Australia does not have a talent problem. Walk into any boardroom, hospital executive team, council chamber or community organisation and you will find people with the judgment, resilience and public instinct to govern well. What Australia has is a willingness to serve problem. Too many of our best people look at political life and decide it simply isn’t worth it. The consequences of those decisions for how we are governed, and ultimately how we all live, are immense. 

Australia is not immune to the deteriorating democratic environment we are seeing play out internationally. At a time of profound geopolitical change and complex, high-stakes problems, we need our best people wanting to step forward. 

It is a wicked problem that McKinnon has committed to tackling, and recent events have only sharpened my sense of why it is important work. 

I have been watching Andy Burnham’s rise in Britain with interest. Much has been written about his ability to speak to the grievance and frustration that now shapes politics across much of the democratic world. And there is another part of his story that deserves attention. Burnham may have returned to Westminster carrying the political appeal of an outsider, but he is not one. Before becoming Prime Minister, he had spent 15 years in Westminster and almost a decade running Greater Manchester. He understands the machinery of government well, but as Mayor he has also spent years much closer to the citizens experiencing its failures. 

His early message has been about showing people that politics can still make their lives better. His first measures were modest compared with the enormous challenges Britain faces, but that was partly the point. They demonstrated that government could listen and make decisions. The test now is delivery. There is an important lesson in that for Australia. At a time when grievance is becoming an increasingly powerful political force, leadership cannot simply be about winning the argument. It has to be about restoring confidence that our institutions are capable of doing things.

Public life now comes with extraordinary scrutiny and, increasingly, genuine concerns for the safety of politicians and their families, while offering remarkably little preparation for the actual craft of governing. Very few serious organisations would tolerate that approach to leadership. 

That is why I found the McKinnon Institute's recent Australian Political Leadership (APL) graduation particularly encouraging. Each cohort is a reminder that the willingness to serve is still there. Our task is to make sure the people who do step forward are equipped for what follows. APL gives emerging political leaders the practical capability, relationships and perspective to govern well. It is about developing the skills of how to bring people with them, work across disagreement and make decisions when every available option carries a cost. It also asks them to understand the institutions they will inherit and ultimately be responsible for leading. 

Developing the people already on the path is only part of the answer. We also need more exceptional people choosing the path in the first place. That is the thinking behind Next Horizon. We know there are talented Australians who have quietly wondered what they could offer to the country, and we know they could make an enormous contribution to Australian parliaments. Next Horizon is about identifying those people, encouraging them to consider public life and providing the practical support to help make that choice possible. We are now in the midst of our first cohort, and the passion and potential of the people involved has been enormously encouraging. 

Most of us know someone who would make an outstanding contribution to public life but has never seriously considered it, or has imagined it and decided the cost is too high. We should be asking those people to think again, backing them when they do, and treating them with respect when they try. 

Australia’s democracy will ultimately be run by the people willing to run it. Our responsibility is to widen and deepen that pool, help exceptional people make the choice to serve, and make sure they have the capability to meet the moment when they do.