As always, former detective sergeant Doubtful John is on the money about Bill Shorten.

He's right - corrupt and racketeering oriented organisations do learn from each other.  They seem to have a few common features as a result - compromise your new recruits, blood them, have something over them, reward loyalty and show the instruments of torture to anyone who's considering breaking ranks.

Labor in Australia is more fortunate than most of the world's RICOs.

For the system to work in the people's favour, the crooks should fear the cops.   Our cops fear this class of crook.

Most advanced Western democracies have some sort of a standing body to investigate corruption.

Nationally, Australia doesn't.

We're kidding ourselves if we think we the people are protected against the Gillards, Shortens and Craig Thomsons.

Our institutions are failing us.   I'd include all our police forces, News Limited, Fairfax, the ABC, the courts - even Royal Commissioners acting on instructions from the Queen go weak kneed when dealing with aggressive political thugs like Shorten or Gillard.

So while Doubtful John's comment about things the Corleone or Capone families could learn from Labor is on the money so too is the unstated flip side of that coin.  The other side of the crime equation is enforcement, investigation, prosecution and punishment of the crooks.

We don't have much to crow about in that regard.

Australia's performance in shutting down crooked political networks is abysmal.   There's so much we need to learn.

Just glance at Gillard/Wilson/Ludwig et al in the AWU Scandal.

Gillard's involvement was a personal matter.  In September 2011 it had nothing to do with her day job as PM.  Yet the two big commercial media companies in Australia both folded, both sacrificed employees and both made promises to satisfy her when she got wind of investigations and reporting on her personal conduct.

When Victoria elected a new Labor government it only took a couple of days for the former chief of police who'd authorised a police task force to investigate Gillard et al to decide he and the new regime couldn't work together.  The new chief of police appointed by the Labor/CFMEU administration has presided over just on 18 months now of precisely zero progress in that matter.

The best way to bust crooked networks is through getting insiders to talk.  Whistleblowers who've been compromised by their involvement with institutional crooks need to know it's worthwhile going straight.

The consequences of blowing the whistle in Australia are shocking.   The TURC proved it.  Anyone looking at the fate of whistleblowers versus outcomes for crooks like Gillard would have rocks in their head to trust our system as it stands.

Try to imagine Al Capone's book-keeper going to police with all the inside information about Tbe Outfit.  The book keeper or bagman tells investigators about what Capone's been up to, lays it all out and spills his guts completely.

"Thanks for those admissions about yourself. Mr Capone says he did not do anything wrong.  He says really nasty things about you.  And he's got a good point, it's your handwriting in these accounts, so it looks like you'll carry the can for everything."

Ralph Blewitt went public and told us he was part of the Gillard/Wilson crew who ripped off the AWU and Thiess to the tune of hundreds of thousands.  Like a remorseful thief who knocks on your door with all the details about burgling your house - Ralph said he wanted to explain who did what in the AWU rip off.  But rather than thank him, the leadership of those organisations tried to discredit him and shut him down.

We are rewarding aggressive thugs like Shorten, Gillard et al.  They have no fear of authorities, rather it's the other way around.  The bosses of our police forces and sadly even our media companies live in fear of crooked politicians.

We need to make life a lot harder for crooks who want high office.  The way our systems are currently structured, particularly on the Labor and union side,  the most vicious and crooked get the spoils.

They live in fear of no one.   It's time to give them something to worry about.