The conference will bring together political dealers, media, lobbyists, and vocal minority groups and any one else keen to try and make a fast buck in the political market. They know little about politics but decide to take up some or other cause in exchange for financial gain, parliamentary privilege, a fantastic superannuation scheme and the ability to give themselves pay increases without enterprise bargaining or productivity gains. They are prepared to spend big to ensure a safe seat in exchange for defending the doctrine of one of the major political parties, regardless of whether or not they believe it. Many even flagrantly switch alliances or resign without completing their term. They end up developing very strong morals they hide behind, using them to justify their inability to do the right thing.
Political fraud is a lot bigger than political theft.
The market is very small and trying to pass off opposition policy as your own is far too difficult. It is far easier to quietly use a position of public trust to further individual financial gain, safe in the knowledge that parliament protects its own. The problem is perpetuated by politicians who cannot string two sentences together saying one thing on talkback radio, then embarrassed by the public outcry issue further statements that set out to clarify the issue by clouding the waters. Serious discussion is put on the back-burner so as not to alarm the electorate which gets a dose of political journalism that leaves even the most cynical observer with the impression that no one knows what is going on. This political fraud is more obvious at election time when politicians of all persuasion try to sell the electorate a bunch of policies in an attempt to claim a mandate to do something completely different.