Gellibrand MP Tim Watts understands that voters are being turned off by politics.
The Labor MP says he feels the same frustration at the scandals, the spin, the schoolyard antics of Question Time and the short-term point-scoring at the expense of long-term planning.
Yet he optimistically believes a better future is there for the taking.
This future is outlined in new book
Two Futures: Australia at a Critical Moment, co-written with fellow new MP Clare O’Neil, the Labor member for Hotham.
Mr Watts believes governments are less willing than they once were to make hard decisions that will bear fruit long after they are relegated to history.
“It’s about the next five minutes, when really the things that matter are the long-term things, the big-picture things,” he says
“It’s easy to get sucked into the pace of politics, but writing this book forced us to do a lot of thinking.”
The central premise of the book is what Australia will be like in 2040.
Mr Watts says the country faces significant challenges and must explore creative ideas in tackling them.
The book also calls for an end to the Lord’s Prayer to open Parliament and the banning of “Dorothy Dixers”, prepared questions to a government minister by backbenchers from the same political party.
Mr Watts and Ms O’Neil will be in conversation with former Labor government minister Nicola Roxon at the Sun Theatre, Ballarat Street, Yarraville from 7pm, September 1.
Details: 9689 0661 or email info@sunbookshop.com
