Schoolyard brawls do little for the lot of MPs

Job stress accounts for up to one-third of depression in women and up to one-fifth in men.

An MP's job cocktail of high demand, low control, job insecurity and actively harassing each other is a potential "Molotov". This combination can raise job stress to extreme levels.

A study of mid-career professionals in Canberra has shown that extreme job stress can increase levels of depression and anxiety 13-14 fold.

So perhaps it is no wonder we see, and will continue to see, MPs in distress. The 1999 British study stated that MPs "pay a personal price in terms of psychological health and family life".

What can be done? Many of the determinants of job stress for parliamentarians are only marginally alterable, such as the work hours and workload, and job insecurity is an essential feature of a democracy. Perhaps it is in the culture of the workplace where real progress might be made. It's of the workplace that Jan Wade asks, "Do we want the boys' boarding school environment to continue?"

Progressive private and even public sector workplaces don't tolerate bullying. They promote family friendly policies, they have employee assistance programs, they promote team work and mutual respect and, as Kerry Nettle says, "they promote robust issue-based debate devoid of personal abuse".

They actively promote the physical and mental health of their employees, both for altruistic reasons and for productivity. As the saying goes, contented cows produce more milk.

Parliaments - apart from sporting fields, perhaps - are the most public of workplaces, so in no small way they help to set the culture of all of our workplaces. If our parliaments can change, it could well assist in improving the mental health of workplaces across the nation.

We ask a lot of our elected representatives; like us, they are only human. Spare a thought for them.

But change, like charity, has to start at home - that is, unless they want to see more colleagues "hit the wall".

No doubt some MPs reading this will say the “Boy's Own” workplaces are all part of the rough and tumble of politics, and they will say "if we don't do it, they will".

I would ask in return, is it really worth belting the metaphorical crap out of each other, within parties as well as across party lines? Does calling each other snivelling grubs really make for better legislation?