Some free advice for pollies: Take a look into our real lives

August 17, 2026 — 3:00am

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Last year, sitting in the audience at the Melbourne International Film Festival, I watched an audience member speak sharply to another who was looking at their phone, telling them to turn it off. I was surprised – but not unsympathetic to the frustrated buff’s sentiment. So I was relieved when, attending this year’s festival, I saw a notice flash up at the beginning of each film. If we looked at devices during the screening, we were warned, we may be asked to leave the cinema.

Some might find this heavy-handed. But to me, this is smart and sensible – saving the blushes of those who would otherwise be chastised by other filmgoers and saving everyone else the distracting glow of someone on their phone in a dark cinema.

And it reminded me, too, that politics often takes place in unexpected locations, practised by people who are not politicians. Because that note, while nominally about etiquette, has a serious – if unintentional – political dimension. I’ve noted before the advice of novelist Zadie Smith to young people. How, she asks, can we fight back against the billionaires who run our world? The idea she offers is simple: “All you guys would need to do is look away.” Put down your phones.

Perhaps naively, I suspect this might actually happen. Most of us feel poisoned by our phones. My hope, then, is that in coming years the culture shifts: that it becomes impolite to look at phones in company or to take them further than the entrance to our homes. This is part of what the Albanese government is encouraging with its social........

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