John Rawnsley

Last year I was privileged to be able to travel to the US with a group of young leaders from Asian and Pacific countries as part of the International Visitors Leadership Program^.  Many of the meetings and sessions were organised by local volunteers and the content and context chosen by invited guests. This post* is part 1 about my experiences in Washington D.C. ******************* Introduction - one year on Washington D.C. was my first city to explore. Following the gruelling trip from Sydney to LA, and then across the vast width of the US, I remember arriving late at night at an airport where arrivals catch a tram to the luggage area.  The airport was new and crisp, its walls white and ceilings high.  All the shops were shut, and at one point I was unsure of where to go as our group of arrivals caught elevators down a story to wait for the tram.  Seeing no signs or people to point me in the right direction, I simply followed them. It was put to me the da...

In the book, the Social Animal by David Brooks , the author draws on the experiences of a central character and writes: On his wall, Harold had tacked another quotation, from Benjamin Disraeli, 'the spiritual nature of man is stronger than codes or constitutions.  No government can endure which does not recognise that for its foundations, and no legislation last which does not flow from this foundation'. Everything came down to character, and that meant everything came down to relationships, because relationships are the seedbeds of character.  The reason life and politics are so hard is that relationships are the most important, but also the most difficult, things to understand. In short, Harold entered a public-policy world in which people were used to thinking in hard, mechanistic terms.  He thought he could do some good if he threw emotional and social perspectives into the mix.  Socialism  As Harold worked his way through the process of dis...

Recently I had the privilege of meeting the US President Barack Obama.  This made me reflect on a previous post from 2008 which I've copied below... Post of 15 May 2008: Noel Pearson’s essay in the Monthly offers an intriguing analysis of Steele’s insight into contemporary race relations in America. There are several compelling paragraphs that refer to responsibility, opportunity, and how uplift occurs in dominant-minority populations. After reading the essay I was disappointed at what I saw as deficiencies in Pearson’s core argument. Pearson argues that Obama has not pursued strongly enough the radical centre that integrates core notions (or a contemporary understanding) of responsibility. Pearson contends that Obama should ‘radically revise’ his account of such issues at the Democratic National Convention in August. Obama is being misrepresented. My observations are that he has pursued the radical centre by offering a style of politics that is untested a...

The Centralian Advocate printed this letter to the editor: If the Australian constitution is to acknowledge Aboriginal people as the first Australians then this will likely be a symbolic gesture. Symbols and acknowledgements can be important; it can lift peoples’ hopes. Going beyond symbolism will be very difficult because changing the Australian constitution requires broad bi-partisan support from across political parties. This support exists now, and only to the point of acknowledging the ‘first Australians’, but there is still a long way to go. Putting the Australian constitution aside, what is more important to us is Statehood because we have the opportunity to design a completely new constitution. We start with a blank canvass. A planned convention in late 2011 intends to involve delegates from across the Territory to do exactly this. What a number of us on Town Council have said, and what we are calling for others to support, is for the new constitution to actively prote...

The post over the fold offers my views of the politics of a youth curfew for Alice Springs.  These views start before the debate resurfaced and positioned itself as one of the most controversial for the town in 2011.  That my observations were predictions of actual events which occurred is not surprising but adds to my disenchantment with the nature of politics and the media cycle (which is a debate in itself).

Recently the Alice Springs Desert Leadership Group had the privilige of so many experiences as part of a Sydney-Canberra-Melbourne east coast retreat. One powerful experience was hearing directly from the US Ambassador as to his thoughts and insights of leadership. A picture of our group (Official U.S. Embassy photo by Travis Longmore) :

An issue I feel passionate about is  Statehood  and the possibility of designing a modern constitution for a new State. Constitutional law was an interest during law school. The potential we have during this important time in history is, in my view, often overlooked, and to our detriment. With such a complex issue many Territorians are asking questions. In one sense there is simply too much information – many questions cannot be answered because we aren’t in a point of time in our history to provide an answer. What can follow is uncertainty masked as confusion. Whilst this happens there is the chance for leadership and for those showing leadership to coalesce around some core principles that define us. Dave Richards from Alice Online kindly posted  this piece  about Statehood and regionalisation – a speech I recently delivered to the  LGANT  general meeting. The Alice Springs News printed  a modified version . The  NT News  (online copy un...