Entirely plausible premise - that a not insignificant factor in the recent troubled experience of government in Australia, at least federally, has been the erosion or loss of political and institutional memory. I do think it's too simplistic to (as people often seem to do nowadays) blame everything on the 24 hour media cycle and its supposed result of a focus on the personalities and practice (at the most superficial level) of politics rather than the substance of ideas, policy and government - at most, that's a symptom of deeper societal change and a compounding factor, rather than an underlying cause in its own right - and Tingle's diagnosis is pretty persuasive. Nor do I think her argument is necessarily conservative - there could no doubt be entirely forward-looking ways of valuing, retaining and activating collective or networked memory, experience, insight and wisdom (I use that last word deliberately) without relying slavishly on traditional institutions and ways of thinking.
