Kelly O’Dwyer has used her final speech in politics to call for the Australian parliament to adopt a British convention allowing governments to pursue their mandates when policies have been fairly disclosed to the public during elections.
The industrial relations minister, who was Australia’s youngest female cabinet minister, and the first woman to have a baby while serving in a cabinet post, is bowing out at the coming federal election.
The Victorian Liberal used her valedictory address on Wednesday to make some broad observations about the state of contemporary politics and the quality of democracy.
Echoing commentary from Liberals like Craig Laundy, O’Dwyer encouraged colleagues to spend less time in “tribal echo chambers” and more time in their local communities. “My time in this place has coincided with a deterioration of trust in both this institution and, indeed, the very concept of democracy.”
“Social media, and a proliferation of tribal echo chambers, have led to warped perceptions of Australians’ views, a failure to listen to alternative ideas and a decline in genuine policy debate and civil discourse.”
“Time spent in the community is the best antidote.”
O’Dwyer noted that technology has accelerated our lives and expectations but complex policy making remains tough, slow, terrain. “Complex policy issues in an increasingly complex world don’t usually have an easy answer.”
She warned politicians not to respond to the current difficulties by outsourcing decision making to unelected people, and she counselled that patience in politics remained a virtue.
“Sometimes parliamentarians need to prosecute the case for patience and a deeper conversation with their electorates,” O’Dwyer said.
Given the fractious state of the discourse, it was time to reconsider parliamentary conventions, O’Dwyer said. She said the role of the Australian Senate had evolved from house of review, and house of states’ rights, to a chamber “to frustrate the government’s agenda and the will of the people”.
“This has contributed to undermining faith in our democracy and its institutions and long-term policy outcomes for our country,” she said.
O’Dwyer supported a call last year by the current Senate president and her long-time friend Scott Ryan for the local adoption of the Salisbury convention. The Salisbury convention has been in the place in the United Kingdom since the late 1940s. It says the House of Lords will not block a policy that is explicitly part of a party’s election manifesto.
In a major speech last August, Ryan lamented the lost art of compromise in Australian politics, which was a message both for his political opponents and for his own colleagues, who, at the time he delivered the speech, had just installed the third party leader in two terms.
“As my final observation in this place, I think that elected governments should be able to implement their mandates,” O’Dwyer said on Wednesday.
“I support the proposition endorsed by the Senate president for major parties to consider implementing an Australian version of the Salisbury convention”.
“This would mean parties agreeing to abide by a convention that the Senate won’t obstruct the passage of legislation to effect government policy which has been fully and fairly disclosed to the Australian people well before voting commences in an election.”
O’Dwyer paid tribute to Malcolm Turnbull, thanking him “for his friendship and also his great support of me when I gave birth – the first serving cabinet minister to do so.”
“He also made me the youngest female cabinet minister and, together with Scott Morrison, gave me portfolios with complex policy issues to work through.”
“I have loved the intellectual stimulation and technical detail that has come with the second largest legislative workload in this place.”
The avowed feminist also paid tribute to Julie Bishop for her “friendship and guidance”.
