On the day that a Victorian Labor Cabinet Minister was rescued from the alpine region into which he had wandered for his pleasure, a New South Wales Labor Cabinet Minister resigned in regret over the way he took his.
NSW Health Minister John Della Bosca announced that he was resigning because a formerly secret liaison was about to become public. While Della Bosca expressed regret about the bad decisions that he had taken he suggested that he simply had no choice but to take his 'medicine'.
Even casual observers of New South Wales politics must appreciate that there is nothing new about a minister resigning because of personal indiscretion. Keen followers of the dramas that develop around the parliamentary 'bear pit' in Macquarie Street also know that historically, scandal is one of the inevitable prerequisites for a change in government.
While there is no doubt that the Rees Labor Government would have required a minor miracle to secure re-election in 2011, the affair surrounding John Della Bosca has probably ensured that the party will be so thoroughly routed that the 'rump' can look forward to decades on the Opposition benches.
While the details of the minister's liaison with a young woman have provided some excitement for the tabloid media, it is the effects of the affair which are of political interest. Many middle aged males might have affairs with younger women and in most cases regret making bad decisions, but someone as politically astute as Della Bosca must have realised that the context made his behaviour potentially disastrous.
Many middle aged males are susceptible to having their egos flattered when women appear to find them attractive, but in the case of politicians, it is possible that the dangers involved make such affairs irresistible.
When I interviewed NSW MPs a decade ago, they gave interesting responses to the idea of the 'aphrodisiac of power'. Twice as many males as females agreed that power is an aphrodisiac, while twice as many females as males disagreed.
Much of the fiction involving MPs, such as Edwina Currie's A Parliamentary Affair set in the British House of Commons, or Camilla Nelson's Perverse Acts, set in Canberra, emphasise the hothouse element of our representative assemblies. Why is it then, that Della Bosca thought he had committed a sackable offence?
Presumably Della Bosca wanted to minimise damage to his party. This was not the first time that his private affairs have