Herald Sun: Australia needs a Lee Kuan Yew or a Deng Xiaoping now

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Strong leadership the key as Malcolm Turnbull’s popularity alone can’t fix Australia’s problems -- by JEFF KENNETT, A FORMER PREMIER OF VICTORIA (29 Dec 2015)

IN two days’ time a New Year begins, 2016. I remember when our fourth child was born in 1980, Felicity and I said he would be 20 in 2000, an Olympic year, which turned out to be in Sydney.
Now the time clock is about to turn over to 2016. Times flies all too quickly.
Many of us still refer to events as pre-or post-World War II.

I guess our children will have a different benchmark by which they will judge history and measure time.
For me, King George’s death in 1952, John Kennedy’s assassination in 1963, the first step on the moon in 1969, the first time a military conflict, the Gulf War, was beamed into our homes via CNN in 1991 and more recently watching the attack on the World Trade Centre unfold in all its horror on September 11, 2001.

They are all public events that have shaped my sense of history and the passage of time.
There were, of course, other events that introduced social changes that were initially advocated by a few but have strong public support today.
Then there have been the changes in the influences of world powers, the ebb and flow of the fortunes of the United Kingdom, the United States, Russia and many European countries.

In our sector of the world, Asia, the growing influence of China, India, Indonesia, Japan, Korea and the Philippines, to name a few, seems to be only just beginning and in 50 years our region will be very different from what it is today.
I also look at the way in which the West, including Australia, has been trying to impose its way of life on communities on the other side of the world and failing dismally.

Given my interest in leadership, I have asked myself who were the leaders in our region who set up their countries to become powerful neighbours of ours. Mahatma Gandhi inspired the peaceful movement that resulted in Britain giving India independence in 1947.
Assassinated for his efforts, he had still sowed the seed that allowed Jawaharlal Nehru to start building the modern, democratic India.
In China, Mao Zedong, brutally by our standards, brought all of the disparate communities of China together as one nation in 1949 as the People’s Republic of China.

Then the leadership of Deng Xiaoping between 1978 and 1992 opened China’s eyes and economic interests to the West.
In Malaysia, Mahathir Mohamad used his leadership between 1981 and 2003 to modernise and prepare his nation for the competitive world in which it is located. And in Singapore, Lee Kuan Yew took the island state from its independence in 1965 to where it is today, a powerful, vibrant nation with the capacity to renew itself every decade.

All of the men I have mentioned were strong leaders with whom Australia often disagreed but who had huge impacts on their countries. Personal popularity was never their driving force — it was their vision for building strong, economically viable communities.
But if I asked you to name an Australian political leader since World War II whose achievements matched those above, who would you name? Probably none.

Robert Menzies was our longest-serving PM in a time of almost natural rebuilding after WWII. He provided stability after a period of conflict and hardship, but the world needed our produce, particularly wool, and the economy boomed. Australia had growth and prosperity.
Bob Hawke was the longest-serving Labor PM who with his treasurer, Paul Keating, introduced some major reforms such as floating the dollar and introducing an enlightened superannuation system.
John Howard, Australia’s second-longest-serving PM, with his treasurer, Peter Costello, introduced the GST and restored the federal Budget to a massive surplus.

But I don’t believe any of them had a profound beneficial influence on our development.
Australia needs a Lee Kuan Yew or a Deng Xiaoping now. We need a person who has the political courage to change the course of Australia’s current indefensible, unsustainable lifestyle under which we are all — governments and individuals — living beyond our means.
Is Malcolm Turnbull that leader? Time will tell. He is, according to the polls, very popular, but popularity is not what Australia needs. It demands leadership.
Turnbull should not be contemplating an early election, but using the rest of his Government’s term to develop the narrative, to talk to Australians about why we need fundamental changes. His Government should then go to the election with a clear plan to address our challenges.
The public respect leadership, but they are not getting it.

In fact, the one thing the major political parties have in common is a lack of courage. There is a sameness in the failure of political parties when in government to act decisively.

For instance, industrial reform is virtually dead in the water and a basic review of the operation of the tiers of government is treated with motherhood statements. There has been a lot of talk but not much real action to prepare us for the future.
I want Turnbull to be remembered as a leader who was prepared to make the tough decisions to rebuild Australia. I want him to be respected as a true leader rather than just a popular one.

So as we enter 2016, I wish you good health and the common sense to recognise what has to be done to shorten a period of pain that I fear is about to afflict Australia.
And when we next go to the ballot box, I hope we support the leader and team that have the courage to govern rather than just occupy the Treasury benches.
Have a good day.
-- Herald Sun


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