Is Canberra canny?

Canny is shrewd. Canny is worldly. Canny is wise. So what about Canberra? Is Canberra shrewd? Is Canberra wise?

On leaving Canberra recently, Bob Carr told the Canberra Press Gallery, "I was struck by a lack of canniness in the government. A lack of caution, cunning - canniness is probably the best word. Regarding people smuggling he told the press conference, "I thought the government was too ready to cater to one section of opinion in Australia and dismantle what Howard had left in place, without weighing carefully, cannily, what effect that might have on people smuggler activity."

Yes, it's true that he was specifically referring to his experience in Canberra with the recent Labor government but it does leave us with the question about "Government in Canberra" as an ongoing whole. Is it shrewd? Is it canny? Can we the people trust Canberra to be worldly-wise?

What about the new Liberal-National government?

PM Tony Abbott recently visited Washington where his performance was described as that of a 'rookie' by one of Washington's oldest think tanks. Dr Norman Ornstein of the American Enterprise Institute said he 'winced' when Abbott "violated a basic principle of diplomacy to drag in your domestic politics when you go abroad". Commentators describe Abbott as having left Washington with an impression of "coarseness, amateurishness and viciousness".

But, even more important than Beltway insiders, what about the Electors of Australia? Do the majority of electors in Australia think that government, as a whole in Canberra, is shrewd in the way they conduct our national business?

True. We have seen that when is comes to putting in for travelling and expense reimbursements that Abbott & Co in Canberra can be very canny indeed. But what do Australians really think about our men and women in Canberra?

Here's some recent research:

• In a 2011 Galaxy poll conducted for the Institute of Public Affairs, 60% of Australians said that Canberra decision makers do not understand the needs of families and businesses living in Northern Australia. Only 16% of Australians did think that decision makers in Canberra were in touch with the needs of Northern Australians.

• Mapping of Social Cohesion by the Scanlon Foundation reveals new depths plumbed in our distrust of government and politicians. Professor Andrew Markus of Monash University finds nearly 90% of us trust hospitals and police. Nearly 85% of us trust public schools. Three-quarters of us even trust employers. But little more than a 25% of Australians trust Canberra to do the right thing by them most of the time.

• Roy Morgan's annual research on Image of Professions in May 2013 found that while 90% of Australians trusted nurses only 14% trusted Canberra MPs but still ahead of car salesmen at 4%.

So if Canberra is not even canny enough to win the trust of the majority of Australians how can it win the trust of Washington or, for that matter, the rest of the geopolitical world?

Before writing this I ran this argument by a range of people I know in business and education and also gave it the barbecue test. Perhaps, unsurprisingly, no-one disagreed. But several asked if there was, in fact, anyone in the geopolitical world that could be called canny, shrewd or worldly-wise?

This led to several interesting discussions and quite a range of names were put forward as shrewd, wise and canny operators--from Mandela to Merkel to Castro to Elizabeth 2.0 and even Jorge Bergolglio.

Whoa there! Who exactly IS Jorge Bergoglio?

Bergoglio, like Abbott, got the top job just this year and there's something else they have in common. They're both Jesuit-trained thinkers. Better known as Pope Francis, Jorge Bergoglio, seems to already have captured the imagination of the geopolitical world. He's tamed the notorious Roman Curia. He's brought transparency to the Vatican bank. He's sacked the Bishop of Bling. He's even ordered an unprecedented global poll of Catholic opinion on matters from divorce to gay marriage!

Esquirecover-story (Oct 17) The Most Interesting Man in the World, describes Francis, "He's funny, smart, and fearless. He drives a lousy car and won't wear flashy shoes. He's a masterful politician, a mover of people. He's nice to the gays, except when he's not. He's nice to women, even if the institution he runs often isn't. He's a brilliant corporate turnaround artist, a quiet revolutionary, a fan of Wagner, and Caravaggio, and Dostoyevsky. He might be a charlatan; he might, underneath all the happy talk and symbolic gestures, be more of the same from a hobbled and ancient institution. But whether you're religious or secular, charmed or repelled, you can't deny the man is fascinating in a way no one else on the world stage is right now".

Is Francis canny? Is he shrewd? Is he worldly-wise? I'd say so.

If the Vatican can lift its game perhaps there's hope for us in Canberra, too.