Toffs replace tinsmiths in parliament
Jessica Irvine
August 19, 2010
AUSTRALIA'S first Parliament had a tinsmith, a carpenter, a cabinet maker, a butcher, a market gardener, and no less than two hatmakers sitting on its benches.
Between them they could have built parliament, furnished it, tended its lawns and clad its inhabitants in the latest fashions.
Fast forward 110 years and 97 per cent of today's federal parliamentarians come straight from careers as ''managers, administrators or professionals'', figures from the Parliamentary Library show. The remainder include a motivational speaker (Pat Farmer, LP), an AFL coach (Damian Hale, ALP), two real-estate agents (Michael Keenan, LP and Judi Moylan, LP) and a military officer (Mike Kelly, ALP). There is not a single tradesperson among them.
A separate Herald analysis comparing politicians' past careers against the occupations of the wider workforce reveals a yawning gap between today's politicians and the people they represent.
Although nearly all of today's federal politicians come straight from a managerial, administrative or professional job, just 48 per cent of the wider Australian workforce hold such positions, according to the Bureau of Statistic's 2006 census.
The remaining half of the workforce include tradespeople and technicians 14.4 per cent, labourers 10.5, salespeople 9.8, community workers 8.8 and machinery operators and drivers 6.6.
Not one of the 226 members in the recently dissolved Parliament came directly from one of these occupations. (However, some members may have performed such jobs earlier in life because the library's figures only count the position held immediately before entering Parliament.)
According to the library, nearly a quarter of members came from a position in business - as executives, managers or self employed. The second most common path after that was through a union or party position (19 per cent of members). Barristers, solicitors and other types of lawyers made up a further 12 per cent of Parliament, despite representing just 0.8 per cent of the wider workforce.
Although Australia's Parliament has always been heavy with business professionals and lawyers, the increase in the number of politicians coming from party or union positions is startling. Just seven members of the 1901 Parliament were former union officials.
Today, 43 per cent of parliamentarians come directly from political jobs - including political consultants, advisers and lobbyists, members of state legislatures, party or union employees and electorate staff.
Two-thirds of ALP members come via that route, and this probably understates the numbers who held such positions previously.
In 1981, at the end of the Fraser era, just 15 per cent of all members came to Parliament directly from political posts. The last Fraser Parliament contained six tradesmen, eight teachers, six medical practitioners, two pharmacists and a policeman.
Ian McAllister, a professor of political science at the Australian National University, said: ''What we have seen in Australia is the rise of the career politician, where people are involved in politics at university and then they go work in a politician's office and then go into parliament.''
Although Australia has never had a government that truly mirrored society, it had become even less representative over the past half-century. ''In particular in the Labor Party, you have seen a collapse in people coming from working-class backgrounds over the past 50 years - it just doesn't happen any more, or it is very rare,'' Professor McAllister said.
''In terms of representing the interests of the people within their electorate, you might say it would be better if they came from a background which better represented the people.''
He said the rise of career politicians was a global phenomenon, but more pronounced in Australia because of the power of political parties to pick their candidates. Above-the-line voting in the Senate, in particular, meant parties more or less decided which candidates were elected.
''The Senate was designed to be the state's house and it was designed to be non-partisan and in fact its more partisan than the lower house.''
JOB LOTS
TOP 5 PRE-MP CAREERS
* Business executive or self-employed ••• 23.5%
* Party or union official or administrator ••• 19%
* Political consultant, adviser or lobbyist ••• 14.2%
* Barrister, solicitor or general lawyer ••• 12.4%
* Member of state/territory legislature ••• 5.3%
TOP 5 OCCUPATIONS
* Sales assistant ••• 5.7%
* Business & administration associate professional ••• 3.4%
* School teacher ••• 3.2%
* Carer or aide ••• 3.1%
* Road or rail transport driver ••• 2.9%
Sources: Parliamentary Library, 2006 census
