When Anthony Albanese squared off against Andrew Bolt on Channel 10 a decade ago, he offered some sobering commentary about an expenses crisis that had scandalised federal politics.

“The public are sending us a message. To me, it is symptomatic of the conflict that’s there that many Australians feel towards politicians,” the future prime minister said. “I think that if we, as politicians, expect respect from the Australian public, clearly we’ve got to respect them.”

Tough spot … Minister for Communications and Sport Anika Wells with Prime Minister Anthony Albanese.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen

In August 2015, then-prime minister Tony Abbott announced a review of parliamentary entitlements as his government was on the defensive. Bronwyn Bishop’s decision to charter a $5227 helicopter to fly from Melbourne to Geelong for a Liberal Party fundraiser – and then attempt to justify it – had detonated weeks of ridicule and outrage. Few were left untouched as MPs’ travel bills from the previous years were combed through during a slow winter break.

But what began as Bishop’s poor political judgment had, even Albanese admitted, become something bigger: a symbol of a system that no longer made sense to the people funding it.

Abbott’s response was to promise a fundamental rewrite of the rules. Its oversight would be independent. It would be comprehensive. And, crucially,........

© The Sydney Morning Herald