The Decline of Political Leadership in Australia? Changing Recruitment and Careers of Federal Politicians

The authors of this book argue that changing recruitment patterns and career profiles of Australian federal MPs - analyzed in the context of trends towards factionalized patronage parties, opportunistic populism, party-bureaucratic careers and increasing fast tracking to the top - have reduced the parliamentary elite's quality, particularly since the 1990s. The declining quality of the Australian 'political class' is a major factor underlying the decline in public trust and confidence in federal parliamentarians. Major parties in Australia are weakened by voter-party dealignment, factional divisions, falling trust and declining membership. They gradually abandon the systematic recruitment and grooming of leaders, attempting instead to pick emerging leaders and vote winners: factional loyalists, media celebrities, and skillful party functionaries. This trend is aggravated by relentless media exposés that undermine the system of political recruitment by skewing it towards the selection of party bureaucrats, demagogues, celebrities and PR experts.

Jan Pakulski, MA (Warsaw), PhD (ANU), is Professor Emeritus at the University of Tasmania, Australia and Fellow of the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia (ASSA). He is the author-editor of 9 books and over 120 scholarly articles on elites, democratization, multiculturalism, post-communism, social movements, and social inequality. His most recent books are Globalizing Inequalities (Allen and Unwin, 2004), Toward Leader Democracy (with Andras Korosenyi, Anthem, 2012) and Violence and the State (co-edited and co-written with Matt Killingsworth and Matthew Sussex, MUP 2015).

Bruce Tranter is professor of sociology at the University of Tasmania, Hobart. His research interests include the study of political and environmental leaders, environmental attitudes and behaviour, social movements and national identity. Articles based upon his quantitative and qualitative research have been published widely in international sociological and political science journals.

Preface And Acknowledgements
1 Introduction: What Is Wrong With Our Politicians?
2 Political Elites, Elite Quality And Elite Recruitment
3 Political Candidates
4 The Federal Parliamentarians: Changing Recruitment And Careers
5 The Leaders
6 Conclusion
References