Another wise and thought-provoking article from Mamtimin.

Compassion and empathy have a role to play in politics and public policy more broadly. But so do reason and evidence. They are not mutually exclusive.

Part of the reason NDIS has turned into an expensive fiasco is, I suspect, that the undoubted good intentions of the scheme made it hard for critics to point out that it was badly designed and could not work as intended. Likewise, the train wreck of the Voice referendum was due in part to both sides appealing to emotion, meaning they dismissed their opponents as not merely mistaken or having different opinions, but as malign, callous or stupid.

Sadly, all sides of politics are playing this game.