Managing or Leading?

For many of us, 2024 ends on a frustrating note with underwhelming government responses to two forms of addiction that cause damage and distress in every community in New South Wales: drugs and gambling.

So many of us have had a loved one who has grappled with addiction and understand the despair and misery that comes with the struggle of getting effective and compassionate treatment when and where they need it. We know that this demands a systemic response from our leaders.

But as one of hundreds of representatives attending the so-called Drug Summit convened by the NSW Premier last week, I walked away feeling like an extra in a movie where the real action had already been filmed elsewhere.

The Premier had reluctantly committed to setting up the crowd scene before the last election. Those attending brought hope and evidence. They generously shared their knowledge and lived experience. But the Summit was over before anyone yelled ‘Action!’ with the government pre-emptively closing off any meaningful shift to a public health approach.

While we had a keynote speaker reflecting on the failure of decriminalisation in Portland, Oregon where that nation’s opioid crisis confounds the issue, there was no talk of successful international examples such as that in Portugal.

As the Summit wore on, we heard frustrated voices exploding with anger, feeling as though the whole process had been set up to manage an issue rather than to genuinely confront it.

These were echoes of the feeling I’ve had working on the government’s taskforce on gambling reform, which risks also being a political response to a commitment from former Premier Perrottet.NSW is the pokies capital of Australia and the taskforce set out to achieve a long overdue outcome of reducing gambling harm and money laundering. We have a chance to give people greater control over the way they use pokies, make clubs and pubs safer for punters and staff plus address money laundering.

But the cashless gambling trial risks becoming a much smaller test of how to make the least amount of change possible without disrupting the gambling industry.

Again, the process sidelined sensible initiatives such as banning poker machines after midnight, a practice that experts agree is purely serving the exploitation of problem gamblers.

The common thread running through these two pressing social issues is one of the limits rather than the horizons of government ambition.

I think this malaise is about more than this particular state government. Right now, the very idea of government is in a funk, with low trust and broken models of engagement driving community disconnection and a cycle of despair.

While it is easy to get angry and show our justified disdain for those abrogating their responsibility, this risks becoming a form of self-loathing as government is really just an expression of our collective will. Maybe a better response would be to treat government like a friend or loved one who needs our help.

We could start by recognising the self-destructive patterns of behaviour, starting with an addiction to revenue and the sugar-hit of easy tabloid announcements. As lived experience advocates attested at the Drug Summit: in the midst of addiction, it is impossible to think clearly and make good decisions.

We could recognise the problematic patterns, encouraging government to break off with the toxic relationships with the shock-jocks and tabloid editors who seduce you into believing they are your friend.

And we could look at simple practical steps to rebuild trust like encouraging government to really listen to the people it purports to serve and focus on their needs.

My humble suggestion for 2025 is to convene a special Government Summit where we all gather to better understand the lived experience and destructive behaviours of our elected representatives.

Nothing should be off the table as we look at ways of confronting the crisis in trust, filling the gaps in evidence, and finding the will — and funds — to help government be its best self.

When someone is doing such wilful damage to themselves, none of us should just look the other way.