Are there any truly admirable politicians left?

I fear that Australian politics has reached a very dark place. As a public, it sounds like no one is happy with any party. No political party has a clean cut answer. No political party has expressed an idea to keep the people happy while keeping the country running without financial ruin. And worst of all, the art of clean politics seems to have been lost.

Last night it was revealed that two senior Labor officials have called for an investigation into the federal leadership ballot of 2013 for the Labor party. They’ve claimed that 30 ballot papers were possibly manipulated by the NSW Labor branch head office. According to the Sydney Morning Herald, NSW Labor assistant secretary John Graham and the state secretary of the Australian Manufacturing Workers Union, Tim Ayres, who is also on the national executive, have written to general secretary Jamie Clements calling for the move.

It was revealed earlier this year that addresses had been altered in this ballot but now the calls for investigation lead people to believe they are investigating the possible rorting of the Labor election.

It’s so sad that politics isn’t a clean game anymore. Do people of Australia remember what politics is designed to do? It exists not to fulfil the wishes of an individual, not to help people become accomplished or allow them the privilege of big noting themselves. Politics exist to run a country in the best way possible. A democracy exists give the every day person a chance at having their say and being integral to their country.

But why don’t our politicians act like this is the case? The scariest thing that I can think is how do we change this? With younger generations coming through as the Australian political leaders of tomorrow, they’ve had so few role models that are truly admirable. In fact, the generation in politics now was lucky enough to have some great role models, but somehow greed and personal agenda became more important to them.

I think that the “legacy” of a politician needs to change. It shouldn’t be about what they said or what they did, it should only be about what change they made. And unless a politician makes a change that can be seen as good, positive and better for Australia (the country, the economy and the people) they’re simply another person in another job. It’s just sad that their job plays such a big influence on our lives.

Do you think there are any clean politicians who really act with integrity, honesty and do their job admirably?