Election Day 2010 – 21/08/10
I think we were all somewhat disappointed in the 2010 election campaign in Australia. These days campaigns seem to be fought on irrational fears rather than candidates and parties standing up for things that matter, and sticking to it over time. As excited as I am to live in a time when we have our first female Prime Minister in this country, we are lacking real leadership across the political arena. What is required are leaders who will take on issues that require long term commitments and who are willing to hold to these commitment whilst in power, even if it means they won’t be re-elected. In the absence of this, our children’s future will be sold out to politcal ambition. Whilst this short termsim isn’t new, it has never been more damaging as the issues of sustainability become so critical. We can no longer take for granted that there will always be enough food, enough water, enough land, enough energy, enough fuel, enough clean air, enough time. We need real leadership now more than ever before, in families, in businesses, in neighbourhoods, in cities, in governments and on the global stage. We need to question the concept of continual growth in a world of limited resources – where is the growth coming from exactly? If there are gains in one part of our world, are there not losses in others?
These are the issues facing 21st century leaders and thus far, we don’t seem to be up to the challenge. Each one of us needs to do better.
