One truly wonders what people must think when (or if) they find the intestinal fortitude or mental detachment to be able to listen to the debates in the House of Representatives.

In short, and certainly mincing no words – it’s becoming ridiculous. Some of our MPs (and make no mistake, on both sides of the house) do try to debate issues that are pertinent and important to the country.

But what do the bulk of them think people are? Does the government think that the general populace is thick enough to believe one side of the house when we are living in a modern utopia that is the envy of the whole world? Perhaps more importantly, just what levels of intelligence does the opposition think it is trying to attract as floating voters by constantly regurgitating the same old doom and gloom, vitriol and twisted facts?

Is this what parliament has degenerated into? A few years ago, one would have said that some of the performances in the house could be liked to Oscar, BAFTA or Emmy awards. Now the only thing that springs to mind is panto.

Again, we will reiterate, there have been some very valid debates – but most of it has become a series of questions, endless referrals to the bad old days in the 80s, slanging matches and general mudslinging.

Budget debates are supposed to be for the opposition to suggest better ways of spending the allocated budget vote, or perhaps even to suggest better ways of implementing projects. In practice, the government proposal generally goes through, but at least it is always food for thought. Not at all this year. This year’s debates have been generally very poor indeed.

It becomes very hard to draw the line at what is party propaganda and what is a genuine attempt to show what progress has been made in the country. The opposition has cast a dark fog over the country to an extent, blinding us from what the real problems that face us are. So many conspiracy theories are thrown into the air that most people have simply given up trying to figure out what is true, what has an element of truth and what is a fabrication. And the worst thing is that this is a double-edged sword.

The opposition’s role is supposed to be that of watchdog – but to coin a phrase – one should always remember the tale of the boy who cried wolf. And that is what is happening. It is leading to a serious state of apathy among the public in two senses. People simply can’t be bothered listening to Labour as they don’t know what’s true any more and they can’t be bothered with the PN because blue preaches utopia (to counteract red) and people know that it is simply not the case.

What the government should do is not overstate what has been done and be true to what the Prime Minister clearly uses as a personal motto “judge on facts, not talk”. Never a truer word said. If we were honest, then we would see that yes, progress has been made, but on the other hand, there is still a long way to go. Well done to those MPs (on both sides) who do try to paint an honest picture. But for the others who don’t… we have Net TV and One News to watch and listen to, we don’t need you as well.