We must not let this opportunity for reform pass. The likelihood remains that Australia will return to a well-worn “business as usual” as the pandemic recedes. Privileged groups will continue to prosper; little progress will be made on climate change; ordinary citizens will continue to feel they have little say in how the country is really run. While nobody should welcome this, the current state of our democracy – our political economy, if you like – makes it hard to bet on any other outcome.
Our prime ministers and premiers wield far less power than most people believe. They are not the only, or even the most, powerful actors in Australian policymaking. They’re simply the final link in a chain, albeit the point at which influence is most intensely targeted.
Instead, power is distributed across multiple actors – business leaders, media, unions, peak bodies and political factions in addition to the individual political leaders. Most leaders today operate a never-ending mental calculus of how they accommodate the competing demands of these groups in a way that will extend their period of office. Simple as that.
The group of actors who have been able to influence political leaders has narrowed dramatically. Those who currently hold most sway over leaders’ behaviour are big business, the media, unions and internal political rivals, with Coalition governments weighting business interests and Labor favouring union ones.
https://www.theguardian.com/commenti...r-the-pandemic