Political commentator Julianne Schultz has raised alarm about a significant shift in Australia's public discourse, noting that views once considered unacceptable are now dominating political conversations.
Opposition Controls National Agenda
The Liberal-National Coalition, which political analysts suggest has little chance of returning to power before the 2030s, is currently setting Australia's political agenda. This situation creates what Schultz describes as an absurd dynamic that debases national politics.
From a tactical standpoint, the government might find this arrangement temporarily beneficial. With media attention focused on opposition squabbles, there's less scrutiny on those actually holding power. However, Schultz warns this approach only delivers short-term advantages while causing long-term damage to political discourse.
Immigration Debate Distracts From Real Issues
The emerging discussion about immigration serves as what Schultz calls a cruel example of this problematic dynamic. Rather than addressing substantive policy challenges, the debate distracts from issues that would genuinely improve Australian lives.
For weeks, disproportionate attention has centred on policy matters that have troubled the Coalition for decades - particularly net zero emissions and migration numbers. These are promises that, by any reasonable assessment, the opposition cannot deliver, and attempting to do so might create economic and social chaos.
This agenda-setting by an unelectable opposition stymies important decisions and diverts focus from critical areas needing attention: healthcare, education, social care, inequality, climate change and innovation.
Structural Problems Require Substantive Solutions
Schultz identifies deeper structural issues that simplistic political debates cannot resolve. Everyone wants cheaper energy, but merely repeating this desire won't make it happen. Infrastructure faces genuine pressure, yet reducing migration numbers won't magically solve these complex problems.
These challenges developed over decades, while Australia cruised on its advantages: being one of the world's wealthiest countries, occupying an entire continent, maintaining a relatively small population, and benefiting from robust institutions.
Sean Kelly's Quarterly Essay, The Good Fight: What Does Labor Stand For?, reveals that political leaders have stopped defining ambitious visions for the nation, partly from fear of failure. This has created a vicious cycle where incremental approaches breed public cynicism about government effectiveness.
The current immigration debate highlights this problem sharply. Australian politicians frequently boast about the country being the greatest multicultural nation in the world, yet repeating this claim doesn't make it true.
Schultz acknowledges Australia's remarkable transformation from its exclusionary migration policy origins. The success of millions who've built new lives in Australia represents a significant achievement. However, the shadow of earlier approaches lingers in what she terms the national DNA.
Concerningly, about one-third of Australia's population who migrated from elsewhere still feel their place remains conditional. The fact that dual passport holders cannot stand for federal parliament reinforces this perception.
Schultz reports that at recent public events discussing Australian identity, many visibly non-Anglo participants expressed feeling threatened by events like the March for Australia and increasing neo-Nazi rallies. They described how discussions about multicultural success felt performative, while debates about migration numbers overlooked that real people's lives were at stake.
The situation represents a dramatic shift from 1996, when Pauline Hanson was disendorsed as a Liberal candidate for expressing views the party then deemed unacceptable. Today, Hanson leads a party that, in Schultz's words, behaves like a sheepdog rounding up a flock, with her ideas gaining mainstream traction.
As Schultz concludes, the danger remains that Labor might become the natural party of government yet have little substantive achievement to show for it, while the opposition continues setting a damaging national agenda.
