The Prime Minister is not responsible

for the behaviour of other people. Like a parent he can tell them off and he can punish them but it does not make him responsible for what they do.

The Prime Minister can't prevent outright stupidity either. He can remove people from their roles but holding him responsible for some of the alleged goings on is ridiculous. The media knows that but they are persisting anyway. It says more about the media than it does about the Prime Minister.

We are being told that the Prime Minister "lacks empathy", that he only said something after his wife told him to think about his own daughters, that he is a coward for not facing protestors and the media,  and that he said "too little, too late". Of course if he had said anything sooner, gone out to meet the protestors and sympathised with them then he would have been accused of being smarmy and insincere and a great many other things besides. He was (and still is) in a no win situation. A source  in the media told me yesterday, "We've got the bastard. There's no way he can win the next election now."

Is that what it is about? 

The past year has been horrendous for politicians on all sides. They have all needed to make decisions which have impacted people's lives. All too often our system of government has been misunderstood - or deliberately ignored. The Federal government has been particularly hard hit by people, often people who do know better, claiming that  they have not done this or that or something else. They have ignored the fact that there are differences between  what the federal and state governments can do. The federal authorities couldn't reopen internal borders or issue lock down orders. Yes perhaps they could bring "home" all those citizens wanting to re-enter the country but the cost would be enormous - because the planes would be flying out empty - and, once here, where would you house people in quarantine? It was up to the states to take people into quarantine - and we all know how well that worked. 

It isn't the Prime Minister's fault that a woman with a long history of mental illness made an accusation of the most serious sexual assault and then committed suicide before the allegation was made public. Nor is it his fault that we have a legal system in this country which requires that certain things be done and that they be done in a certain way. He was in another no-win situation here - and so is the man against whom the allegation was made. Is it also the Prime Minister's fault that someone chose to drink heavily and then found themselves in a situation which is now under yet another inquiry? What is alleged to have happened is wrong but how is the Prime Minister responsible? Is he supposed to patrol the corridors night and day?

Perhaps we do need more women in parliament. It would be good to think there was equal representation. Women do have different experiences to bring to the job. That alone though is not the answer. There needs to be an entire culture change. 

That culture change needs to start elsewhere. It starts at home - and it starts with respect for everyone.