The problem in Australia is any politicians who actually get up and speak their mind and not follow party lines, is branded a red neck fool by the media. So the end result is we end up with career politicians with no real world experience who are only in the job to secure their own future, not represent the constituents future.
The quality potential politicians never go into politics, they stick to their chosen careers.
Perhaps there needs to be a rule that to become a politician you need to have a minimum of 15 years of non political related work experience before getting a run at the job?
Makes sense to me.