In his first interview on ABC’s 730 this week, Prime Minister Turnbull gave an interesting response to a question by Leigh Sales about the good fortune he had received in his life, and how he could relate to the struggles of ordinary Australians. His answer was very instructive for how a Turnbull Prime Ministership might be.
Here is his response in full:
“Well, the truth is I have been extraordinarily lucky. I have had to struggle in my life. I didn’t – I wasn’t born with a silver spoon in my mouth, by any means. But, you know, the reality is that even if you’re born with brains, you know, with a higher-than-average intelligence, that is as, in a sense, as undeserved as somebody who inherits a billion dollars. The fact is we’ve all got to recognise that much of our good fortune is actually good fortune. Of course you work hard.
“Look, I’ll give you an example. I remember when I was a partner of Goldman Sachs in New York, very successful investment bank, everyone was earning very big money, the chairman, the chief executive of the firm gave a sort of pep talk to the partners and he said, you know, 'We’re doing well. We’re making lots of money ‘cause we work hard and we deserve it.' And I said to him afterwards, just quietly, I said, 'You know, there are taxi drivers in this city that work much longer hours than anyone does here and they don’t earn very much at all.
“So, the truth is, we don’t really deserve our good fortune. And that’s why, if you are, if you do well, you’ve got to give something back. That’s why I encourage people to be generous. I encourage, that’s why I encourage and practise philanthropy.
“And in terms of understanding the situation of others, all of us are different, right? So the truth is nobody can have experienced exactly the same experience of any other Australian. The important thing is to have the emotional intelligence and the empathy and the imagination that enables you to walk in somebody else’s shoes, to be able to sit down with them on a train or in the street, hear their story and have the imagination to understand how they feel.
“Emotional intelligence is probably the most important asset for – certainly for anyone in my line of work.”
Phew.
It takes a fair bit of chutzpah to reply to the question “how can Malcolm understand what it is to struggle” by mentioning his time working with Goldman Sachs.
First off let us note that we have left the three word slogans behind us. And while that is to be applauded, we should also be aware that while Turnbull can be very articulate, he can also waffle.
He loves to go off on a tangent, and he loves to throw in a personal anecdote.
It takes a fair bit of chutzpah to reply to the question “how can Malcolm understand what it is to struggle” by mentioning his time working with Goldman Sachs.
It does however show he has learned from his first period as Liberal Party leader. Back then when he gave his first speech he tried to make himself seem like a battler. His first lines as leader in 2008 were to say “I do not come to the position of the leader of the Liberal Party from a lifetime of privilege. I know what it’s like to be very short of money, I know what it’s like to live in rented flats...”
To which the nation replied, “Yes, and you know what it is like to live in a mansion in Point Piper”.
This time round Turnbull is ditching the pretence of battlerism, and good thing too.
He loves to waffle, and often his waffles don’t really answer the question.
For me however, the most interesting aspect is the insight it gives into the new Prime Minister’s outlook.
Jane Gilmore, writing for noted that Mr Turnbull’s argument that he has achieved a lot of his good fortune due to good fortune as opposed to hard work is a major change from the conservatism practised by Tony Abbott.
Nowhere was there a sense that you only get to the top by working hard. Nowhere was there the sense as Joe Hockey put it that if you want, for example to buy a home to “”.
But while Turnbull may have acknowledged luck, nowhere either was he of a mind to talk of the importance of policies that might assist those whom were denied the luck of being born into wealth or intelligence or any other genetic advantages.
Instead he responded by suggesting the very conservative and right-wing response of greater philanthropy.
Now philanthropy is all well and good, but it does not in any serious way address inequality.
Indeed his remark about the taxi driver who works hard is an interesting one given that at the moment around the country taxi drivers are concerned about their livelihoods due to the introduction of Uber.
Presumably Mr Turnbull as a supporter of the free market would be greatly in favour of Uber and the benefits of cheaper travel it brings those who travel such ways. But those struggling are worried not about being able to get cheaper cab fares, but whether talk of greater competition and flexibility is code for lower wages, longer hours, and lower employment security.
The answer demonstrates the traps ahead for Mr Turnbull.
He loves to waffle, and often his waffles don’t really answer the question. For now everyone is in raptures that the dullard with the three-word slogans is gone, but a cavalcade of verbiage may get tiring as well – especially if it seems to be designed to avoid giving an answer.
But most of all the trap will be in the intersection of his words and his policies.
At the moment before any policies have appeared, the sound of the new Prime Minister’s voice is soothing voters into a belief that something akin to the opposite of Abbott and Hockey has arrived.
But whether they will still be as soothed when he shows his economic colours in full remains to be seen.
