We expect sleaze in politics and are overcome by shock if it doesn't exist. Just to demonstrate that I am not in thrall to the 'majors' let me demonstrate the level of sleaze. Tasmania was the setting for one such case. One lad from the Senate turned O'Possum Bay into a capital city and shoved about $40,000 of T/A (otherwise known as taxpayers' money) into his pocket. What did his colleagues do? They condoned it.

Another case involved a big hitter from the other team. This hapless lad forgot he owned a 50% share of a concreting company. Sure it's easy to do. All those large deposits into your bank account must just be keystroke errors on the part of a bank clerk. So what did his colleagues do? They condoned it.

We love sleaze. Our politicians wrote the book on sleaze.

I tend to think those on the so called far right and far left probably care a lot more about the policies that are proposed or implemented rather than the actions of the canditate. A large portion of the population are happy with the status quo. All men and women are open to corruption and those on all sides have been caught out many times.

This article was ostensibly about Tasmanian politics but is actually a comment on politics per se.

In summary it says: "....while the economy remains strong, electors may be largely desensitised to government impropriety."

Well, yes. That's exactly how the Australian population has judged the Howard government. Issues that normally would have turned vvoters off (such as the 'children overboard', the faked Iraq invasion and other debacles) have barely affected voting patterns.

Moral issues are generally now of little political significance in Australia. We live in the time of the totally-selfish-voter. Unashamed, unabashed, so long as the government of the day appears to give personal financial (or other) advantage to the voter, he / she is happy to vote them back in.

This thay know. And this is why the Coalition will win the next national election, so long as they manage to keep appealling to the totally-selfish-voter that they have so cunningly manufactured.

I take it Gecko you only like democracy when your side wins. Does a labour/greens win mean suddenly people are not self centred? Maybe the bibles analaysis of man's inherit sinfulness might just be right!

Nope, it means voters are self-centred when their voting patterns reflect a world view that extends no further than line-of-sight.

If this means ignoring the innumerable lies, distortions, manufactures and hypcrisies of the government of the day, as long as tax doesn't go up (or, rather, as long as it doesn't appear to go up), so be it.

It's what people refer to when they say they're living in an economy rather than a society.

A little honesty would be nice. Y'know, just occasionally.

Sage, I know the lad from Tas who was accused of fiddling his travel allowance. Every public servant I know staying overnight in Canberra always looked to stay with friends and collect the T/A, which never covered my trips to cloudcuckooland. I had no friends or relatives to lob in on and T/A fell far short of a clean bed and breakfast. As for the lad, his remorse was so profound that he nearly killed himself. Some will say, too bad he didn't succeed.

However, what do you say about 3 Victorian MHRs who pooled their allowances to buy a house in Canberra? Will they pay capital gains tax - not likely. Sleaze is endemic and we poor mugs accept it because those who are exposed broke the 11th Commandment: "Thou shalt not get caught."