Every now and then, life serves us up a political microcosm – a vignette where broader political issues are presented in an abbreviated, but nonetheless significant, format. For the last two years, I feel like the Australian political landscape has been like an episode of The Chase.

For those unfamiliar with the format, four individuals take turns at facing the Chaser. It begins with a cashbuilder round where they answer rapid-fire questions within a minute – the more right answers, the more cash.

They then face the Chaser, where the name of the game is that they are ‘chased’ down the board with a series of questions. If they get a question wrong, and the Chaser gets it right, the chaser closes in. If the Chaser catches them, they are out.

In this context, the contestant is given a three-way choice. The default position is that there are three steps between the Chaser and the contestant. They are then given the options of advancing a step closer to the chaser, for an increased amount of money (over their cashbuilder), or retreating a step further away (for a reduced amount of money).

Essentially the choice is to take the easier option for a reduced payout, but increased chance of getting through to the next round, or the more difficult option, with an increased potential payout, but a greater chance of being eliminated. Against this background, most contestants take the middle ground, with only perhaps one in ten opting for either of the other two options.

In my mind’s eye, I feel as though I’ve been watching a political episode of The Chase where the contestants are Scott Morrison, Zak Kirkup, Dom Perrottet, and John Pesutto. In turn, they have presented themselves to the public with their cashbuilder (their initial foray into public life) and then faced their own Chaser, which we may collectively see as the combined weight of the electorate, the media, and their political opponents.

Each of them faced a choice. Do they stay where they are, take the courageous option and advance, or take the soft option and retreat?

Regretfully, each one of them has taken the soft option and retreated. Morrison folded in the face of totalitarian Premiers with their lockdowns and mandates, and signed up the Paris Accord. Kirkup adopted a position to the left of the Greens, and conceded defeat two weeks out from the election. Perrottet adopted the Green ideology of Net Zero, and refused to stand up to health bureaucrats regarding Covid lockdowns and mandates. Pesutto caved to the militant transsexual lobby and attempted to expel Moira Deeming for standing up for women’s rights.

No doubt, in each of their minds, they believed that by retreating, like on the game show, they increased their chance of getting back for the next round.

Unfortunately, however, life is not always like a game show – in fact it seldom is.

It is a universal human truth that we cannot but help admire courage and despise cowardice. The world is full of monuments to military personnel who served their country with bravery and fortitude, and they are honoured both in life and in death by public holidays, commemorative events, and plaques.

As well as this our language is filled with famous quotes from historical figures that speak of unparalleled bravery. In 1864, the Union navy steamed into Mobile Bay during the American Civil War, in an attempt to capture it from the Confederates. One of the ships struck a mine (referred to in those days as ‘torpedoes’) and sunk. Admiral Farragut, sensing hesitation from his subordinates, bellowed, ‘Full speed ahead and damn the torpedoes!’ and steamed his flagship headfirst into the bay. Even these days, without knowing the origin of the phrase, whenever that phrase is uttered we know what it means – here is a person with the courage of their convictions in the face of potential danger or obstacles.

And here’s the point – there is something very attractive about a person that has the courage of their convictions, even if we disagree with those convictions. I make no secret of the fact that I admire Paul Keating, not because I either like him as a person or as a politician, but simply because he knows what he believes, and to hell with what everyone else thinks. This is the reason that his recent comments about the Aukus deal got such wide publicity – it wasn’t because they were particularly perspicacious, but simply because of the way that he said them – full of unbridled and fearless conviction. That included his disparaging comments about various journalists – would that we had a conservative politician like him.

A conservative like Margaret Thatcher for example. The point that is lost on each member of our imaginary Chase team is that Margaret Thatcher was at the same time the most successful Prime Minister of the 20th Century, and also the most unashamedly conservative.

I’ll say that again, as it’s a vital point. The most successful British Prime Minister of the 20th Century was the most unashamedly conservative. It is politically attractive to be conservative and be proud about it!

Her famous catch-cry was: ‘You turn if you want to – the lady is not for turning!’ Her courage and unashamed commitment to conservative principles made her a feared opponent, and we’ve not seen here like since.

And of course we even see this principle in operation on The Chase. When a contestant takes the courageous step of taking a step closer to the Chaser, it is met with universal approval, and it is common to hear the host say ‘good on you’ and to see the Chaser themselves visibly applaud the contestant. And even if they get knocked out they walk off with their head held high and their integrity intact.

Contrast this with the contestants that take the coward’s option. Generally this passes without comment, but occasionally the real story comes out. There was one episode where the Chaser was the ‘Governess’, and the contestant, a young man, confessed to having a crush on her, resulting in some flirtatious banter. When it came to making his choice, however, he chose the coward’s option, and the flirty banter was instantly replaced with a curt ‘I don’t like cowards’ from the Governess.

But there is a second reason why people despise cowardice in politicians. It is that we know that, in practical terms, a politician that changes tack at the slightest headwind is capable of anything. We know that principles they espoused prior to their election mean nothing, and they will enact any policy that’s politically convenient.

A case in point is Scott Morrison. When he was elected in 2019, most conservatives believed that we at last had a conservative, bolstered by the fact that he was a practicing Christian. After his election, however, and particularly when the ‘pandemic’ hit, he proved himself to be nothing but a naked populist, an opportunist who would adopt whatever policy seemed convenient at the time. One example among many is that in the early days of the vaccines he said that he wanted to make them ‘as mandatory as possible’. Later on, however, he changed his tune, and came out with, ‘Well, it was a personal choice…’ He was thus abandoned by the electorate, and conservatives in particular, and the measure of how much people despised him is that a person as insubstantial as Anthony Albanese beat him at the ballot box.

And so the message to my imaginary team is this – politics is not like a game show. By taking the coward’s way out you have not ensured your progression to the next round, but rather the very opposite – your elimination. That’s how it works. Each of you will be remembered for your cowardice. You were shuffled off the stage not because you took the courageous option and fell short, but because you were seen as snivelling cowards without the courage of your convictions. For each of you, this is now set in stone. You won’t be remembered for any of the good things you may have done (and precious few spring to mind) but for the cowardly manner in which you exited. This will be your everlasting legacy and it is wholly self-inflicted.

But let’s return to The Chase.

What would my dream Chaser team look like? It’d be Paul Keating, Nigel Farage, Giorgia Meloni, and Margaret Thatcher. Each one of them would take the top offer, and if they went down, it’d be with all guns blazing. Now that’d be a contest I’d watch…

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