Tribal warfare and Australian politics

A Yale University professor has unwittingly given us an insight into why Australians are fed up with their politicians.

She writes about US foreign policy.

She calls it tribal politics.

But it applies to us. Her name is Amy Chua and she is the John M. Duff Professor of Law at Yale Law School.

Her just released book is Political Tribes: Group Instinct and the Fate of Nations.

She argues that humans are tribal. We need to belong to groups.

We have been in tribes for hundreds of thousands of years.

In today's world these fundamental tribal instincts have emerged everywhere.

Group identities that matter most – the ones that people will fight for, even die for – are ethnic, religious, sectarian, or clan-based.

The US sees the world in terms of nation-states engaged in great ideological battles – Capitalism vs. Communism, Democracy vs. Authoritarianism, the "Free World" vs. the "Axis of Evil."

She is right.

She adds that "We are often spectacularly blind to the power of tribal politics."

We see it in Australia. Australia does not have political parties; it has tribal warfare, spectacularly waged on the floor of parliament.

Our politicians are not interested in finding the best solution for the country's problems. They are much more interested in scoring points against the opposing tribe.

Michaelia Cash's threatening to name "every young woman" working in Bill Shorten's office was only the latest in a long series of point scoring - or spear throwing – across the floor.

The vicious facial expression of the Minister, pictured in every newspaper in the country, was evidence that she was not at all interested in good government- that she was much more committed to warfare.

The Barnaby Joyce affair was another example of tribal battles substituting for good government.

The warfare on corporate taxes yet another. It - tribal warfare - has been a practice with us for many years. Perhaps Paul Keating was the greatest spear thrower of them all.

But the country deserves better. How can we get politicians to sit down together and collectively decide what is in the best interests of the people of this country?

Is it discontinuing question time on television? Is it abandoning party discipline entirely?

Is it legislating only after the decision is made by joint parliamentary committees?

This writer does not know, thinks we should experiment a little and seek suggestions on what will bring about more considered government.