It appears that the smell of alleged corruption is once again permeating through the halls of power. Recently in Canberra and now in NSW and it has been implied in the media in Victoria. Other States, from time to time, have also shared in the blame. Both sides of the political aisle have been implicated.

Add to this atrocious behaviour by our elected leaders, is the reality that both major parties will do anything and say anything to grab power and then hang onto it. Promise something to get into power then do the opposite, or arguably worse, pull out the secret agenda that underlines their particular world-view.

All of this in one of the supposedly most advanced democracies on earth.

Obviously something is broken.

Maybe we need a new model of leadership; a new model of accountability; and a new standard of honesty and service to its constituency.

Maybe, we the non-politicians, should band together as concerned constituents, in a national debate without politicians, to craft and define what we demand of our leaders. We do not want politicians telling us what is good for us. We need politicians that listen to the people and then make happen what we want. And we should hold them accountable for how well they give us what we want.

Just watched Julia Gillard being interviewed in her first post-dumping public statement. An enthralling interview. She was a class-act and to have her followed by Rudd and then Abbott is a testament to the mindlessness of the majority of Australians.

Apart from viewing Gillard in a totally different (and positive) light, I can't fail to draw the conclusion that politics in Australia is in a deplorable and disreputable state.

Australia desperately needs people with ethics, vision, principle, and a drive for the national good: not the many dickheads and self-servers there now.

When Rudd ran his Ideas Summit 2020 when he come to power, I happened to be invited. I went along with an strong optimistic expectation.

I happened to be allocated to a group which was chaired by someone who shall remain nameless - but who is no longer in Parliament.

She asked the group, "How can public trust and confidence in politicians be improved?" I responded with a long list of suggestion, including:

• Improve access to the process.
• Increase participation.
• Improve MP and ministerial honesty.
• Decrease cynicism.
• Decrease breaches of trust (promise must equal delivery).
• Decrease manipulation of the process by politicians - (e.g. election timing, gerrymandering, pork-barrelling, etc.)
• Eliminate cronyism.
• Eliminate political favouritism (electoral pork-barrelling) - No undeclared accommodation to pressure groups.
• Increase Ministerial integrity - Ministerial accountability and performance standards must be independently determined with power to sack for certain activities that breach the oath of office.
• Improve accountability for promises made.
• Encourage a view by Australian citizens of government that it is the “enabler” of the people and it is there to serve them.
• Increase the breadth of bipartisanship (i.e. what are the issues that we must work together versus the issue where differences enhance outcomes? (i.e. Issues that are the “National Agenda” versus issues that are party-specific.)
• No undeclared political party donations.
• No political advertising using public funds – independent ombudsman to be appointed.
• No conflicts of interest at any level of government: elected officials and staff.
• Public servants’ recommendation is adopted but if ministerial discretion is used to over-ride, then the reasons for departure must be publically declared and verifiable.
• Banning of appointment to private-sector portfolio-related position within 18 months of holding public office.
• Separation of Church and State.
• Greater use of conscience vote.
• Eliminate compromise of judiciary caused by political selections to benches.
• Meritocracy-based allocation of responsibilities.

Regardless of which of these suggestion have merit or not, the Chairperson stopped me about halfway through the list and almost shrieked "Have you any idea how hard we work?"

And that was it - total failure to understand the issue and the cynicism of the constituency about their elected representatives. Pathetic yet symptomatic of the state of our Parliamentary system at the moment.

We deserve better,

The Australian political experience is that people vote governments out rather than voting governments in.

On that basis, Tony Abbott is expected to win the next election.

What exactly are his policies? Unless we know, I believe that Australians will be in for a very rude shock in education, health, migration, environment, climate change, industrial relations, telecommunications, and many other areas.

If Australians vote out the Gillard Government to get an Abbot Government without knowing the policies that will come with it, then they deserve the inevitable pain that will result.

Australia is currently over-endowed with politicians when it deperately needs statesmen.

Regardless of which side of Australian politics you support, it is hard to deny the appalling state of our democracy. Granted, this deplorable situation is arguably the fault of our "Hung Parliament" status, yet without that condition, we see a serious deterioration of democratic principles.

Firstly we have a government that indisputably promises outcomes that it can't or won't deliver, because the delivery of those outcomes jeopardises its hold on power. Even when it passes legislation, it struggles to implement that legislation in a painless, efficient and effective manner.

The constituency has lost faith in the government because of its back-flips and apparent inability to implement effectively.

