Where has our talent gone?

Byron Hodkinson on the hemorrhaging of talent from youth politics, and how to fix it.

A recent conversation with a prominent Liberal student and Tim Andrews’ recent and provocatively titled piece on intellectualism within the youth movements of the Liberal Party got me thinking about a similar issue playing on my mind for some time: the haemorrhaging of talent from youth politics.

Before anyone accuses me of beating up on my own party, let me be clear: it’s happening on both sides. Perhaps the best illustration is the current president of the National Union of Students, Carla Drakeford. Intellectual shortcomings aside, Drakeford managed to split the ALP Club at Melbourne University, shatter a successful left-wing coalition controlling the student union, and ultimately deliver a broad right team the prize of office. Like all good socialist operations, her faction – National Labor Students – then rewarded her with election to her current role, the negotiations for which were conducted between NLS and Labor Unity on the basis that the winnermust be a female.

Of course, if Drakeford is true to form, she’ll now be penning an elementary cease and desist letter founded upon her knowledge of undergraduate tort law, like she did when I made truthful yet damaging statements about the University of Melbourne Student Union during her term as president.

Now to our side – but first, some historical context.  In 1989, Gerry Wheeler narrowly defeated Tony Smith for the presidency of the Australian Liberal Students’ Federation. Wheeler went on to become a senior adviser to Prime Minister Howard and Smith, as is well known, is now a rising star of the Federal Coalition. The same year, Marise Payne became federal president of the Young Liberal Movement and now sits on Tony Abbott’s front bench.

But can we – and by ‘we’ I mean the youth of the Liberal Party – honestly say that we would have such talent progress through the ranks in a single year these days? Sadly, the answer is no, and the numerous boorish renditions of God Save the Queen at the 2010 Federal Young Liberal conference in Adelaide is good (if only anecdotal) evidence of that.

Leadership posts in youth Liberal organisations are by and large filled by very capable people, but beyond that, there is rarely any substantive depth. Too much is left to too few – and it’s a pity that the rest end up using their titles for nothing other than to build their CV. No doubt that cohort then guild the lily to prospective employers about what they actually did in their positions, but that’s another matter.

On the positive side, there are still droves of young people joining their campus Liberal club, the Young Liberals, or both. But this isn’t the problem - it’s that the majority of branches, clubs or state divisions within these organisations aren’t doing enough to further their skills.

The speed in which many are thrown into a culture of accumulating bureaucratic party titles – think state council delegate, branch president or membership officer – means that they spend far less time engaging in activities far more likely to value-add to their development as political activists for the Liberal Party and Australia’s centre-right movement more generally.

Because there is often no encouragement to participate in the battle of ideas, many end up with a black and white view of public policy within the two-party system in Australia – Liberal good, Labor bad. As much as that is often true, it is too often viewed without any appreciation for the philosophical underpinnings of either party’s policy or the practicalities of their delivery. Surely it isn’t too hard to encourage members to get a detailed grasp of the history of liberal-conservative ideology and/or Australian political history by reading a few of the classic liberal-conservative texts of Burke, Hayek or Smith; or Paul Kelly’s End of Certainty and The March of Patriots; or Henry Kissinger’s realist exposition Diplomacy.

Similarly, a huge void exists in terms of the development of political skills. As important as it is, you’ll never become another Karl Rove by letterboxing every house in a marginal seat, nor will you morph into a younger version of Lynton Crosby by involving yourself in every single party preselection. Where you do develop such skills is by building campaigns from the ground up – for student union office, in pursuing a particular policy outcome, or of course in a local, state or federal government contest.

I’ll bet that the Liberal teams that had student union victories at Melbourne and at the University of Queensland, or those that were a key part of campaign teams devising strategies in marginal seats that were won for the Liberal Party in South Australia, learnt far more than the stereotypical Eddie Expert in their early twenties concerned only about internal party procedures, stuffing a few hundred letterboxes a month and throwing pictures of cocktail soirees on Twitter and Facebook.

Right now, we have too much of the latter – and only a renewed emphasis on the former will mean that we have more of the sort of talent we had coming through the ranks in 1989.

Byron Hodkinson is the immediate past president of the Australian Liberal Students’ Federation and president of the Victorian Young Liberals.

Comments

[Ben]

1.

Interesting insights. I’d also like to read an essay on alcoholism and Young Liberals. Just connecting the dots.

[Stephan Knoll]

2.

Definitely agree with the example of God Save the Queen at the Conference. I whole heartedly agree with your comments. The point though is that internal politiking is what is rewarded. The system gives to those who do the numbers and play the game. I would much rather see a system that rewards talent and ideas. I have tried to think of ways to do this but there are many wihtout talent who would then have to fall back on other means to advance their agenda bringing us back to where we started.

