Meritocracy Made Our Nations Great

British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss is seen during top of meeting remarks ahead of Australia-United Kingdom Ministerial Consultations (AUKMIN) talks at Admiralty House in Sydney, Australia, on Jan. 21, 2022. (Bianca De Marchi-Pool/Getty Images)

Commentary

Like many political junkies, I have been following the leadership race for the next leader of the UK Conservative Party and, thus, the next prime minister.

The contest will soon be decided by party members, who will choose between the current chancellor of the exchequer, Rishi Sunak, and the current foreign secretary, Liz Truss. The contenders eliminated through the party ballot process included Attorney-General Suella Braverman and Minister for Local Government, and Equalities Kemi Badenoch.

All four candidates I have mentioned are from what may be termed minority groups. But they did not become party leadership contenders, ministers, or even MPs, due to affirmative action policies, quotas, or simply because of their sex or skin colour. Instead, they got there on merit.

At this point, Truss looks to be the frontrunner to become Great Britain’s third female prime minister, after Margaret Thatcher and Theresa May, also Tory Party leaders. Contrast that with the opposition Labour Party, which prides itself on an “equality for all” mantra and has had female quotas for some years, yet has not had a female leader in its history.

In other words, equality cannot be forced. As former special minister of state in the Keating Labor government, Gary Johns wrote in The Australian, “There is no caste system from which people cannot escape. No law in Australia prevents anyone from achieving their potential. Upward mobility is possible for the best and brightest and, in that fortunate circumstance, everyone is lifted by their merit.”

The evidence in support of such a statement is compelling.

Judge Merit and Character

In Australia, our current prime minister, Anthony Albanese, is of Italian heritage. The minister for industry and science, Ed Husic, was the first Muslim to be elected to the Commonwealth Parliament and the first Muslim to be made a minister in the federal government.

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese reacts during House of Representatives Question Time at Parliament House in Canberra, Australia, on Aug. 4, 2022. (AAP Image/Lukas Coch)

The previous Morrison government had Michael Sukkar, of Lebanese heritage, and Zed Seselja, of Croatian parents, as ministers. Joe Hockey, of Palestinian origins, was a senior minister in the Howard and Abbott governments.

Both sides of politics in each Australian state have produced premiers and ministers of migrant heritage. Both sides of politics, at both state and Commonwealth levels, also have a proud record of electing Indigenous Australians as parliamentarians since Neville Bonner represented Queensland in the Senate in 1971.

In fact, there are 11 Indigenous voices in the current Commonwealth Parliament. In 1976, Sir Doug Nicholls was the first Aboriginal to hold the office of state governor in South Australia. In Victoria, prominent jurist Sir James Gobbo was the first migrant to rise to that office in 1997, followed in Western Australia by Ken Michael, of Greek extraction, in 2006.

Of course, not everyone will make it to the top; not everyone will be equally successful. However, when there are no obstacles placed in the way of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, and people are judged on no other factors except ability and, in the words of Martin Luther King Jr., on the content of their character, that is when the best and brightest will succeed.

Factor of Success

As Johns writes: “The only permanent barriers to success are ability, personality, willpower, and the ability to form lasting relationships. Legacies remain, but they are not permanent blockers, and they can no longer cover for personal ability and determination. Merit must be honoured and encouraged.”

The great Athenian statesman, Pericles, who led the city during its golden age, and from whom the idea of meritocracy originates, stated that “When it is a question of putting one person before another in positions of public responsibility, what counts is not membership of a particular class, but the actual ability which the man possesses.”

During his time as leader of the Athenian government, the city-state enjoyed prosperity, its most famous buildings, such as the Parthenon, were built, and literature and philosophy flourished.

Likewise, meritocracy is one of the factors that has made Western countries like Great Britain and Australia successful. We dispense with it at our peril.

Views expressed in this article are opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.