All governments are sieved through Seven Stages of Life.

Stage 1: idealism and genuine desires by politicians to improve everyone’s lot in life.

Stage 2: reality check. Things won’t just happen. Other cogent, conflicting ideals intefere. Change is like fire: well-managed, it creates great goodness but uncontrolled, it’s ravenous, dangerous and destructive.

Stage 3: obstructionists, other pollies and glacier-like bureaucracies deliberately hinder policy changes. Pollies fail to represent voters; ‘My electorate believes’ are replaced with ‘I think’. Pollies, aiming to please everybody in general, please nobody in particular, walking both sides of the street and straddle various positions simultaneously. Weasel words proliferate. Egos are paramount during this stage.

Stage 4: electoral moods tack a new course as changed economic and social scirrocos blow up. Ignored by pollies, number-crunching mathematics, not merit, drive issues.

Stage 5: arrogance and self-preservation are paramount, alienating voters. Fudgy figures, media manipulation, dodgy deals, vile, venal tactics or lying create foggy facades and faux-images. Policies change on-the-run.

Stage 6: mistakes are made, felonies fathomed, residents are revolting and voters are angry. Pollies cling to power for lucrative retirement packages. Cleaner, credible pollies appear by default or by design.

Stage 7: government outed and ousted. Former pollies receive Order of Merit awards and cash for life. Go back to stage 1.

This self-returning möbius strip means the ten habits of good government don’t happen. Good government leans into the wind of change, encourages voters’ views, has an iron fist in a velvet glove if required, instigates change for the common good, puts voters’ first, not last, has merit-based policies, isn’t arrogant ignorant or negligent, encourages a sense of belonging, and enforces the highest standard of ethics and public probity. Passion and compassion are its keys to success.

It’s the quality, not the quantity of governments, that ultimately matters. We’re way over-governed. I’d rather one big, good, government than dozens of little felonious fiefdoms.

So it’s time to hand over the keys for Nathan Rees, it’s stage 2 for Kev-the-dud Rudd and onto stage 7 as Marcelle Hoff is toffed and Clover rolls over.