. Hence the messaging around hope should be about: creating jobs, increasing wages, improving access to housing and health services.
4. All of that is aspirational and it answers the greed within us for a better life.
5. The fear component is that the other side will take us to even more deprivation, that it lacks the will to improve our lot, or that it cannot deal with the changes being forced upon us by the lunatics in the White House.

Another longer-term question is, “What does this mean for writing for CityNews?” 

It means that if, as a writer, one wants to do more than inform and entertain, that is, if one wants to see useful change in government service, then articles and letters must start by recognising both the general apathy that most of us have to politics and politicians and their indifference to us.

Somehow when writing about topics that the government and the opposition safely ignore, it is necessary to find a compelling reason for the politicians and bureaucrats to move from doing nothing to doing something, lest they put their comfortable lifestyles in jeopardy.

Hopes don’t move them. Fears for their future, and personal gain might.

The problem is clear, the solution elusive.

Hugh Selby, a former barrister, is a CityNews columnist.