The notion of the virtues of quiet Australians has grown from being an explanation by Scott Morrison of his surprise victory at the recent federal election into a general commentary by leading government ministers on Australian social and political life.
As a celebratory remark about his government's return to office when the public opinion polls predicted otherwise it is unremarkable, with its echoes of the conservative silent majority or so-called moral majority and perhaps even of Robert Menzies' ode to the forgotten people.
But when a picture is painted of virtuous quiet Australians being drowned out by the 'din of loud Australians', in the words of Nationals Senator Matt Canavan, the Minister for Resources and Northern Australia, it becomes a wider view of Australian politics which is a superficial analysis of whose voices really prevail in Australian politics today.
This wider view has a political purpose and may well appeal to many people who believe they are stranded on the periphery of politics, unheeded by the elites in Canberra and the state capitals. But it is a misrepresentation.
Canavan, based in Rockhampton, was contrasting the allegedly quiet voices of regional and rural Australians with the Stop Adani caravan led by activists like former Greens leader Bob Brown. He described loud Australians as busybodies interfering in the business of others. Yet that is to confuse the admittedly loud carnival-like atmosphere of mass politics with the quieter capture and execution of real economic and political power.
Regional and rural Australians possess many powerful voices, although they may dispute this. As well as having a political party of their own, the Nationals, which has been the junior partner in federal government since 2013, they are represented by many powerful lobby groups.
For instance, the Minerals Council of Australia represents companies which generate most of the country's mining output, and most of those mines are in rural and regional areas. The National Farmers Federation represents farmers and agriculture across Australia and by definition most of this activity is outside urban areas.
"Public activism may be louder, but is often a sign of lack of influence in inner circles."
These lobby groups are enormously well-connected and influential, making sure through insider lobbying that their interests are central to government policy. By contrast public activism — such as that displayed in citizens rallies on issues like climate change and refugees — may be louder, but is often a sign of lack of influence in inner circles.
Prime Minister Morrison had been contrasting quiet and loud Australians since well before the election, often with reference to the anger sometimes shown during social media interaction. He has characterised quiet Australians as those who want to get on with everyday life and who value jobs, sport, education, services, family and low taxes. He used the terminology of quiet Australians in his recent address in the Great Hall of Parliament House to his senior public service, urging them to connect with those outside of what he is fond of calling the Canberra bubble.
He also made particular reference to those quiet Australians who are unsupported by lobbyists and special interests. But there is a contradiction in this. Those lobbyists mostly have connections as ex-staffers and politicians with the Coalition government or previous Labor governments, and their contacts are primarily with ministers and MPs rather than public servants.
The Catholic tradition, as expressed in church social teaching (CST), celebrates active and engaged citizenship rather than quiet, disengaged individual subjects uninvolved in community and public life. Catholics of all political stripes, conservative and progressive, live up to those CST precepts throughout their lives.
Few would doubt that subjects like the divide between urban and rural Australians, the harm caused to our public discourse by the extremes of social media and the advantages which accrue to those represented by lobbyists and insider politics demand attention. The test comes in how government ministers act and who they meet with rather than how they talk.
Despite some mixed messages from Morrison, Canavan and other ministers, there can be no doubt that the language which seeks to privilege quiet over loud citizens has the effect of advantaging the strong over the weak and insiders over outsiders in our political life.
John Warhurst is an Emeritus Professor of Political Science at the Australian National University.
Main image: Prime Minister Scott Morrison in July 2019. (Photo by Tracey Nearmy/Getty Images)