When I first heard about Kristina Keneally as Premier of NSW, the compaison seemed unavoidable: attractive, 40-ish, religious, conservative, dedicated mother, and although relatively inexperienced, suddenly shot to high attention in a role of great importance by mighty powerbrokers.
But having now read a bit about her and spoken to a Green leftie friend from NSW Labor, it looks like those superficial demographics and circumstances are all they have in common.
I was told she ‘gets’ climate change and is involved with Green issues. The papers tell me she and her husband both came to politics through their religious and social justice convictions, not the other way around.
So let’s all give her the benefit of the doubt, while placing the bar pretty high. Of course, NSW politics is so low that any move towards earning the people’s trust, as she hopes to do, will be welcome. But therein lies the challenge.
At every scale I see leaders who have failed the ‘tranformative’ test. That means to break through and actually help society and government move in new directions. Getting the old directions a bit tidier, a bit less rent-seeking or a bit fewer political donations isn’t good enough. It’ s like an unfit person standing up to change channels on the TV and calling it exercise – pretense.
Obama has failed the transformative test. The fine print on his health reforms show that it is a step backwards, as it will obscure the deeper problems. And as for the military-industrial complex, well, how many troops would you like with that surge?
At the tiny scale of the ACT, the Greens, with the balance of power, have also failed the test. They are playing with the margins, moving gently and politely towards a few pecks at sustainability. The big money projects continue: the duplication of a ridiculous road and an aboretum in a city that has less and less rain every season.
And Shh! don’t anybody mention population limits, it’s just not PC.
One can’t help but wish Keneally well, and hope that she has the guts and the guidance to get some real change happening. In 15 months, when NSW hold an election, she might then have a hope of prolonging what has become a bad ad for the ALP. Managing the electricity privitisation to encourage renewables and not let prices rise too much, if it’s too late to stop it, would be a good start. In the meantime, I send her this bouquet: