Roxon’s 10 points for good government
Former Labor Attorney General Nicola Roxon delivered a speech on ten housekeeping tips for a future Labor Government. In one sense it is a catalogue of how bad Kevin Rudd was, but the ten points are worth highlighting as general good practice:
- Labor must always focus on the fact that good policy improves people’s lives and that is why the party exists.
- Governments as a whole, and the prime minister in particular, need to keep their focus high level – spending time and energy on the things that really matter.
- Good leaders are good delegators.
- Labor needs to welcome debate, not fear it.
- Be polite and be persuasive. Or I could call this “Keep yourself nice”.
- Always ask what you can do for the party (and the nation) not what it can do for you (with apologies to JFK).
- Good governments run best with good diaries – so boring, but universally true.
- Choose good people – as leaders, as MPs and as staff.
- Accept you are not always right, and cannot always fix everything. It’s easier with this as your starting point.
- And lastly, never forget polling is only a snapshot, not a predictor.
No 3, 5, 6, 7 and 8 are ones I especially endorse.