When citizen values rose to the top of the political agenda in 2022, these politicians found their stride

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Australian leaders, including Helen Haines, Anthony Albanese and Linda Burney, who have demonstrated an exceptional effort to respond to the needs of their communities have been named on a shortlist of nominees for the prestigious 2022 McKinnon Prize.

Patrons for the prize, former prime minister Julia Gillard and former NSW premier Mike Baird, reflected that the short-list acknowledged those politicians across all levels of government who were representing the interests and priorities of their constituents.

“Understandably and correctly, Australians expect a lot from their political leaders,” Gillard said.

“It’s this sort of leadership and contribution which I hope inspires the next generation to stand up and participate in meaningful, democratic discourse.”

For Baird, the shortlist of prize candidates showed the variety of impacts created by people across the political spectrum.

“From a local level to our federal parliament, we don’t expect to see the same style of leadership from every leader [and] 2022 saw different approaches to leadership which connected with communities. This year’s shortlist certainly shows that,” Baird said.

Of the two prize categories — political leader of the year and emerging political leader of the year — the following people have been named.

Elected representatives with more than five years in elected office at a local, state and territory or federal level include Anthony Albanese, Bridget Archer, Linda Burney, Alex Greenwich, Matt Kean and Penny Wong.

Representatives at a local, state and territory or federal level with fewer than five years in elected office include co-chairs of the First Peoples’ Assembly of Victoria Geraldine Atkinson and Marcus Stewart (joint nomination), Dr Helen Haines, David Pocock, the Teal independents (collective nomination), and Maribyrnong City Council’s Anthony Tran.

Fiona Patten was also recognised by the shortlisting committee for her significant achievements and impact across her parliamentary career with an honourable mention.

According to the prize judges, who were led by the shortlisting committee chair and Grattan Institute CEO Danielle Woods, last year, constituents responded to leaders who listened to and engaged and collaborated with grassroots voices.

“The shortlist has displayed integrity, vision, and collaboration, and within their areas of influence have demonstrated courage to change our country for the better. This is worth celebrating,” she said.

Wood said that political leaders at all levels of government who addressed the demand for action on key issues with long term-vision came out on top.

This included issues that mattered to the electorate, such as action on climate, integrity in governance, representation, and diversity.

“While you might not agree with the politics or policies of everyone on the shortlist, what is very clear is each political leader showed qualities of great leadership the McKinnon Prize aims to represent,” Wood said.

Later this month, the selection panel will pick the two award recipients by considering how they have made peoples’ lives better with their vision, work across partisan divides, coalition-building and collaborative efforts to achieve positive outcomes.