One look at Jacinta Price and you can see the building blocks are there for a very strong political contribution. Building blocks alone do not a mansion make.
Jacinta burst onto the political scene with a refreshing persona of plain speaking and a lot of common sense. No doubt some of which she got from her mother. Toss onto that the fact that she has lived a life rich in experience. It's a fairly compelling skills mix. But nothing is perfect.
There's been a few stumbling blocks early in her career. Big deal. There'll be more. Can anyone name a prime minister let alone a newish member of Parliament who hasn't made mistakes? They're a fact of life and something to learn from. If you recognise them and learn from them mistakes can work in your favour.
So you can't say there's nothing to see there. You have to ask if she recognises the mistakes and will learn from them.
First, there are signs that she may not recognise the risks associated with choosing your dance partners. Every new member with any ability will be courted by people seeking to influence them. Some within Parliament wanting another member on "their" team. Some outsiders perhaps from industry making an early investment in a possible up and comer. And then former politicians and staffers who might desperately want someone in parliament to pick up the battle where they left off. Or got kicked off.
Dancing is a two-way thing, so new members are often only too happy to accept exaggerated praise, attend speaking engagements organised for them and whatever else may be on offer. These things are offered in order to gain influence over the member. They are accepted in order to build both the member's profile and a network of supporters.
The problems start when the newcomer wants to say something different from what the behind-the-scenes supporters want. Both sides know what's going on and there's something of an awkward dance.
The manipulators might try a bit of strategic loose leashing, but the leash stays.
My tip: cut the leash. Work with people when you agree, but don't sell yourself out. If they reduce or withdraw support because you don't agree they're aren't really supporters. They're just buying your voice.
The risk for someone like Jacinta is that the apparent sincerity which so beguiled so many gets lost.
You can't be your own person and someone else's as well. Once people see you as a wholly owned subsidiary of nameless bankrollers or others who pull the strings the value of your previously recognised sincerity nosedives. It's a long slog dragging it back up.
Second, she may have let her ego out of the bag and it appears reluctant to go back.
If you haven't been in Parliament long, you should nonetheless have the common sense to see that becoming prime minister isn't something that falls into your lap.
Such gushing endorsements designed to feed your ego should be met with the not-so-humble but realistic admission that you have a lot to learn. Responding with "a lot of people would like to see that" revealed a giant ego banging on her inner brain, desperate to get out.
Worse, toying with the idea of it hinted that getting the top job was important to her. You wouldn't want the public assessing that your ambition for yourself was your driving force.
Entertaining ideas that you could be PM so early in a career reveals a woeful ignorance about the experience and understanding of policy, parliament and party needed to get it.
It comes by virtue of a party room vote. Every leader and potential leader has to understand and respect the other elected members. Some of whom, maybe fancifully, imagine they too could do the top job.
There's a fine line between conducting yourself with the confidence of someone who is going somewhere and a person who is overly self-absorbed. Any air of assumed superiority can be taken as a put down by members and one that will be remembered when you want their vote for leader.
Similarly, leaving the National Party showed judgement that put self interest first, namely the chance of being deputy leader of the Liberal Party. Dumping and disadvantaging your part of the Coalition team to advantage yourself doesn't demonstrate a mind that understands working in a Coalition in government. If you don't understand how the Coalition functions, how can you hope to lead it?
On the judgement issue, it beggars belief that one who might want to be PM down the track appears to think that appealing to voters further right on the bell curve is a good idea. Yes, they'll cheer you on and sing your praises. You'll get praise on Sky. But that great big whack of voters toward the centre is what you need if you want to be PM rather than leader of the opposition. It's not rocket science.
Naivety, ego and self-interest are beginners' mistakes. If they are recognised and learnt from well and good. If not, there'll be tears down the track.
Much is made of Jacinta's contribution to the Voice referendum. It was a great contribution and not simply because it highlighted that not all Indigenous people thought it a great idea. Bear in mind, however, that Australians usually vote "no", so attributing a "no" win to Jacinta's contribution is just gilding the lily.
Jacinta's Indigenous knowledge and experience could be extremely valuable. It could play, emphasis on could, a vital role. It's not a contested point that the majority of Australians want better outcomes for Indigenous Australians. We want to move forward.
Unfortunately, the policy space has been crowded out by some who may mean well but have set back the cause. The guilt-hurling, victim-loving, aggressive advocates have not only failed to win Australians over, but they have actually turned many away.
Ditto the identity politics people with welcome to country, smoking ceremonies, street naming and assorted other activities that are easy to implement but do nothing for Indigenous Australians in regional and remote areas.
A new, fresh approach not beholden to them, in fact, quite rightly determined to call them out, is very welcome.
Indigenous policy has to be much more than a squabble between the angry advocates and Jacinta's view. It's not about them and it's not about her. No "side" owns Indigenous affairs. In fact there are a vast range of views about what next for Indigenous policy. None of us want to see one group win out over another. We want to see Australians brought together.
If Jacinta uses her position to listen to the multiplicity of views and works at bringing people together, she could make an enormous difference. She rightly made much in the Voice campaign about the need to bring Australians together rather than divide them. She might need to take her own advice.
If she just highlights that her view isn't with the guilt hurlers, nothing will have been achieved. Just more squabbling.
READ MORE AMANDA VANSTONE:
Jacinta also needs to demonstrate a capacity to get across other issues. Look at it another way, why should she be boxed into one area because she happens to be Indigenous? Ambitious politicians need more than one policy area of competence.
Perhaps a note of caution should be offered in relation to the flag. It's our flag, not a picnic blanket or a cloak. Using it as a shawl after an Olympic win is a sudden outburst of national pride. Premeditated use of it as a cloak in political material runs the risk of looking tacky.
In fact, anything that comes close to hollow mimicry of MAGA should be avoided. Looking like you'll grab anything glossy is a tad desperate. One only mimics other ideas when you're short on them yourself.
So Jacinta is an interesting one to watch. She's got plenty going for her and plenty to learn. The question is will she let others use her for their own ends or be strong enough to be her own best self?
- Amanda Vanstone is a former senator for South Australia, a former Indigenous affairs minister, and a former ambassador to Italy. She writes fortnightly for ACM.
