Why Australia’s Trump moment won’t come

Australian politics will never be “corrupted” by “blow in” leaders like President Donald Trump, according to a political expert.

US politics commentator and expert Bruce Wolpe said the world is watching America now more than ever in the wake of the attempted assassination of Mr Trump, especially as all eyes are on the Republican National Convention in Wisconsin this week.

“This is an orgy of politics in Wisconsin where everyone is very happy,” Mr Wolpe told ANU podcast Democracy Sausage on Wednesday.

“In Chicago (where the Democratic National Convention will be held in August), it’s going to be a very unhappy place with people scared about what’s coming and an inability to stop it.”

The rising tensions come after the world reacted to Mr Trump surviving an attempted assassination in Pennsylvania over the weekend.

But Br Wolpe said people are still thinking about President Joe Biden’s mishaps during the presidential debate last month.

The President is continuing to face criticism amid mounting concerns about his mental and physical fitness in the wake of the debate.

Mr Wolpe said that kind of error wouldn’t be tolerated in Australian politics.

“If Anthony Albanese had a press conference that froze up like Biden did, he’d be out in 24 hours in the caucus,” Mr Wolpe said.

“(John) Howard sort of tested upper limits in the Liberal Party as to what’s an acceptable age for a prime minister.

“We talk about Trump influences on Australian politics. Well, here’s a Biden influence on Australian politics.

“I think people will be very sensitive to the full abilities of their leaders when they make decisions in Caucus as to who’s going to be head of the party.”

Mr Wolpe said Australia will never have a “blow in” prime minister like America had with Mr Trump getting elected without previously holding a political seat of power.

“Let’s get to the heart of it, the difference of the Westminster system, means the Prime Minister is going to be the leader of the majority party in the House of Representatives,” he said.

“No blow ins. Clive Palmer will never be Prime Minister. Pauline Hanson will never be Prime Minister and you have blow-ins in the United States.”

He described Mr Trump as a business person and TV personality, but said he could raise the money and “get people motivated” to become the president.

“So it is astonishing. The message to our listeners in Australia is, Australia has such a great democracy,” Mr Wolpe said.

“It is strong. It is enduring. It cannot be corrupted in the way American democracy is corrupted.

“And that’s a thing to celebrate, and we should be aware of it, and we should, we should be aware of what we hear from the United States, that it does not dent this structure of Australia’s democracy.”

Mr Wolpe recalled one anecdote about one of the fundamental differences between Australian and American politics, which centred around how Aussie politicians have the chance to ask questions of their prime minister in the House of Parliament.

Having worked with the Democrats in Congress during President Barack Obama’s first term, Mr Wolpe said he’d made some suggestions to the White House during his time as former chief of staff to Prime Minister Julia Gillard.

“When Obama was elected, I was close with some of his associates, and … I called my friends in the White House and I just say … ‘why doesn’t the President go to the well of the House of Representatives once a month and have questions from the members as to what’s going on’,” Mr Wolpe recalled.

“Well, a memo was done. Obama readies kind of liked it.

“And he says I kind of (am) interested in this’ and his staff said ‘are you out of your mind?’.

“And it never happened.”