This opinion piece by Richard Torbay was published in the SUN-HERALD newspaper on 6 July  2008 .  It outlines  his views on  'conscience votes' and is a strong argument for consensus politics. 

Voters sick of sleazy deceit
We live in paradoxical times. The major political parties have merged philosophically but continue to behave like ideological adversaries.
People in my electorate, and in Sydney too, shake their heads at this charade and lament the loss of elected representatives driven by conviction, and accountability to their electors.
There's too much hype and spin around the political process to compensate for a lack of policies and principles.
People see through it and it's making them more cynical and less engaged.
The gulf between what people really want and see as important and what the party politicians are talking about could hardly be wider.
The perception is political leaders and their party machines will do and say anything to get elected - then do and say anything to stay in office.
Any compromises are more about retaining the prizes of incumbency than service to the people and good policies.
Opportunism, deceit and sleaze in politics continue to serve up a daily soap opera for the media.
The fusing of the major parties on policy has led to less informed debate on important public issues.
It has become more about managing the problem rather than finding the best long-term solution.
Think of the fashionable economic theory of budget surpluses which led to underinvestment in infrastructure such as roads, public transport, hospitals, schools and public housing over the past two decades.
The blinkered view that privatisation and public/private partnerships (PPPs) constitute a quick fix has itself become ideologically immutable.
It's a classic case of trying to fix problems created through one set of poor decisions with others in the same vein.
No wonder people are cynical. There has been far too little scrutiny of the sell off of public assets, which can fill the coffers of cash strapped governments. The spin that it's for the public benefit is barely challenged.
Where is the proper, informed public debate on these issues?
Where are the impact statements, the long term projections, the alternative options? Quite a number of the privatisations and PPPs have come nowhere near meeting the criteria of public benefit on one side and sound business practice on the other.
Look at the extraordinary political alliances created over the privatisation of electricity assets in NSW.
When some Labor MPs connive with the opposition to defeat their own party's legislation - policy which the coalition also has in its party platform - we're in sideshow alley.
I don't pretend to be a wide eyed idealist looking to eliminate the lively, robust, gladiatorial aspects of party politics, or politics in general, but I am convinced that what we are experiencing now is neither robust, nor gladiatorial.
It is politics on life support.
I'm not suggesting that we can deliver all things to all people but what I am suggesting as remedies are two things.
Politicians should claw back, or be granted, the right to be advocates for their communities.
They should be allowed more opportunities to cast a conscience vote on issues directly affecting their constituents and they should not be threatened with de-selection if they don't always toe the party line.
Secondly we should try solution based or consensus politics in NSW to counteract the failure of successive governments to deliver effectively on major issues such as public infrastructure.
These matters require long term planning and commitment outside the cycle of elections and continuous campaigning.
We need strategies to address the problems to be signed off by the major and minor parties and independent MPs.
It would guarantee continuity over the long haul regardless of which party held government.
It would engage the best minds in parliament regardless of their political persuasion. It would use the public service to best advantage.
It would restore some heart and soul and real excitement back into politics.
It would lift the quality of debate on these major issues and hopefully set a higher standard to re-engage our communities and lead us all into proper, long term planning.


Richard Torbay is the independent member for Northern Tablelands and the Speaker of the NSW Parliament.

By Invitation Only is a space for people of influence to have their say. Edited by Kerry-Anne Walsh.