The value of politicians from all walks of life

Last week, with only a little fanfare, Senator Ricky Muir gave his maiden speech in the Senate. He took nearly eight months to get around to delivering it, which may (or may not) be a record. Prior to that, he had only spoken three times in the chamber. This may suggest that Muir someone who clearly shouldn't be in the parliament, someone who doesn't belong, isn't well educated enough and doesn't have the right qualifications.

Certainly, that is the impression that has been given of Muir since his election. When it became apparent that this unknown candidate was going to gain a seat in the Senate with only 17,000 votes going to him off first preferences, the media naturally set about finding what they could about him. The first thing they found was a video of him flinging kangaroo dung around on a camping trip.

This set the tone for the way his image was shaped in the weeks following. There was precious little else to go on, so the media happily took this as proof that Muir was just some Aussie larrikin that really shouldn't be in the parliament. His first television interview, done with Mike Willesee, was also more or less a disaster. But Muir kept his head up, and continued his preparations.

As it turns out, the image of Muir as some uneducated, incapable Aussie bush bloke is, ironically, rather unrefined.

The first indication we got of this was in this piece by Sophie Morris in July last year. Muir is - surprise - a car enthusiast, but he is also more than that. He is a strong family man, he understands the value of employment to the average person, he is thoughtful, and he is independent.

He also calls himself 'just an ordinary bloke'.

Then, last week, all of these things were confirmed in his maiden speech, which you can see here:

Muir bought his first suit just for the speech. For the most part, like most people would in a similar situation, he read the pre-prepared speech word for word. There was nothing slick about it, and there wasn't any sense that Muir was there for his own interests. He was there because he cared, and because he felt a duty towards people like him.

If you read the comments below the YouTube video, you'll find that they are overwhelmingly positive, praising Muir for being authentic, humble, real and, above all, an average Australian. How many politicians would get that kind of response to a speech of theirs?

Not many in our Parliament today. Certainly, not many from the major parties. One other 'average' Australian comes to mind, though, in Jacqui Lambie. Lambie's performance in public since being elected could not be further removed from Muir's, but she receives similar positive responses for being real.

To the public, they are just ordinary Aussies.

Muir has also given every indication so far that he intends to make informed decisions in the parliament. He has sought to learn from those in the know, and he has learnt quickly. He needed to. Of all the people elected to the Senate last year, he was the one being held up as the clearest example that the Senate was not representative.

But, thanks to the way our political system works, it often turns out that those elected with the smallest proportion of votes can actually truly represent the largest number of voters. When we vote for our Senators, we vote for individuals. If we were able to meet all the people running for the Senate face-to-face, chances are it would be people like Muir who would be most positively received.

There's no doubt that a system that allows people to be elected with 0.03 of a quota on first preferences isn't quite working correctly. But it also happens to be those same quirks that allow us to have representatives who aren't beholden to behemoth parties, and who genuinely care about their constituency.

If the Senate is ever the 'unrepresentative swill' Paul Keating claimed it is, it will be when people like sawmill worker Muir, military policeman Lambie and boilermaker John Madigan are barred from entering the parliament. We must ensure this never happens.