Of integrity, adversarial politics and a fake email

It was to lead to claims and counter-claims from both sides of politics, calls for resignation from both sides, obfuscation, filibustering and generally unedifying conduct in Parliament televised into living rooms.

John Warhurst, adjunct professor of political science at the Australian National University and Flinders University of South Australia, is disappointed with the bad name all this has given to politics. "The vast majority of the public will be disillusioned (with the political process) on two counts," Warhurst tells the New Sunday Times.

There are the theatrical posturings in Parliament, the constant spectacle of disruptive division in the house, and calls for order.

The veracity or otherwise of opposition claims against government notwithstanding, the mud of corruption can stick.

As Warhurst asserts in a commentary he wrote in the online journal Eureka Street, corruption in politics does not just mean money changing hands. "Corruption in politics is more usefully seen as a corruption of the process by which the highest standards of non-partisanship and even-handedness should be applied to the policy-making process," writes Warhurst. "When (corruption) happens special interests are deliberately advantaged over others.

"As revealed once again by this affair, Australian politics at the federal level is not squeaky clean ... But neither is it deeply flawed and corrupt."

Warhurst's colleague, James Walter, head of politics at Monash University in Melbourne, cites international corruption indicators that place Australia generally in positive light. Especially where it applies to the more generally accepted understanding of corruption related to bribery.

Where it applies to the public policy process, Walter shares Warhurst's sentiment. Walter's reservation extends to the media.

In the case of the so-called Utegate Affair, a journalist to whom information had been leaked had sought comment from the prime minister's office on the purported email. Rudd left the journalist in no doubt about the inaccuracy of the information that he had. The newspaper went ahead to publish nevertheless.

Grech is under police investigation over the fake email. Should he be implicated in having a hand in the forgery, he will not have done Walter any favours. Walter, who with collaborator Paul Strangio published No, Prime Minister: Reclaiming Politics from Leaders, is a strong advocate of the Westminster system of an independent public service.

Walter had initial concerns about an "instinctively controlling" Rudd when Rudd first led Labor into government in November 2007. In the intervening 18 months, Walter says he has had cause to be optimistic about a more engaged prime minister, in people participation in government, and in his dealings with the public service.

Walter would be sorry if the action of a public servant were to reverse the prospect of weaning Rudd off a proclivity to authoritarianism and domination of government.

Why might Grech have been the long-term source of leaks to the conservative coalition opposition, as has been alleged?

The charitable view is of a "dry" economist scrupulous in wanting to ensure that the pump-priming approach to government management of the economy does not undermine even-handedness in public policy.

It all made for a week that one commentator suggested has been transformational in Australian politics.