Morrison replaced a “popular PM” did he? If Turnbull was so 'popular’, why is he not still PM? Some people write absolute crap! And since when did 'we’ follow any political leader? We have no say in who the PM is - that's decided by a small number of politicians we might or might not have voted for. Once an election is over, we have no say whatsoever in what some dipstick of a Prime Minister decides to do or not do. We certainly do not follow him. We do as we are are bloody told, and suffer whatever some jerk who is no smarter than the rest of us decides. We most certainly do not “connect with” people as remote from us as Australian politicians are.

If there was no compulsory voting, half the population wouldn't bother to vote, such is the contempt for the political class and its so-called leaders.

Barnaby is a cuddly happy beetroot with endearing foot in his mouth.

Do people actually employ this dill?

Of course not, they pay him to go far far away, & stay there.

doubt very much if emotional renascence has very much to do with why we select leaders except for exceptions like Herr Hitler and a very divisive Donald Trump. And a lot more to do with ultimately destructive, divide and rule strategies that turn generic son against generic father, generic brother against generic brother and too successful!

To the point, where we no longer trust the divide and rule tactics and those who so negatively employ, usually folk with no future vision no leadership skills and no new or bold new ideas, And simply consumed with an objective to win and limited to high school debate over matters of little consequence to a divided and mortgaged to the hilt, nation!

Leaders are born not made. And are willing to suffer derision from some recalcitrant quarters for simply embracing the future and a few new or novel if workable ideas. Are not confined to just those ideas that emanate from their side of politics.

But rather, any and good or quality ideas with merit. Listen to those who elected them and pay their overly generous salaries and "entitlements"! rather than pontificate and sell political partisan ideas that choke the nation rather than create what it could be instead.

Too much same old business, as usual, that cripples all parliaments, the nation, the reason we have and continue to go backward from a post-war position of unprecedented prosperity as the third wealthiest nation and a creditor one at that!

We could find leaders with ideas and have folks follow them save for partisan and self-destructive politics and section 44, reinterpreted and used so well, with such destructive effects, to stifle or kill stillborn, real leadership and or potential leaders, needed as never before by a hopelessly divided and about to fall, nation.

And having listened, act as if those who elect them have a right to have their wishes and expectations put at the head of the queue, rather than this or that "generous" (foreign) investor with bulging pockets?
Alan B.

"Kevin Rudd offered a feeling of freshness" only for a minority like the author.

Rudd was/is more a narcissist little boy who felt/feels sorry for himself.

This didn't make Rudd gentle when PM. Rather Rudd micro-managed and lashed out at staff (eg. 4am angry phone calls) whenever he could get away with it.

Rudd also lashed out at Turnbull when Turnbull rightly identified Rudd as unsuitable to be nominated by Australia as leadership material (Secretary General) of the UN. Such a job requires modesty.

Rudd was/is conceited, rather than being "fresh" or modest.

Xi Jinping is general secretary of the Communist Party , president for life and chairman of the Central Military Commission as China's "paramount leader", and in 2016 "core leader". During the Cultural Revolution he lived in a cave in the village of Liangjiahe where he organised communal labourers. His internet censorship is the concept of "internet sovereignty". Considered the central figure of the fifth generation of leadership of the People's Republic and one of the most powerful leaders in modern Chinese history, Xi's political thoughts have been written into the party and state constitutions. In 2018 his leadership took over PNG and subsidised Canberra's decisions and arrangements for Prince Charles followers.

Yes, as the colony of Australia's first President, Xi Jinping, will not be worse than Bishop Abbott.

What utter rubbish - there are no leaders and we are not anyone's followers: the evil people mentioned in the article just happen to be today's predators - and we are on their menu!

As I read the article I was formulating my thoughts. But then I got to this jewel - that Shorten hasn't resonated with the electorate because "perhaps his argument is too logical". "too logical" FFS. So apparently not only is Shorten (and his team) way ahead of the curve but the populace aren't smart enough to recognise it. So I realised that the author is so tied up in his ideological restraints that his views are not worth addressing.

For what its worth, people don't need an emotional connection to support this or that leader. They support leaders who seem to recognise the problems they face or perceive AND who seem to have a view as to how to practically address these problems.

I don't know that people had an emotional attachment to Howard (our last truly successful leader) but they saw that he he both saw their problems and had the wherewithal to fix them. Obama offered 'hope and change' and people bought into the vision after a decade of perceived failures by other leaders. They bought into Trump because they lost hope and wanted change and he offered the change they needed.

As Australia descends into ever greater financial and economic problems, the next truly accepted leader will offer understanding and solutions to it. Those may not be palatable (which is why the current crop can't even talk about it) but they will be popular. Hawke offered unpalatable solutions to avoiding us becoming the poor white trash of Asia and he was applauded. Howard offered unpalatable solutions to the problems created by the Keating government and he was re-elected over and over.

What we really need is someone who puts the truth above the popular. I don't see that person on the horizon

William Nicholas Willis.
Truth newspaper in Sydney was founded in August 1890 to be "The organ of radical democracy and Australian National Independence" and advocated "a republican Commonwealth created by the will of the whole people" but Truth went in 1958.

Organised Crimea boss , Putin, is right to defend his Motherland against Ukraine's tug-boats . With Russia's media following his every word , the people are ready for the machine guns. Putin says UK is to launch gas attacks with enriched Chernobyl fossil fuel and London will burn like Poland did when it invaded Hitler's land of innocence.