Reading a Greg Sheridan article, I will lift a line from his writing. “The battle of ideas should be ferocious, the battle of people should be civil and decent and full of human regard.” To use a sporting parlance, play the ball and not the man. There are certain parameters that should be off limits, this is a member’s families and personal issues. When US president Donald Trump mocked a disabled person at a press conference, he should have been pulled aside and told to pull his head in by a member of his entourage. Instead, none of his team said anything and let him get away with it.

Ok, so what is Greg trying to say here? There is a basic left wing/right wing view of the political spectrum where the left-wing Australian Labor Party and the right-wing Liberal Party engage in ideological battles. Within the two major parties are factions that may be centralist, left-socialist and right-conservative within each party. Both major parties form coalitions with minor parties to form government or opposition alliances in parliament. We have learned through multiple elections, the party that strays either too far left, or too far right from the centralist ideals pays with a heavy loss.

I believe we need to have a robust political debate free from personal attacks and/or character assassination. The discussion needs to centre on facts, not individuals. Even if you follow a certain political party, an individual might not agree with all of their policies, or you may agree with the policies of a rival paty. Lets face it, the political party you align personal values to owes you nothing, you really should vote based on the policy that party puts forward during the election campaign.

I suggest the political divide should be a battle of ideas on a variety of issues, both major parties have their strengths and weaknesses as well as perceived strengths and weaknesses in their ideology. There should be civil debate in parliament, individuals should not attack the individual and instead debate their respective policies. All too often, this breaks down and we witness a slanging match on television or radio where politicians act like teenagers arguing. The discussion needs to stay on point and never get personal, it rarely does though and they should be held accountable.