It’s not easy being at odds with the prevailing view of your party, says Leeser. “You really wrestle with some of these issues, but you have to stand up for the things you think are right, because it’s your name on the door, your name on the seat, and you have to be able to look back and reflect on those,” he says.
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“We’re not independents; you’re part of a party system, and being part of a party is you work within the confines of the party and its structure. But there are things that you need to have lines in the sand for, whether it’s the Voice, or dealing with antisemitism. There are a lot of compromises in politics, and you’ve got to say, where are the lines in the sand?”
When he has a difficult decision to make, he looks at a photograph of his children and asks himself: “Am I making it freer for them? And am I creating more opportunities for them and their generation?”
Burns’ position on antisemitism also put him at odds with some in his own party. He tries to avoid public disagreement, but “in any organisation, when you’ve got such strong and diverse and difficult issues, it’s only natural that there will be disagreements,” he says. “How you disagree, and how you make your position is also really important.
“I don’t seek to be anything other than to be a respectful colleague. People know I will stand by my convictions, and do so in a way that doesn’t diminish other people.”
Burns’ and Leeser’s friendship is not as unusual in parliament as it might appear to those whose impressions are formed by the rough and tumble of question time. “Most often you have to get along with people on the other side,” he says. “It does bolster the ability to try to get things done.”
Still, Burns and Leeser are closer than most. “We disagree on many topics,” says Burns, “and we’ve had long and detailed conversations about points over which we fundamentally disagree, and I can leave that conversation liking Julian a little bit more.”
Burns believes the wider political discourse could do with a bit more of that.
“What does it achieve, to put people down, to scream at one another, to think that you understand where they’re coming from and what they believe? At what point does that bring us closer to peace on the other side of the world?”
This article is part of a content partnership between the Herald, The Age and McKinnon, an independent, non-partisan, not-for-profit that focuses on the importance of democracy and good government.
