We could perhaps consider a system used in some mainly European countries. Albeit we would have to stop the rorting & empire building that goes on here. The pension is based on tax payed: Indexed such that the more you payed the more you get back.

Ideally that would kill greedy administration creaming in its tracks & more money would remain in the pool, to actually be ploughed back in to our failing infrastructure.

That would also discourage tax evasion, as the only person being cheated is yourself.

"..as a middle level public servant it was apparent that 85%+ of the pollies were from a legal background and 99% had no knowledge of even the basics of science and mathematics (unless they had to calculate their perks, entitlements and lifetime super payouts)"

It's refreshing that Donald Trump is not just another politician with a Law Degree - his degree is in Economics!
Now can he turn the ship of state around: that is, address the deplorable N.I.I.P. [Net International Investment Position]
NIIP is my preferred way to look at the economic health of a country - especially if you divide it by GDP: NIIP/GDP yielding a percentage rating.
For example Japan's figure is +63% (good) whereas New Zealand's is -63% (bad) [Japan's value-added manufacturing supplies NZ with cars]

Many of Australia's recent Prime Ministers had what many refer to as 'real' jobs though didn't hold them for long as politics became their eventual careers. Scott Morrison worked in tourism. Malcolm Turnbull and Tony Abbott were journalists. John Howard was a driveway attendant at his father's service station. Paul Keating was a payroll clerk at the Sydney County Council.

Most of the others, however, went straight into politics or unionism and then politics straight from their times at university, which directly followed their secondary educations. Most of these and the abovementioned PMs have legal qualifications as solicitors and/or barristers.

"Scott Morrison worked in tourism. Malcolm Turnbull and Tony Abbott were journalists. John Howard was a driveway attendant"

It's alarming how the top leadership is not attracting top talent. Nobody wants the job of turning around the 'ship of state'!

Obama was a lawyer for a big Chicago slumlord, and Trump ran some of his dad's low-income residential buildings

I think there's times when it works the other way a lot better. We have a few billionaires in this country that built their empires from scratch and with little more than primary education level. One notable mention is Sir Frank Lowy. Sir Frank came to Australia after WWII and started a small business, a delicatessen. That quickly grew into a media and retail empire, the latter which encompasses the planet in the form of Westfield shopping centres.

It's just a case of wanting something badly enough and believing in one's self.

One should look back at some pre the end of the Menzies era. One could consider them men amongst men, many of whom did it tough in depression, drought, & war. The majority had a vision for Australia & you could give them respect: Not so with this rabble.

One can only be inspired by the Wagga by-election. This we need to continue as it will get rid of what we have and the only way that they will realise that we have had a gut full of them.

" 85%+ of the pollies were from a legal background"

Bill and Hillary met in the same Law class!

- continued...

Not trying to pillory Hillary

Rather than panegyrics,
I perceive pandemonium for these populist pollyannas pandering plausible panaceas to a penurious proletariat

I'm itching to see the end of these Liberals and their corporate oligarghy. I've voted Labor all of my life and if everybody did they wouldn't need to sell out to the looney Greens in order to do business.

Not wanting to start a political argument Jamie, but when you go back in history, whenever Labor is in power the economy goes backwards, big time. Check out the numbers, do your research...

The opposite usually happens when the Libs are in, despite droughts, world economic downturns etc.
Unemployment falls, the deficit that's always left by Labor reduces and becomes a surplus and things get better - generally.

I think it comes down to who is better at keeping the bureaucracy under control.

All political parties have their power bases but the days of class warfare are over, or should be...

It's probably time to call time on this thread, as a preventative maintenance measure.

Whilst all political parties have their ups and downs I think Ian is correct with respect to economic management credentials.