Laura Tingle on John Howard and the corrosion of Australia’s national debate

The level and quality of the national conversation in Australian politics and media took a turn for the worse under John Howard’s prime ministership, says ABC journalist Laura Tingle.

The reporter and author will discuss the state of public discourse at the John Button Oration, to be delivered on Saturday at Melbourne’s Capitol Theatre. Named for the late Senator John Button, who served in the Hawke and Keating Governments, the speech is delivered annually as part of the Melbourne Writers Festival by a prominent Australian chosen by Button’s family.

“[During Howard’s leadership] we saw this shift to the weaponisation of attacks on groups of people, whether it’s Indigenous Australians, Asian immigrants, African immigrants or Muslim Australians,” Tingle says. “That was a material change – so that became part of the conversation, not just in politics but in the media as well.”

Having worked as a journalist for 40 years, the Walkley-award winner is well-placed to assess how things have evolved. She argues that while social media and the rise of divisive figures like Donald Trump have played a role, there are other major factors at play.

According to Tingle, the corrosive state of public discourse is a combination of technology, media economics, and social licence. “The media and politicians give each other licence to go a bit further, to be a bit more, shall we say, frank in their assessment of people, or groups of people, or whatever,” she says.

While politicians have historically often thrown abuse at each other, called each other names and attacked individuals, Tingle argues that in the 90s there became a more conspicuous targeting of groups of people, traced back to John Howard talking about rising Asian immigration and Pauline Hanson’s incendiary comments.

As a young journalist working for The Australian newspaper, Tingle met Button when he was Industry Minister. She says he was charming, famous for thinking out loud, publicly debating ideas including policy and even correcting himself as he spoke

“You just couldn’t do that now. There’s no room for nuance, there’s not even much room for politicians to explain their positions and be listened to,” she says. “I’m not saying ‘poor politicians’, but every so often politicians do something and everybody piles on and completely loses track of what the substantive issue is.”