Leadership Void Fuels Violence and Disinformation in Australian Politics
How Dutton’s Failure to Lead Emboldens Division and Threatens Democracy
A Democracy Under Strain
Australia’s democracy is under strain. As communities seek better alternatives—evidenced by growing support for Community Independents—a small but vocal group resorts to violence, intimidation, lies, and disinformation to disrupt change. This trend raises critical questions: Does the vacuum of principled leadership provoke such behaviour? Or are some so entrenched in their worldview they cannot tolerate alternatives to a failing system? The answer lies in a toxic mix of both, amplified by a party-political culture prioritising power over progress.
The Myth of Political Leadership
For over three decades, I’ve worked in leadership and strategy, where competence, clarity, and integrity are non-negotiable. Effective leaders articulate a compelling vision and strategy, align stakeholders with clear values and standards, and deliver measurable outcomes. Being a politician does not automatically qualify one to be a leader; the roles are distinctly different. Politicians may excel at campaigning or rhetoric, but leadership demands consistency, accountability, and the ability to inspire trust. By these standards, Peter Dutton’s Coalition leadership is a failure. His flip-flopping on all manner of policies including electric vehicles, work-from-home arrangements, and student debt reversals breeds distrust. At best, it signals incompetence; at worst, it’s a cynical ploy to win votes, masking true intentions. Dutton’s refusal to commit to evidence-based policies creates a void, fostering fear and division.
Sweeping the Staircase from the Top
An old German saying holds: “You sweep the staircase from the top.” Followers’ behaviour reflects what leaders model and endorse. When figures like Dutton amplify division, negative stereotypes, and fear—about crime, immigrants, or progressive change—these attitudes manifest on the ground. A chilling example emerged on 17 April 2025, when Melbourne surgeon Professor Greg Malham was filmed tearing down and stomping on Kooyong MP Monique Ryan’s corflute. Praising Donald Trump and instructing “the boys” to “bury the body,” Malham’s language was condemned as a “chilling display of misogyny and intimidation.” Goldstein MP Zoe Daniel called it an “apparent endorsement of violence against women.” Though Malham apologised, the incident reflects how divisive rhetoric from the top emboldens harmful actions.
A Toxic Political Playbook
This leadership vacuum has consequences. When the Coalition fails to offer a positive vision, it defaults to lies, disinformation, and scare tactics. Australians deserve better than empty threats and spin. Yet, the Liberal Party, with allies like Advance Australia and Australians for Prosperity, embraces a playbook unthinkable in business. Disparaging competitors is a losing strategy; success comes from demonstrating value. A company using lies and intimidation would be shunned—and it’s illegal. In politics, however, such behaviour is normalised and it's legal, with Advance Australia spreading disinformation to sow fear about change. These campaigns don’t just undermine opponents; they erode democratic trust.
The Rise of Community Independents
The rise of Community Independents reflects a hunger for authentic leadership and local representation. These candidates—often women, community-driven—contrast with major parties’ entrenched structures. Their success, from Indi to Wentworth, shows voters embrace alternatives when offered. But this threatens the status quo, prompting hostility. Malham’s actions echo broader aggression, assaulting the democratic right to choose without fear.
Fear and Entrenched Beliefs
What compels this aggressive minority’s tactics? Some cling to the two-party system—despite its stagnation—as stability, identity, or privilege. Change, especially driven by diverse voices, feels threatening. This rigidity, fueled by social media disinformation, creates a fear-driven feedback loop. When Dutton fails to model principled leadership, he implicitly condones such behaviour. His silence on allied groups’ toxic tactics and incidents like Malham’s signals that winning trumps democratic values.
Normalising Division
The leadership void isn’t the sole driver. Major parties’ negative campaigning normalises division, emboldening extremists who see intimidation as legitimate. When Advance Australia floods mailboxes with misleading flyers or Australians for Prosperity funds divisive ads, they weaponise mistrust, polarising the electorate and replacing dialogue with vitriol.
A Better Path Forward
Contrast this with Community Independents’ approach: campaigns emphasising listening, collaboration, and local solutions. They tackle issues like climate, integrity and cost of living, fostering unity. This is leadership—clear, inclusive, outcome-focused—proving political roles can align with true leadership when principled. Voters are responding, with Independents winning in former Liberal strongholds. Yet, their success underscores the urgency of addressing violence and disinformation threatening democracy.
Demanding True Leadership
We must demand better. Politicians should be effective leaders, modelling integrity, rejecting division, and inspiring through policy and a compelling vision for our shared future. The Coalition, under Dutton, must choose to lead or obstruct. Voters can reject fear by supporting community-focused candidates. Australia’s democracy is resilient but not immune to erosion. If violence and lies drown out hope, we risk losing our freedoms.
A Choice for Change
The choice is clear: cling to a broken system or embrace empowering change. Community Independents offer a path forward—one that deserves to be heard, not silenced by fear.
Onward we press.
Resources
5 Feb 2025: A great link to Zoe Daniel’s National Press Club speech on YouTube. Feel free to give it a like and comment if that’s your style.
Vote Community Independents: https://linktr.ee/CommunityIndependentsAU
The Smarter Choice: Why Community Independents are the change we need in Australian Politics
The Movement we helped build: From Ian Macphee to Zoe Daniel
Websites
https://zoedaniel.com.au/
https://www.communityindependentsproject.org/
Vote Community Independents: Not shit candidates list
"... Effective leaders articulate a compelling vision and strategy, align stakeholders with clear values and standards, and deliver measurable outcomes... "
I wish I could identify a contemporary politician or one from the last 20 years that displays these attributes.
Where are the grand nation building visions:
- The Voice - killed in agony.
- Undo some privatisation in telecomms, energy, roads to remove the profit motive.
- A meaningful housing policy - not band aids and policies that actually help increase the price of housing.
- What do we want a multicultural Australia to look like? ie 1950/1960's Australia, transplanted New Delhi, Americas 51st state, Chinese vassal state etc or can we stand up and define our future?
I can only think of Mabo; Hawke/Keating economic reform and joining the global economy (in retrospect a big step in neo liberalism's globalisation); Medicaire; Howard ending widespread gun ownership; NDS (But needed a different structure). I guess there are many smaller things that happened like same sex marriage; Franklin River; non-nuclear policy etc. (I am a migrant of 25 years so don't know all of the history)
Unfortunately politics is now a career with a golden package at the end of it. The entrenched two/three party professional political class does not serve the community any longer and the sustained adversarial (name calling, lying, belittling etc) by the parties of the respective oppositions is total off putting. Hence the rise of the independents - and I wish them strength in the forthcoming election.
To be blunt, I don’t understand how anyone could give their first preference to anyone BUT an independent. It seems to me that political parties are mostly about subverting democracy, not enhancing it.