Backwards step: Trump template in Australia

One of the consequences of disruptive leadership is that it gives permission to others to follow suit. If they can do it, why not us, is the often unanswerable question.

That principle stands, even if the smash-the-mould permission offered is far-less-than-exemplary. This process can become even more questionable if that permission is exercised for reasons of political self-preservation.

It’s a little over a year since President Donald Trump said America would withdraw from the Paris climate accord. Most of the world responded with sorrow that a nation once regarded as a world leader chose this path. However, Mr Trump and his supporters were indifferent.

Sadly, Malcolm Turnbull, Australia’s prime minister, has followed Mr Trump’s lead. He has dropped his government’s energy policy, threatened to break up power companies, and scrapped national emissions targets in a self-serving bid to stave off a leadership challenge.

The Trump template is indeed changing our world and hardly for the better.