Malcolm Turnbull's main justification for contesting the Liberal leadership was that Tony Abbott was not capable of providing the economic leadership the nation needs. He also maintained that the country needed a 'different style' of leadership.
Notwithstanding Abbott's recent decision to increase the intake of Syrian refugees — which deserves applause — the former PM's appetite for leadership around policy reform was low.
His way of leading was perceived as reactionary and non-consultative, and his behavioural values were seen to be playing to his own constituency and the demands of short term political opportunism. His infamous 'captain's picks' were just one manifestation of his leadership style.
The contrast between the leadership styles and values that our political leaders believe we need, and what Australians actually want from their leaders, was highlighted in the report of the Swinburne Leadership Survey that was launched in April.
The study surveyed leadership across political, religious, union, community and business sectors, which was a wider canvas than previous surveys that were focussed solely on either the business or political sector.
The survey's major findings included the reality that leadership perceptions of political, religious, union, community and business leaders could be graphed across two models — namely 'trustworthiness and competence' — and 'short term/long term interests and self/public interests'.
Its 'trustworthiness and competence' model highlights the fact that political leaders rank below all other categories of leaders — business, union, religious, and community leaders — in terms of perceived trust and competence. By contrast, community leaders are more highly thought of than other categories of leaders, in both trust and competence. Religious leaders rank midway.
Meanwhile the survey's 'short term/long term interests and self/public interests' model found that Australians believe leaders from all sectors — apart from the community sector — are motivated more by their own interests rather than the greater good, and do not take a long term approach. Again, religious leaders only fare marginally better than political leaders. Community leaders are seen as the most concerned about the wider needs of society and to take a long term perspective on problems.
One of the report's authors, Professor John Fien, concludes that Australians have 'nuanced and sophisticated perceptions of the leadership they experience in Australian society'. He argues that they can and do distinguish between the capabilities of leaders in different sectors, and their expectations of these leaders. 'This gives added weight to the judgements they make about leadership.'
These judgments lead Australians