When I was 11 we had a school assembly one morning where an important announcement was made.

A teacher told us the Grade 6 students would soon be electing a Student Leader.

About 60 kids from 3 lots of Grade 6 classes were required to nominate 1 candidate from each class, then all 3 classes would vote to choose a candidate as the Student Leader.

The Student Leader would get into photos with donors or important visitors, wear a badge and not really do much else. I suppose it was a title the school invented to show kids what representation looked like and how it worked.

And I certainly did learn early how things work.

To my surprise I was put forward as the candidate for my class. I wasn’t an exemplary student and was generally difficult to control, so I took it as a joke and didn’t give it anymore thought.

Election day rolled around and despite one of the other candidates being the teacher-endorsed option and literally putting up ‘vote for me’ posters around the school, I won the overall vote.

I did nothing to manifest this. I even admitted openly I didn’t care about the outcome, but I was chosen. To honour the electoral process (which initially was explained as something sacred) I was willing to accept the job, but a little coalition of teachers were very unwilling to let me have it.

Weeks went by but I never got a badge and no one heard anything else about the election or the Student Leader.

Eventually, I was called to the Principal’s office but when I arrived the Principal wasn’t there. Three ladies stood around a desk, they told me to sit down and I did.

I was probably in trouble again, I thought. Blood rushed to my face in fear of how my Dad would react. I was relieved when one of the ladies spoke and I realised I wasn’t being punished for anything.

The one in the middle did most of the talking, the two others were like props providing stern glares and the occasional nod-along. I was told that the Student Leader position wasn’t suited to me, that I would find it boring.

They were trying to help me you see (this is how they spun it) saving me from the gruelling academic nightmare of endless meetings and missing sport. This whole conversation is a core memory for me.

“…It would even be selfish, Blair, demanding to play a role when you know there’s someone else who would be much better suited to that role.”

“…’Sporting Captain’ is something we could look at for you instead, we think that would be much more suited to your interests.”

In the span of 5 minutes these ladies insinuated that I was mentally lazy and inadequate for leadership, they told me I was selfish if I didn’t agree with them then bribed me with a new title they just invented on the spot (there was no ‘Sporting Captain’).

I was an 11 year old kid.

When I did finally get a second to speak I admitted I wasn’t overly keen on being the Student Leader, specifically because I didn’t want to be the diamond goose running around with a badge on.

I agreed to let the other kid have it, the one they liked so much and who couldn’t wait to wear the badge. They were happy. They said I had made a “very mature decision”. I just wanted to get out of there.

Thinking back to that moment makes me realise how a whole country goes to shit. It begins with small coalitions of people and small-scale corruptions of the local sort, until manipulating outcomes to the personal satisfaction of a few becomes state policy.