“If there is seen to be any potential conflict with his former role as minister, then the government will take responsibility for ensuring that it is not in any way misused. That scrutiny is the responsibility of government, not of Troy, so obviously within government there will be some caution about that.”

It is now almost impossible to avoid the conclusion that using high office for personal gain is now a core value of Australia’s Liberal Party.

Those sin-binned so far are:

1. ex-premier Barry O’Farrell;
2. former police minister Mike Gallacher;
3. former energy minister Chris Hartcher;
4. Chris Spence;
5. Darren Webber;
6. Bart Bassett;
7. Marie Ficarra;
8. Tim Owen;
9. Andrew Cornwell;
10. Garry Edwards;
11. Craig Baumann; plus
12. former federal assistant treasurer Arthur Sinodinos.

Clearly, that is not the full extent of Liberal Party corruption. They are just the MPs caught — so far.