Baiting the Hook: Do representatives have a use by date?

Not just our elected three tiers of government but also the bureaucracy that sits behind closed doors and sucks up bigger pay packets than many earn in a lifetime.

And who is punished for white collar wrongdoing and gross waste of taxpayer's contributions to running the economy?

It seems to me the worst punishment is to appear in front of a Senate Estimates hearing and then get no real outcomes of retribution for inept gross mismanagement and overspending of many government departments.

What was the real cost of The Voice Referendum? We will never really know.

What is the real cost of running our Parliamentary Houses with all frills attached - bars, media rooms, security and more? We will never really know.

What is the real cost of travel rorts by international-travelling politicians taking with them aides, media, security and sometimes family? We will never really know.

Now, I am not totally stupid and know there are necessary delegations and international travel requirements to be made on behalf of Australia, but remember the history lessons of the past - Nero fiddles while Rome burns - comes to mind.

Our country has pressing issues that need to be addressed urgently. I've written about power at length but how is it that some Australian children are not getting the food they need to grow physically and mentally.

Our elderly are going without some medications and care needs. The great Australian dream of owning your own home is fast becoming mythical.

Our brave defence personnel and first responders are often not given the love they are so deserving of. They go beyond the call of duty sometimes to protect us and we must never forget that fact, but where is our duty of care to these great Aussies?

And what is the real cost of the continual sickening lawlessness that goes largely unpunished. We will never really know.

There are some things that we do know, though, and that is that normal, tax-paying Australians are being done over.

I believe we are a great majority and we are bowing to the minorities that politicians give far too much attention to.

Is it OK that everyday folk are struggling and surviving week to week?

I have some very simple ideologies, charity begins at home, and by that I mean our shared home, Australia.

I believe our ill, our elderly, our children should be taken care of. So where have we gone wrong?

If government representatives have not achieved good outcomes within a reasonable time frame, have they reached their "use by date"?

One of my favourite sayings is, "lead, follow or get out of the way" - relevant, I believe, from the smallest of ventures to the head of our nation. What do you think?