Serving As A Member Of Parliament

 I once commented to a senior journalist that I thought 10% of the WA State Parliament were good but with numbers that low we weren't well placed to recieve the best laws, the best reforms, the best management without over reach or without some using the position to refinance their own debt or get a salary that is well beyond their ability in the real world.

He was too kind to me, quite harsh on me. Said that my view was optimistic & a good reflection on me as a person & that sadly my numbers were too high, that Parliament was a "humidicrib of mediocrity"

For me, I have to admit I enjoyed his comment as it was a compliment & a humourous take.

FOR A WHILE.

After a while, if we're fortunate & blessed we wake up with further considered thought.

He wasn't being malicious, arrogant or face slappy. He was being honest, possibly not even brutally honest, just honest.

Not sure he was trying to wake me up, but he did. I should perhaps be, not more harsh, but apply more rigour. This is a very serious theatre of improving society. Its also a theatre where there is very little consequences upon those who make the decisions. Well none that are lasting. 
A director on a board, in theory, has a director evaluation programme which leads onto director training to keep a director not just sharp but improving because skills can perish. This is not really the case in Parliament & is made worse by the very grey, profoundly vague idea of fiduciary duty amongst MPs. Do they serve the electorate, their party, their branch, their faction within the party...and for many who cannot manage this space properly, its yes all of these...whilst they're standing in front of each resepctive group. 

Compounded by the reality that no one can be all things to all people & some MPs tend to lurch towards being profoundly vague and/or point to their opposing ranks for fault for their short falls  from not being clear what hill they're actually prepared to die upon, what they really stand for and will crash defending.
Their cloak of profoundly vague is their everyday wear.
Compounded more is there are some who tick the Party's demographic boxes whilst not really having the real skills or expertise to be a good legislator. 

Compounded by that some are there to restructure horrible debt or reach a professional level or pay packet they could never attain without going FIFO or getting a professionals degree or building a business and working hard in that field.

What we've lost is that being a MP definitely IS NOT A LOFTY SOCIAL STATUS whilst its very much being run like that.

THE REAL UGLY TRUTH IS A MEMBER OF PARLIAMENT IS NOT OCCUPYING A LOFTY LEVEL OF SOCIAL STATUS, IT'S SUPPOSED TO BE VERY LOFTY LEVEL OF SERVICE. MPs ARE NOT SUPPOSED TO BE RANK POLITICIANS BE WISE LEGISLATORS. UPON RETIREMENT MANY MPs GO ONTO SIT ON COMPANY BOARDS DESPITE MANY OF THEM NOT BEING COMPANY DIRECTOR TRAINED OR EXPERIENCED...THE WELL KNOWN LUCRATIVE POST POLITICS PATHWAY. ANY RESPECT THEY HOLD IS MEANT TO BE HARD EARNED, NOT A GIVEN ONCE ELECTED.

This shows many MPs to be the non violent version of boxing's journeymen.
Now that's ok if that's their thing, but we should not expect them to be or pretend to be anything else.
In these conversations with some MPs it has got prickly for them & its soon gets drifted towards the clash of ideology & all doing the best they can with the dominant number of seats in the house. I strongly disagree. This is a completely seperate issue & the go to false bolster distractor or excuse out door. I am not in favour of Socialism, it is a distinctly clear cancer on society but we have Socialists in Parliament. What we need in Parliament is REAL CONSERVATIVES vs WISE PROGRESSIVES. This is because we don't want to conserve at all costs not change at all costs. We need wise reforms & legislation that is fit for purpose. We're a long way from that. I do also think as good as some MP/Senators are they are let down very badly by employing some advisors who aren't exactly people who should be advising anyone. Some are also journeyman types, some even call themselves "Political Professionals". They're not meant to political at all, they're meant to be apolitical at work. Many aren't, many see themselves as political players. In the last few decades we've seen a big rise in the number of wide eyed "20 somethings" who are keen to get ahead. Its not unlike the Yuppy Era of the 1980s where many young people thought they were financial/business movers & shakers...there to play the game and climb high & leave all in the wake. That failed us & that same mindset group will now fail us more having migrated over to the legislative sphere. If you're finding this negative because its starting to look on the money, it gets worse. Some of these Political Professionals are now migrating over to party jobs & even worse, some are pursuing party preselection.

Yes, its perhaps a bit harsh to throw around the term "hollow theatre props" yet this is terribly apt with quite a few political professionals & some already sitting MPs.

Startling example was the lady who was a Shire Councillor, got preselection & went onto win a seat. Before her campaign event started one of her fellow shire councillors asked her why she didn't run for the Upper House. She replied that no she was running for Parliament. He was a little confused & teased out more information & the embarassment was (or should have been) rather huge for her. She did not know there were 2 houses of Parliament. In another conversation with other people it was mentioned about renting or buying a flat in Perth. This time she was confused and didn't understand why that was needed. Now the chap she was speaking to had run for preselection once but didn't win preselection. His political foray was very very short but he knew she'd have to spend a good 20 weeks in Perth with both parliament sitting & the likelihood of sitting on committees. I gather she was very distressed as she had a young family & no one told her that. She's managed to straddle work & family and only sits on one committee. Now I'm not a member of Shooters Fishers & Farmers Party but I did not some years ago Rick Mazza on his own sat on the exact number of Committees as the all the WA Nats MPs combined. Agree or disagree with Rick aside, he was not a politician, he was an actual proper legislator. He was closer to lofty service than he was to lofty social status. 
I cannot say that of the majority of "politicians"

We're in a bit of trouble at the big building on the hill.
When re-election & creating connecting pathways to post politics board positions is the prime driver, we're in big trouble. 

We are in very big trouble. 

Now I'm not sure, some enjoy the stoush that Parliament provides, some like they get paid well without going near tools unless they're photo opping with a shovel. But there are some who are taking a significant pay cut running for Parliament. Whilst they're like the rest of us, imperfect & biased but they're a little more honest & chasing things they believe in.

Until we prevent politicians having a gap between Parliament to Board seats or board seats related to a portfolio they held & have no connection with sitting MPs in their board work we're in trouble.

Until we ensure advisors are people of good standing & good experience making them capable of delivering actual advice we're in trouble

Until we have no political advisors & very non political bureacrats, we're in trouble
Some call it the "big game" or "the dance" but a the risk of hurting some people's eyes, its everything that is elsewhere called the swamp.

We're in trouble.

I should point out one leader of one party made a great noise about one fellow MP in the same party, that he was incredible, that he was forensic in his work with Bills & Committees. I felt that MP had let us down badly on a number of things as well as achieved some things for us electors that many others didn't. I also said the reason he stands out is he is probably one of the few who has been forensic with Acts & Committees which is in fact what his job is & sad he stands out because he's forensic efforts leave him as an outlier, not an average MP. Needless to say that Party Leader said privately that they will not enter into a room let alone a conversation with me. Cancel Culture techniques are not the traits of a good legislator, but the other group that has grown in number in Parties & in Parliament.

The Machivelleans. 

We're in trouble.