Under a democratic model that has grotesquely evolved into an endless tit-for-tat of one side of politics proving the other is unfit to govern and worse, factions within parties then doing the same thing just as successfully, the public is disgusted and fed up.

Governments once enjoyed incumbency and access to treasury funds to support policy.

Those days are gone as media flensed by Facebook no longer can or will report policy to readers who display a “tin ear” for it as a result of the infighting.

Oppositions are now weaponised in alignment with Tony Abbott’s success in the Rudd-Gillard era. But as time has shown, Mr Abbott’s brilliance at wrecking the brand of government as opposition leader resulted in him serving a shorter term as Prime Minister than did his then-opponents Kevin Rudd and Julia Gillard.

So we as voters are left with a vicious cycle of Julius Caesar-style political stabbings with a former PM or dissatisfied faction seemingly around every corner. 

And similarly, as politics responds to us as consumers, we see the rise of micro or single issue parties or candidates who tell us the two-party system is broken and only they can save us.

They get elected even though voters have no idea of their stance on issues other than shooting, fishing, motor vehicles or immigration (to name a few).

But all hope is not lost.

Compulsory voting means we can change the system. An election will be held sometime before the middle of next year.

If we do not like what we see and hear, we can be informed, we can choose the government we want and need.

We cannot abandon this space, no matter how cheated we may feel for we need to remember that for voters to desert politics is much like a ship’s captain deserting the sea: the ship will sink and all who sail in her.