Australia’s hung parliament an ‘opportunity’: Edward de Bono
August 27, 2010 by iainchalmers
‘Lateral thinking’ guru and author Edward de Bono says Australia’s hung parliament presents a “tremendous opportunity” to walk away from the dominance of the two-party Westminster system, suggesting Labor and the Coalition could put forward its best performers to form a government.
Having just visited Australia and witnessed the political goings on first hand, including discussions with a few Australians (and then New Zealanders), I drew a few opinions from my experience. Add to that my UK citizenship and the UK political debacle – the result being mass uncertainty and a coalition government, then my individual viewpoint, matched with my personal and professional experiences gained over nearly 60 years mean that I have opinions – I stand for something – and a coalition government has the best potential to deliver what I want to see. Politics is a strange game (just like football – bizarre things and results can and do happen). And the media can not only predict outcomes but can apply such influence as to convert potential outcomes to certainties. So does a hung parliament present a “tremendous opportunity” as Mr De Bono asks, or is it just yet another sign the systems we have lived by for so many years and decades are finally broken, that the confidence and belief has now evaporated.
Take the USA, as an example. I wanted Obama to win but not for the politics he represented. Actually, it was mostly because he wasn’t Bush. But the Conservatives or Republicans of this world do represent what I believe is a better management approach for the world – that people are productive and pay taxes to pay for services inclusive of those for people who are less well-off. Yet there are degrees of well-offness which need to be debated. And, in the arena of debate, my take is that of OBJECTIVISM matched with CPS and the visualisation of the best possible data to really enable the decision-makers (who should be US) to arrive at the best possible solutions and action plans. Such plans have to be DOABLE, TRACKABLE and ADJUSTBALE – otherwise it will again be to no avail.
In summary of a completely separate debate, I have no real confidence in politicians so I do not see that a coalition is that tremendous opportunity. What we all really need is a world-wide get-together of the best business minds – those who are not intent upon takeover and the creation of obscene unmanageable conglomerates but those with a controlling influence who can persuade people simply to think better, then do what is needed to create a new world economy taking into account such things as the running low of natural resources, a non-consumer led generation of leaders who don’t need to play word games for the sake of a vote.
Most politicians, whether in coalition or in opposition, spend most of their time hearing from the civil servants or influential business leaders and learning their trade as they go – also spending their public time defending their position. They are as much good to us as chocolate fire guards in front of a lively and hotly burning fire. The way forward is simply that of best possible data management matched with refined thinking methods applied by those who do not depend upon a vote and who have already made it in life – so they can work without personal avarice. Yet it all comes down to intellectual and systemic function. All the best thinking in this world we live in comes to nought if we don’t actually do something about the major concerns with which we are faced. And there are a good few concerns I, just me on my own, could submit in need of solutions. So how many more solutions are there out there which we need and don’t even know about.
Must we trust only the politicians in this world to sort out the problems for which we must all take some responsibility?
Must we trust only the politicians of this world to sort out the major challenges we face for which we must all take some responsibility?
In my view we must all do what we can, individually, as groups, in business, to bring about the change we require. We must arrive at decisions and stand for what we believe. I am not convinced that this is the modus operandi of politicians.
Yet coalition government is a real opportunity for well reasoned and vital change which otherwise would be less likely.