Thoughtful Thursday

I had a very interesting conversation with my cousin the other night. He made a very compelling argument against politicians having to live in their electorate.

Unfortunately, at the time of said conversation, I was almost in a food coma and was far far from coherent, but upon reflection, I have to say that I can academically agree with his argument, from an emotional level, I can't support it.

From a purely logical stance, being a politician is simply a job. And like an accountant, lawyer, doctor etc, it shouldn't matter where you live. So long as you are qualified for the job (perhaps by having excellent economic management credentials, or just being a really good listener perhaps? My cousin didn't exactly outline what the minimum credenitials would be), why should it matter that you are driving 40 mins to get to your workplace?

I don't have any fancy arguments against it really, it's more of a gut feeling that being a politician isn't an "ordinary" job. You are the link between the population and the power-wielders, and as such, you carry enormous responsibility as the voice for thousands of constituents who are relying on you to advocate for them and their interests. Anyone can debate for something, but the people who make this happen, they are passionate and engaged and involved in the problems they're trying to solve. Politicians need to be a part of the community, or a least, need to be seen to be a part of the community and that simply can't be done when you live on the other side of the city, or, in more extreme situations, the other side of the State. I guess the crux of the matter is simply that being a politician isn't simply a "job", like an accountant, or a lawyer, or a fireman, and as such, there are higher and additional expectations. And I don't think that it's unreasonable for voters to expect that the person who will speak with their voice in parliament will know more about the suburb than that which can be read of an aid-produced fact sheet, or by staking out shopping centres for a month outside of the election.

Finally, the caveat, and there is always a caveat, I'm not a total purist when it comes to this. Clearly, if someone lives in adjoining areas and is a member of the community in the adjoining electorate (it certainly isn't unusual for kids to be sent to schools in other districts, or be in sporting teams a suburb away), that is fine. But I think that if you are literally, visiting your electorate for the first time during your election campaign, perhaps you need to really reconsider how equipped you are to truly represent and advocate for your electorates.