Leadership is a balancing act

Harold Holt (1966-67) had a similarly sunny disposition and in many ways was less complex than most political leaders, but his independent wealth set him apart as did his risqué private lifestyle which was generally unreported at the time.

Bob Hawke (1983-91) was the ultimate over-achiever - world record drinker, professional larrikin, Rhodes scholar, union supremo and Labor Party savior. He projected “good bloke” but was personally impatient with people.

Paul Keating (1991-96) travelled so far from his roots that he no longer related to the suburbs; it was all subsumed into the big picture - but few people understood this.

So, do ordinary people become political leaders, or does their very ordinariness disqualify them from high office?

Victoria’s longest-serving premier, Henry Bolte (1955-72), probably fits the bill; a man who never aspired to leadership, and when it came to him literally by accident (his predecessor died in an air crash), he never expected it to last very long.

Asked long after his retirement why he had been so successful, the earthy old sheep farmer thought for a moment before musing that

   "…maybe it’s native cunning, maybe it’s mixing with people. I have not lived removed and have not been remote from people…you must be able to assess what people are thinking".

Another seemingly ordinary man who achieved political prominence was Bob Askin, the longest-serving Liberal premier of NSW (1965-75) and a former bank officer.

Asked once what being an effective political leader meant, Askin was adamant that it was about being "an average Australian."

He continued:

   "Being good outside means being able to go to the football match, to the cricket match, have a glass of beer, go to the race meeting, and use a few Australian expletives … In my experience the voter looks   for someone who is of the same ilk as himself, but perhaps a little, just a little, higher up the scale, he likes to think, but not too far up".

Ordinary, but not quite. It is a most delicate balancing act.