A radical political centre for whites?

Foreign policy argument is dominated by a ritualised exchange between pro-Bush and anti-Bush sentiments. This exchange is not debate, it is rehearsed theatre. Light is never generated on complexity or nuanced circumstances. The starting points for sensible foreign and defence policy lie elsewhere.

There are social factors too which underpin the instinct for bi-polarity among our political actors. Our big cities are socially segmented into west and east. In the middle of the 20th century that was a powerful dynamic in shaping political loyalties.

Pearson’s argument is that complexity in Indigenous affairs requires us to bury the rights or responsibilities, left or right, polarity.

Doesn’t complexity in non-Indigenous society require us to bury it too?

Family policy debate is trapped between nostalgia for white picket fences and the silliness of paid parental leave. Don’t we all have an obligation to say “Stop. Put aside these instincts for thinking in either-or categories. We can do better”?

There is no public sign of what Noel Pearson calls a "primary societal leadership that is interested in finding the radical centre".

But there are many invisible white and black Noel Pearsons out there who know in their bones that we need to develop this societal leadership as a matter of urgency.