The Problem of Presidents...
The Australian Nation, is a strange webbed footed creature with the bill of a duck and a tail like a beaver, it is an unlikely combination of Westminster "responsible government" and the United States Federal System. The idea of a President is impossible or perilous.. on this much we can hopefully agree across the barricades of politics.
Can Conservatives, Labor and Social Democrats find common ground? Maybe not in the height of battle, during the heat of the contemporary moment. But reflection over a long period brings surprising agreement and allies. If you had told me in the 1970s that Malcolm Fraser would die a hero of sorts for the progressive community I would have thought you mad. As I came to know several major Labor figures it surprised me what went on away from the public eye. There were times when the barricades came down. Tom Uren always thought John Howard a trustworthy friend when it came to supporting returned soldiers and they were always civil to each other as a result. I always reached out to Warren Mundine across the notorious divide of Right and Left at NSW Labor conference when it came to Aboriginal policy and issues. For a time also Mark Latham and I were allies supporting Families in Partnership – a Campbelltown based cooperative for children with disabilities that foreshadowed the National Disability Insurance Scheme. A great mentor, Paul Q. Hirst once emphatically told me: “Your political enemies are not always wrong”. On big national issues, during times of crisis and war and when the posterity of the nation is at stake.. it is good to find common ground.
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