Navel Gazing

Prime Minister Tony Abbott reflected during his National Press Club address of Monday that his colleagues should stop ‘navel gazing’ and get on with the job of governing. Similarly, Treasurer Joe Hockey suggested this morning that his colleagues should focus on governing stop engaging in commentary and start focussing on fixing the country. Frankly, they’re both wrong. A solid session of Liberal Party belly button action is exactly what is required if the Abbott Government is to achieve anything during the second half of its term.

It must do something...

A government should be the product of the people's will, representative of the people who elected them. For better or worse, the voters interpret that government through the prism of the media which covers it.

Tony Abbott and his team have tried three times in under three months to change the perception of his government: there was the Reset speech, the scraping of the barnacles, and his speech this week at the National Press Club. Each of these was meant to herald a new era in the Abbott Government, and each has failed.

The reason is simple. Australian voters have become extremely cynical when it comes to politicians and the promises they make. This applies to both sides of the political spectrum, and particularly to the central mass of swinging voters. Politicians have not honoured the promises they made prior to elections, and have introduced new priorities after they are elected. The distance between the words and the actions has increased, and voters have noticed.

The old saying applies: “If you keep on doing what you’ve always done, you’ll keep on getting what you’ve always got.”

Voters – at least those who haven’t already tuned out – have heard the repeated promises to be more consultative, to listen, and communicate more effectively, but they’ve seen the same old behaviour that they’ve already rejected. The mini reshuffle confirmed the Prime Minister’s preference for male Ministers; the backdown on GP co-payments occurred the day after the Prime Minister stated his support for it; Prince Philip’s knighthood emphasised Tony Abbott’s lack of consultation and poor political instincts; constant process stories about Peta Credlin, and the appointment of Mark Simkin displayed a lack of back office discipline; persistent headlines about a leadership spill invite comparisons with the Rudd-Gillard-Rudd years, and this week’s dismissal of the hated Paid Parental Leave Scheme illustrates a willingness to break more commitments, undermine a key policy and announce new policy without any detail.

And that’s since December 1.

From all indications, few, if any members of the Abbott Ministry have admitted that there’s a problem, much less know what it is. There are solutions, but a classic Liberal loop of denial, obfuscation and dishonesty ensures their own demise. There is no option but to change, although a change of leadership is not necessarily the solution.

The stuff of nightmares

The Government must accept that it needs to win back the trust of the electorate if they are to have any chance of retaining government next year, and that takes three simple steps:

•                                 Admit that the problems exist
•                                 Commit to making a change
•                                 Implement practical solutions

Each of these requires a degree of serious navel gazing, including some brutal introspection and honesty, along with consultation and collaboration, and a new approach to communicating with the electorate. Regardless of whether the problem is identified as plummeting poll numbers, dislike of Tony Abbott, the failure to pass key elements of the 2014 budget, or bizarre captain’s calls, the entire Abbott Government must change how they govern.

How hard can it be?

Commentators have suggested that Mr Abbott’s speech at the National Press Club was targeted at his back benchers rather than at voters, with statements like this:

"Let's stop the navel gazing, let's forget the internals and let's get on with governing the country."

Most of the Ministry has fallen meekly into line, pledging their support for the PM, although some of those endorsements have been less than convincing. Like Mr Abbott, they continue to attend to their duties and brush of media enquiries while the backbenchers and party elders continue to express their doubts.

Could it be that the lowly backbenchers enjoy more distance from the seat of power, a wider perspective on the government’s fortes as well as their weaknesses…and more opportunity for navel gazing?

If the solution for the Liberals’ woes is as simple as replacing Tony Abbott, there’d be less uncertainty about the next week. The spill would be on. We can only hope that there has been enough navel gazing to realise that the current leadership is only part of a much larger problem within the government.