Is political leadership a lost art?

But when there is no war to be won, nation to free, or moral challenge to address, how should one measure the success of a leader?

Professor Keith Grint argues that to ignore the 95 per cent of times when there is no battle, where there is in fact some form of stability, is to perhaps misidentify the more successful leader - the one who succeeded in avoiding the crisis in the first place.

The Gillard government is currently negotiating yet another trade agreement with the US – the Trans Pacific Partnership Agreement. It appears at first glance to be a seemingly relatively benign exercise, but it has the power to drastically change domestic healthcare policy. If Gillard fails to demonstrate some courageous political leadership during these negotiations, healthcare values established and embedded by Ben Chifley, namely the pharmaceutical benefits scheme (PBS) and its insurance of access to affordable medicines for all Australians, will be but one area that is emasculated by the deal.

This is Gillard's time. She should utilise the Occupy Wall St momentum and define this moment by resisting the US push for an unfair trade deal. This would prevent a healthcare crisis from developing. Gillard will then leave a small but significant legacy - as the courageous leader who did not bow down to corporate US interests and sell out the PBS on her watch.

Perhaps the problem with leadership is not so much a dearth of courage in our political leaders but rather complacency within the electorate that fails to demand it from them.

John F Kennedy said that, "a nation which has forgotten the quality of courage which in the past has been brought to public life, is not as likely to insist upon or regard that quality in its chosen leaders today." An electorate that has become self interested and narrow in vision deserves no better from its leadership.

We must pull the I-pods from our ears, the flat screen from our eyes and hear and see the world around us as it really is. If then we decide that what we need is a renewed community enthusiasm for bold and imaginative political leadership that looks beyond populism and party politics, then we must genuinely and actively engage with the political process.

The only thing we can control with any level of certainty are our own choices. In order to be led by leaders with virtue we must each play our part, whether as public servants or as voters, in making such a choice. Only then will we be rewarded with the kind of leadership that can bring that future about.