Our government system seems to be in a rough patch

POLITICS is not exactly my strong suit. When asked to name as many former Australian prime ministers as possible, few come to mind after John Howard.

POLITICS is not exactly my strong suit.

When asked to name as many former Australian prime ministers as possible, few come to mind after John Howard.

At the ballot box, the toughest decision I have to make is whether or not I should put my own name down as a funny little joke.

And when asked of my political persuasion, I simply scratch my head for a few minutes trying to remember the names of the two major parties.

Of course, I'm joking; I do know the names, and I'm a Democrat, through and through.

However, while no Laurie Oakes - either in level of political esteem or average ratings on HotOrNot.com - I feel I have the nous enough to know when our nation's governmental system is going through a bit of a rough patch.

And yes. This appears to be one such patch.

When Kevin Rudd challenged Julia Gillard for the leadership last year, the nation was shocked, confused and, yes, captivated.

A few months on, and here we find ourselves again … except confusion seems to be the only remaining feeling.

Why? Because when we pick up the voting sheet on election day, we're going to know what party we're voting for if we tick Labor - but we will genuinely have no idea who will be running that party by year's end.

I haven't been so uncertain about leadership since I was captain of the volleyball team in grade 12. (I don't know anything about volleyball.)

Whenever federal election time rolls around, you would think it'd be fairly normal for two politicians to be going at it like Rocky Balboa and Apollo Creed in Round 15.

Who could forget the great election battles John Howard had with Beazley, Latham, Crean and the like?

Only thing is, you don't generally expect Apollo and Rocky to be in the same corner of the ring. Not until Rocky fights Mr T, at least, and that's not until the third film.

Gillard and Rudd are supposed to be in the same corner.

Sure, they may be a tad too distracted by the daggers in their backs to kiss, make up and win an election together, but as the two most prominent public faces of their party (sorry, Mr Swan), I reckon these two power-hungry pollies need to at least shake hands and move on.

Because at this stage, in the Australian political scene, it looks like we'll never be up to Rocky III.

Imagine going into any other workplace with the same level of tension these two seem to have.

Children wouldn't be taught at schools; the teachers would be too interested in knocking the headmaster out of his office.

Burgers wouldn't be flipped at Macca's. The cooks would be too interested in the CEO role.

And the royal family wouldn't have their beds made; the maids would be too interested in Elizabeth's shiny little hat.

In order for us to even remotely trust them, our leaders need to lead. They need to sort it out. And quick.

Because Rocky IV can't be far away… and that guy was on steroids.