The picture in Sunday's paper was very telling. Governor Marie Bashir was presiding at yet another swearing-in of NSW Government ministers. However, she gripped the back of a chair tightly and bore the expression of a grim-faced country parson presiding at a shot-gun wedding. By Monday evening, yet another minister had resigned. Not good.
The convention of ministerial responsibility has taken a battering in recent years, not just under Labor in NSW, but in Canberra as well. John Howard found it too hard to enforce a strict code of conduct, losing several ministers in his first term of office to conflict of interest and travel expense issues. The code of conduct was quietly altered after a couple of years.
Nowadays it doesn't seem to matter how incompetent a minister becomes in the running of their portfolio. There is always someone else to blame as the bar of responsibility keeps moving even lower. Motorists can be thrown into total chaos on the F3 for twelve hours with no one at the top taking the rap - instead, the minister resigns because he drove his ministerial car (within the rules) to a gay sex club.
This is not an excuse for infidelity of either the homosexual or heterosexual kind. Sadly, if this was a test of fitness for public office, MPs on both sides might be visiting the Speaker with their resignations.
However, one of the reasons that public confidence in politicians has eroded is the failure of ministers and leaders to admit mistakes and take responsibility for poor management of their Departments and of bungled policy implementation. Voters are sick of the usual spin and excuses - think not only David Campbell, but also Peter Garrett and Peter Reith ('children overboard'). This is also fuelled by a high level of current public disbelief in the capacity of the state and federal government to deliver on almost any promise.
And this is part of Kevin Rudd's problem. Having backed away from the ETS policy to deal with the 'greatest moral challenge of our time', voters are nervous about a big bang policy initiative to extract more bucks from the mining industry. Does he have the ticker to see this through to the end, and can the Government's forecast of the economic consequences be trusted? In addition, rolling media about his temper and micro-management style have tarnished Rudd's nice guy image (not that being 'nice' is a qualification for high public office).
That aside, taking responsibility for mistakes and returning to the long-standing convention of ministerial accountability is an essential element in restoring public confidence in the political process.

By the way, Anglican churches have an opportunity to be part of a live webcast debate between Prime Minister Kevin Rudd and Opposition Leader Tony Abbott on the evening of Monday 21 June, 2010, commencing at 7pm. It is vitally important that as many churches as possible participate in this event. For further information and to register your church, see http://webcast.australiavotes.org/