WHILE SUCCESSIVE AUSTRALIAN governments spent the past decade focused on their budget deficits, another deficit quietly opened: one of public trust in government itself. A wealth of evidence shows Australians have become increasingly disillusioned with their political class.

Growing suspicions that people in government serve themselves and their mates rather than the public interest are vented daily. They are also evident in surveys and voting behaviour: more than four-fifths of Australians think at least ‘some’ federal politicians are corrupt, and in the previous two federal elections, the vote for the major parties has been at its lowest level in more than seventy years.