Let there be no doubt about the description (by a SMH letters writer) of "the bald-faced effrontery of this politicisation" of the AFP by the government and opposition, who provided the poorly drafted legislation that led to the recent police state thrust.
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Equally, both the government and opposition should share the shame and criticism of this pursuit on the ABC, News Limited and the media generally.
What went on in Canberra in the last 10 days or so adds weight to the argument - emphasised by the declining vote for each of the major parties across the last three federal elections - and which is responsible for the continuing lack of leadership, policies and the welfare plus basic fairness towards all Australians.
The media is not beyond reproach any more than the parliament itself is, but on the evidence after their appalling performances in the last two decades, neither are the major parties and major players within them.
Now, as a Wagga reader writes: "the chaos of the last six years continues! They just treat us all with contempt and get voted back in. God help us."
That is supported by Greg Jericho's article in The Guardian last Sunday about the lies sprouted by the Coalition during the election campaign that the economy was strong and emissions were under control. Not so on either matter, according to official figures released this week.
More importantly, in April, an article by SMH economics writer Daniel Moss said: "Anyone who still thinks Australia's economy is an all-conquering model of perfection is likely to get a wake-up call soon". They didn't have long to wait.
By the end of last week, economic experts were telling the nation exactly what was happening.
Growth across the economy had slowed to its lowest rate in more than five years; for the first time since the 1982 recession, per capita GDP fell for the third consecutive quarter; there was a one-in-four chance of recession after the worst economic result in 10 years. There's a lot more.
The ALP can take no solace out of that appalling management of the economy in the last six years.
In the meantime, it is up to the nation's best journalists and media executives to sort out parliament's honest MPs from the wishy-washy.
What it also indicates conclusively is that, under Bill Shorten's management, Labor ignored the fact workers were doing it tough, some were out of a job and policies to stimulate the economy by his party were flimsy, to say the least, and lacking credence. As at least one former ALP member was prepared to tell me: "For an opposition to win, there has to be a good reason for the government to lose. In this case, there were plenty of reasons for the government to lose but the ALP (under Shorten and Bowen, my words) did not focus on them."
"An untrammelled media is important to the public discourse and to democracy," as Ita Buttrose, ABC chairwoman, told Communications Minister Paul Fletcher this week, "and the ABC raid was clearly designed to intimidate".
In the meantime, it is up to the nation's best journalists and media executives to sort out parliament's honest MPs from the wishy-washy.
As the great letter writer Larry Foley always told journalists: "The role of a newspaper is to comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable."
Another worthwhile scenario in this discourse came from Sydney University vice-chancellor Michael Spence, who said it is not because people's right to speak freely is not being respected, it's because "the whole culture has a problem with the way we're talking to each other."
A regular column reader added this: "We have forgotten the golden rule. Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. The verbal rubbish (from and within Parliament) gets worse; no dignity and no respect for our fellow man or woman."
Independent MP Andrew Wilkie and Australian Conservatives Senator Cory Bernardi both raised the issue of how partisan a parliamentary inquiry into the police raids would be.
It is a fair point and adds weight to the lack of trust in an inquiry run by the Coalition and Labor without a contribution from independents, in particular, and the cross-benches, which as senators Bernardi, Wilkie and Patrick infer is to "how partisan any inquiry would be rather than the primary object on behalf of parliament which should, without fear or favour, be to achieve a credible result."