[The Queen's Man in Australia]

3.

"the numerous boorish renditions of God Save the Queen at the 2010 Federal Young Liberal conference in Adelaide is good (if only anecdotal) evidence of that."
Grow up pal!
If you have a hang-up against the Queen, go and join the Labor Party or Republican movement.
The renditions of this great song at the conference tell me three things:
1) That "everything old is new again".
2) The Young Liberals of today have more in common with their (wonderful) grandparent's generation than their (half-bred) parent's generation.
3) That Adelaide still has so much grace and style - we should hold more conferences there!

[Byron Hodkinson]

4.

For the record, I'm a constitutional monarchist - but I'm not so insecure to feel the need to sing another country's national anthem ad nauseum to prove it.

[Vikas Nayak]

5.

Alcohol is the great uniter, whether you're a free market loving republican liberal or a protectionist queen obsessed conservative.

For the record, yes, the YL's do a number on people who arent socially conservative and are interested in...well....financial liberalism, the marketplace of ideas and policy formation. However, its not as if there arent debates on those topics, its just that the debates are held within small cohorts within the YL organisation, rather than a defining characteristic of the YL's.

I agree with Byron that the liberal party is hemorrhaging talent, however that's nothing new.

[Angry Conservative]

6.

You've shown your hand here, Vikas, or rather your prejudices.
Most constitutional monarchy people are conservative, yes, but not protectionist. Just look at Senator Nick Minchin.
Leave your misconceived stereotypes at home if you're genuinely interested in policy formation.

[Vikas Nayak]

7.

I didnt know Nick Minchin was a YL?

I suggest you talk to Constitutional Monarch's within the YL branches...you'll be pleasantly surprised.

I'm not sledging constitutional monarch's as a whole, although lets face it...i've stated several times that i wont be lectured on Australian Sovereignty by a monarchist. My opinion is pretty much out in public on that issue.

[Justin Simon]

8.

"Most constitutional monarchy people are conservative, yes, but not protectionist. Just look at Senator Nick Minchin."

He said most, not all. Dismissing generalisations with anecdotes is fighting falsehood with falsehood.

[John Humphreys]

9.

So let's set up some regular Liberal Party "lectures" which allow an outlet for more intellectual (and less political) discussion. This doesn't need to replace any of the good political work being done by the YLs and doesn't need to be seen as a threat to anybody or anything... just an additional forum for thoughtful discussion.

If nobody else does this soon, then I'm happy to set up a regular lecture/debate series in Brisbane.

[Vikas Nayak]

10.

does it have to be in Brisbane?

[Les]

11.

Hey - good article Byron.

And John/above: I don't think that a lecture series will help one bit. Got to an ALSF or YLM conference and you see where they point -- the self-assured talking in narrow circles or a bunch of hicks jeering about privatising penguins.

What needs to happen is a bunch of people getting experience in being liberals rather than lunchbox legends. It's harder to do this within the party, although you could always go out to business, but for student liberals it's quite easy -- beat the left off campus and run your student union. Yet there are only a handful of student liberal clubs in this country that even make a serious effort.

The average walk-up Liberal is never going to read greats. Not that they couldn't - it doesn't take much to flick through pages - but they really aren't intersted. Most are there because they hate the Left (for the party in particular, this is almost institutional) - some hate everything, some hate themselves and some just want to have some fun mocking a common target.

Then there's those that do: there are a few stars, but most are more interested in cultivating an image of intellectual competence than actually experiencing it -- and that's not exactly hard in Liberal circles. A lot of them end up living off their parents, staying at uni forever and collecting centrelink, or heading overseas to do either of same because they have no idea how to actually be a liberal.

They're the ones that are being ripped off. If they were recruited into a good club, a good branch, and told to stop acting like a freak and skill up: you'd have your party leaders. As it is, you're going to get a generation of rabble-rousers and tossers.

[John Humphreys]

12.

Experience is good. I have no objection there. Though I also agree with the idea that there should be an avenue for more considered and less overtly political activity within the Liberals. I don't think this should just be for young people -- but everybody who honestly wants to engage ideas. This could serve a useful purpose both as an outlet for the "thinkers" and as a potential educational tool for those who want to learn more about liberal philosophy but don't want to spend 4 years reading 100 year old books.

Vikas -- I'm based in Brisbane. Of course, others are free to set up lectures/debates in their area.

[Stephen Jury]

13.

You actually think that Alex Hawke is a good example of a young Liberal? This is the guy that when he doesn't have enough of his own people at a Young Liberal meeting in his office, tried to close it down and then falling that, calls the Police. Alex Hawke is a prime example of the sort of person that makes young Liberals seem like such a joke!!

[Stephen Jury]

14.

Sorry, this was meant for the article by the guy who responded to this article. I rather agree with Byron here.