Activity is so brisk in the Goulburn prepolling centre that one could be excused for thinking the Commonwealth Bank was open again and giving away money.

We have a hunch that many locals have already made their minds up.

They have better things to do on March 28 like the grocery shopping or taking the kids to sport.

Labor candidate Ursula Stephens might have picked up on it during her speech at last Friday’s candidates forum.

“People aren’t apathetic about politics, they’re completely disengaged,” she said.

The problem, she explained, is mostly attributed to political corruption.

We think the disconnect was apparent well before the latest high-profile ICAC inquiries.

It comes from the way politicians speak to us and to their rivals, their inability to sell policies, their perks and their lack of empathy.

All of this is magnified through the relentless 24/7 news and online media churn.

“We have a responsibility to lift standard of debate, lift standard of representation,” Dr Stephens said on Friday.

But they say these things, and it never happens. Remember, Dr Stephens’ own party completely sideswiped Goulburn four years ago when running a no-name, non-resident candidate. A solution would be fewer politicians, less minions starting with the removal of the upper house, at least in NSW.

Serving MPs should also be forced to donate at least 10 per cent of their salaries to the party cause or to re-election campaign coffers.

But is it all too much to ask for politicians just to be honest, to have respect for taxpayers’ funds?

We shudder to think the turnout on March 28 if voting wasn’t compulsory.