Secondly, we have an opposition that is akin to a marauding pack of hungry, power-obsessed, salivating kill-dogs. They encircle their prey and wait for any excuse to attack the weakest as it totters from the pack - mauling it without consideration, compassion or fact.

If one observes these rightist, doctrinaire Neanderthals, one can't help but be petrified at the prospects of these people taking power.

As it stands at the moment, who knows how far from an election, it appears that not only will these people take power, but will take it with ease and with a large majority. That means that they will be able to legislate what-ever their inhumane and unevolved hearts desire.

Looking from a constituent's perspective - one can't help but be appalled as one observes the antics of both parties.

Thirdly, you have the media. They too have corrupted the principles of a free and unconstrained press that should be at the foundation of a true democracy. A democracy where the constituency is given fact upon which it deliberates and then chooses its leaders and thus its government. How effective can this process be when fact is denied and self-serving interest is promoted. Media's beying for this government to fall is so blatant that it is sickening.

The media defends itself by claiming as its duty (much like the Opposition) to hold the government to account. True, but that is not what it is doing. It is presenting selective choice of elements of a situation as "fact", and upon those "facts", it provides opinion - which coincidentally, happens to serve the media (or at least the owners and supporters of the media.)

Good social order requires a government with a balanced, centrist perspective (of what-ever hue) that sees as its reason d'etre, the betterment of all members of society. In order for that to occur, society needs a equally balanced, fair and reasonable media. Australia currently fails on all counts.

My conclusions are these:

1. Australia will soon enter a repressive and backward political era in which repressive and discriminatory legislation will be enacted - particularly targeting migrants, the poor and unemployed and the disabled. Education will also suffer.

2. As a result of the inevitable moves to suppress labour and grant "business" huge concessions, industrial unrest will reach an all-time high.

3. Economic performance will in fact deteriorate as a result of social unrest and mistrust of both government and business governance.

4. The corporate sector, aided by lax and "blind" regulatory proceesses, will use the opportunity to extract unreasonable benefits and priveleges - thus fueling labour frustration. The new government will have no appetite for constraining the excesses of the corporate sector and we will see the re-emergence of the conditions that saw the recent GFC.

Ultimately, the Australian constituency will get what it votes for - and will deserve whatever it gets - a punishment for being so short-sighted and blatantly stupid.

I would much prefer a less that perfect government trying to do the right thing, than a morally bankrupt government doing everything perfectly.

In response to a colleague's question “How does a society build robustness?” I suggest the following:

• A society must treat all people equally and without bias;
• Education at all levels must be accessible to all and the only way to do that is to make it free and make all tertiary education merit-based;
• Private education is open to all who choose it but the State won’t fund it to any greater extent than if the student was in the public sector;
• The law must be blind to colour, religion, gender, sexual preference and socio-economic status;
• Equality of health access and quality to all;
• The state and its instrumentalities must be secular – because people in society believe different things. The State must be neutral while allowing anyone to believe “anything” they choose – provided it doesn’t harm or denigrate anyone else;
• Free speech comes with responsibility and obligation (i.e. no harm to others);
• If you are unemployed, to get unemployment benefits, you must work for the state on community projects, to the best of your ability, until you find alternate employment;
• Migrants to Australia must accept Australian law and Australian values – otherwise they can go elsewhere;
• Hate speech (or deed) is illegal;
• The Education system must teach students, civics, ethics and basic commercial principles to enable them interact effectively in society when they graduate from school;
• Politics must lift its game – it needs to be principled and competent;
• Donations to political parties must be illegal;
• Politicians who make promises before an election must deliver them or suffer a penalty (lose a percentage of their pro-vote) at the next election;
• The helping professions (health, education, etc.) would receive significant tax cuts to enhance their standing and their value – to both society and the individual;
• … and I could go on…..

At the moment, we are experiencing, among other influences, political instability. Yesterday it was economic instability, industrial instability, etc... There is always something - never in recent times have we had total calm and predictability.

Business must navigate through and past these obstacles and still achieve their objectives - that is what directors and managers are employed to do. Those skilled at navigation will reap the benefits and those who are indecisive and/or don't know how to deal with the issues that confront them, will similarly get the outcomes they deserve.

Today we blame a fairly sub-optimal community of mediocre politicians - but it is the constituency that voted them in and which led to the current state of affairs. It may get worse before it gets better. Therefore, learn to deal with it rather than complain about it.