Do politicians know what it's like to do your job?

Updated

There are many under-represented professions in Australia's Parliament.

One of them is nursing.

There are 220,000 nurses in Australia — more than one in every 50 workers.

Yet not a single MP came to Parliament from a nursing role.

Nursing is second only to sales assistants in a list of Australia's most popular occupations.

However there are far more former businesspeople, lawyers, lobbyists and political staffers walking the corridors of power in Canberra.

Does your MP's past job really matter?

Jill Sheppard, from the School of Politics and International Relations at the Australian National University, says there are two arguments.

One is that Parliament should broadly reflect the community.

The other, which she says is, "maybe a little bit more optimistic … is if they can do their job well, it doesn't matter".

Dr Sheppard says there is no evidence that, for example, a farmer in Parliament will better represent pastoralists and graziers.

On the other hand, she also claims there is little to demonstrate the current mix is delivering the best outcome for Australians.

Parliamentary Library records show not a single MP worked as a nurse prior to their election.

Annie Butler, from the Nursing and Midwifery Federation, believes few understand nursing nearly as well as nurses themselves, and the make-up of the Parliament results in poor policy.

She argues the Government doesn't always make the best use of taxpayer money when it comes to providing cost-effective care.

"Governments are always looking for savings, but they don't do it seriously," Ms Butler said.

Nationals MP and member for Hinkler Keith Pitt is not surprised by the statistics on pollies and their previous professions.

Mr Pitt is a former cane grower and electrical engineer, and he thinks the Parliament lacks diversity.

"I find myself very often in conflict with what happens in Parliament because I know what the results will be on the ground," he says.

"I think the Parliament should be reflective of the people. We should have a range of all sorts of occupations."

Why aren't there more nurses, tradies and teachers in Parliament?

Getting the backing of a political party to run for office is tough.

"You need factional support," Dr Sheppard says.

"You will answer questions from rank-and-file members and senior leaders, and have your past raked over for potentially embarrassing baggage."

Nurse and Liberal candidate Amanda-Sue Markham was beaten by Labor's Julie Collins in the Tasmanian seat of Franklin at the 2016 election.

She was shocked by the "childish rubbish" she faced during the campaign.

"I had a lady who on polling day came up to me at the booth, with about 200 people around, just yelled in my face, 'I wouldn't vote for you, you're a liar'," she says.

"Why would you do it, why would any nurse who has a respectable profession, why would you put yourself through that?"

Annie Butler says her union's nurses, "don't tend to step out" into exploring how politics influences their working lives, making it less likely they will pursue a political career.

"They're much more concerned about the individuals they're caring for," she said.

But former radio broadcaster and Labor's member for Paterson, Meryl Swanson, argues the Parliament is shifting towards being more representative of the community.

"What we're seeing is more opportunity for a broader range of people, rather than just the lawyers or just the people from affluent families, as we saw in the past, making all the decisions," she says.

But experts say politics will always attract people from legal and business backgrounds, partly because they are familiar with the paperwork and bureaucracy.

"If a sizeable number of highly trained lawyers and businesspeople can unwittingly declare that they are Australian citizens, someone less familiar with statutory declarations may well be dissuaded from the start," Dr Sheppard said.

While the Labor Party has traditionally provided a pathway for a range of workers into parliament through the union movement, the senior leadership positions are taken up by those with legal, party and political backgrounds such as Bill Shorten, Tanya Plibersek, Tony Burke and Chris Bowen.

Do voters actually want 'real world' politicians?

Independent MP Cathy McGowan won a cut-throat battle with former lawyer Sophie Mirabella to snatch the rural seat of Indi from the Liberals in 2013.

Ms McGowan spent more than two decades working in teaching, agriculture and community development prior to entering politics.

She believes many of the skills she learned helped her as a federal parliamentarian, including community organising, time management, public speaking and understanding the role of gender in power.

"These were four skills that were part and parcel of my everyday work," she said.

One Nation senator Peter Georgiou was "on the tools" running an electrical business until he got the call-up last year to replace his brother-in-law, Rod Culleton, in the Upper House.

He said working as a tradie prepared him for the political world because he was exposed to "real life issues on those sites".

"Being in Parliament, I've got real-life experience and from speaking to everybody [on the sites] that kind of helps me judge the way I think and how I vote.

"People with real-life experiences think differently, have different ideas, know exactly how these people are struggling."

Ms McGowan said the Parliament has a shortage of practical, self-employed and rural people.

But she argues having the same job as a constituent does not necessarily mean you are the best qualified to represent them.

"Part of the art of being a member for parliament is you have to represent: it's not just 'being the same as', you need to be able to hear what people say, understand the issue, then represent it in a way that gets traction."

Dr Sheppard's research shows while people like the idea of politicians with diverse backgrounds, it has not drastically changed the country's voting patterns.

She drew on the example of former Tasmanian senator Jacqui Lambie, whose military background and anti-establishment approach resonated with voters.

"There were a lot of Jacqui Lambie articles when she left the Senate [that were positive about her contribution]," Dr Sheppard said.

"On the other hand, we keep voting for lawyers and ex-staffers. I think even Australians are conflicted about it."

Are there solutions?

Mr Pitt argues the Parliament could be more diverse if political parties did not rely heavily on election donations from business and unions.

"Who pays shouldn't win in terms of winning the political argument, the political agenda and of course being in government," Mr Pitt said.

"But that seems to be where we're heading right now."

The ANU's Dr Sheppard argues another more radical solution would be to allow people to elect more than one member per seat.

In her proposal, candidates with loyal backing from a smaller support base — such as nurses — would be more likely to be elected alongside 'traditional' candidates.

To keep her Canberra office in touch with the 'real world', Cathy McGowan has adopted a unique approach.

She invites local constituents to Parliament House during sitting weeks, to see how things are run.

"All sorts of occupations, including teachers and nurses, counsellors, and many, many young people have actually come into the office to get a sense of how politics works," she says.

"That's been my approach — to give them a sense that politics is for everybody.

"You don't have to be a lawyer to do it."

Credits

Notes: Parliamentary occupations data is based on the Parliamentary Handbook for MPs at the start of the 45th Parliament. Community occupation data is from ABS Census 2016. Comparisons between the data are based on the best fit between Parliamentary Library categories and ANZSCO classifications. Category titles have been simplified.

Topics: electoral-system, government-and-politics, federal-government, federal-parliament, australia

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