Will American-style celebrity politics come to dominate in Australia?

Australian politics is different in two basic ways. First, we have never had American–style individualism. The ideal of mateship, for instance, eschews individual achievement in favour of group solidarity, which was at the core of the other great social force, social class interest.

In Australia, openly class-based politics was there from the beginning. The first convicts were either political prisoners or victims of the brutal social repression that accompanied urbanisation and industrialisation in Britain. Government was at the centre of Australian society, and where government is a strong factor, so is politics. Colonial politics then transformed into national politics with Federation, and the continuing central role of government as the core driver of national development kept politics serious. However, with the triumph of "economic rationalism" and especially Howard’s small-government strategy, we are increasingly heading down the American road.

So mass media and the creation of celebrities (however short-lasting) will likely become increasingly common here too, although sports may well lead the way. If Steve Waugh, John Eales or Michael Voss want to be politicians, I’d say they were a shoe-in. As for the media, it may be some time before Rove McManus or Holly Vance can do it but Kerry O’Brien or Ray Martin would be good bets. Indeed, as Brian Burke and Alan Carpenter have shown in WA, it is a short step from interviewer to interviewee.

Of course, what would be ideal would be someone who straddles both worlds and has real exposure. Someone like, say, Eddie Maguire …