With Albanese accused of asking for free QANTAS upgrades for his holiday flights, and Dutton being chauffeured around the country in Gina Rinehart's private jet, the list of lurks and perks bestowed on our politicians is a long one. Politicians, both federal and state, and of all political persuasions, enjoy lots of freebie's thanks to big business and billionaires. Can the ordinary people believe their elected representatives are acting only in their best interest when making critical decisions, considering such generosity is being given freely "with no strings attached". Me thinks not!

The rorts bureaucrats of which neither the PM nor Premiers were never aware of are what's ruining the economy & social cohesion of a Nation.

"Can the ordinary people believe their elected representatives are acting only in their best interest "

No. Haven't been able to believe that for some time.

Anyone who thinks their representative, be it federal, state or local, is interested in anything other than the next election and what they can get out of the system between now and then, deserves to be disappointed.

The days when people went into politics to do what they thought was good for the nation are long gone. Politics is now a vocation rather than a calling.

Solutions?

1. Term limits. Senators can't sit for more than 2 terms or 12 years. Reps also limited to 4 terms or 12 years.

2. Get rid of all the under the table benefits pollies get - enhanced super, massive pensions. Eliminate those and put it all in their pay package for all to see.

3. Enhanced rules around declared benefits. Don't just require that they declare things like free flights but that they also then be barred from any vote concerning the industry or person they got the benefit from.

To the detriment of this Nation, Australians have proven to be neigh impossible to be governed ! They demand but generally are rather slow on commitment !

The catch word is strings i thought this was about Elbo now a host of others are volunteering to clear the air about freebies. Those that through mud never looked sideways did they.
Mutton put his intelligence on display for all to calculate his mental ability.
Nukes is a disaster of gross proportions and will not happen. Mutton has put his judgment on the line for persons to vote on, what then happens to him is he will be shown the door. No one will ever mention nukes again.

Dear Paul,

Many of us are cynical as to why people enter politics.
Government is rarely portrayed as a force for good. And
yet we expect a great deal from our government and our
public service.

If we want to talk about "entitlements" lets also talk
about our entitlements and what we expect from our
governments. We expect governments to help after
bushfires and floods -not only with emergency services
at the time but with re-building and providing financial
support.

We expect, as we've seen recently in the Middle East
conflict - of people travelling to war zones in war
torn countries and unstable conditions - we expect
government to rescue them and get them home.

We expect accessible healthcare, hospital services,
good local schools, childcare, good roads, public transport,
to be protected against crime and violence, to protect
children and families when their families won't, and the
list goes on.

Yet despite the expectations of our own entitlements - we
still complain, criticize, about a "nanny state". The list
goes on of our grievances.

Yes, our political system can be improved. It's not perfect.
And it is clear that we don't on the whole value our politicians.
Yet if we stop to think about it they often have risen to
the challenges laid down for them. Perhaps we need to at times
cut them some slack?