We almost expect politicians to game the system, using what loopholes they can to line their pockets and then insist they are within the law. Well, here's the thing. The law's an ass - which doesn't say much about the people who make it (the same politicians who hide behind it).
We're used to the double dip - a few minutes of official business to justify flights for a trip we're paying for.
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We're used to the spousal soiree too, where politicians' girlfriends and boyfriends and husbands and wives get to stretch out in business class and accompany their political half to destinations around the world. That's allowed too, in many cases.
And in recent years, the wedding weekend has also surfaced as new ground for politicians claiming taxpayers' money on "official business". Thank goodness, despite our politicians thinking it was legitimate to claim taxpayers' money to attend the wedding of a friend, most of them have been made to pay those claims back.
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But Sussan Ley using a trip to Queensland to buy a Main Beach pad didn't really register on my Richter scale of shock. Would it really matter if she slipped out of a meeting to purchase a two-bedder on the coastal strip? She was paying for the unit with her money after all, not the taxpayer ...
Before you start filling my inbox with abuse, read on. We might end up on the same page.
Julie Bishop, our Foreign Minister, spending $2716 on official ministerial business is neither here nor there, either. Even when the costs (to you and me) were broken down into $2177 on flights, $416 on a vehicle and a $123 travel allowance, the dollars didn't stand out too much.
She is deputy leader of the Liberal Party, on official business, and responding to an invitation. And anyone who knows Julie Bishop knows how hard she works.
The same goes for the few MPs who spent thousands of dollars (of your money again) to attend an AFL Grand Final.
After all, our politicians need to be out and about in the community. We need them mixing with the people they represent (us), and attending sporting events and school speech nights, and local business events.
It was something else about the latest ministerial expenses' shenanigans that has me shaking my head. And it's the reason that Malcolm Turnbull's government is unlikely to recover to the popularity levels it enjoyed, fleetingly.
And that's the defence that ministers mount when caught out on hefty expense claims.
What did Sussan Ley, the minister charged with leading our health system, say to defend herself before this whole tawdry affair finally killed off her career future?
She purchased the Gold Coast unit on a whim. A whim! How many of voters are able to walk by a real estate office, spot a deal for $795,000 and buy it an hour later?
It doesn't matter that that isn't what seems to have happened. What matters is that Sussan Ley, who decides on bulk billing and increases in private health insurance for the rest of us, is so out of touch that she thought the "whim" defence might work.
Remember the lay-buy way of buying things. This adds a whole new meaning to Ley-buy.
And that's the real damage done in this latest fiasco.
The same goes for Julie Bishop. She might have had official meetings on this trip and it is important for her to mix with business. But at a Portsea polo party? Get real.
How many of Bishop's constituents would have enjoyed a polo match? What's the message to taxpayers in the photograph of Bishop, impeccably and expensively dressed, enjoying free hospitality at the polo. The polo?
The AFL Grand Final is the same. Most of us know someone who has saved all year, kept a look-out for accommodation, and taken the trip to Melbourne to see their team in the final.
The image of ministers, with a free ticket, jumping on a plane, relaxing at the pointy end, and then being shown to the best seats in the ground, is a bad advertisement for decency, whichever way you look at it.
And this is what will really hurt the Turnbull Government. Its leader is already fair game; just listen to the comedic cricket commentary taking off his wealth.
That wealth should be inspirational. It could even be the driving force for voters to support a government led by a multi-millionaire who has shown he's good at running a business.
But when his team thinks taxpayers' money grows on trees and they can spend it on extravagances the voting public can't, his government is in real trouble.
Every government that loses does so because it is seen as out of touch with those it represents. This week's revelations should be an almighty red alert for a government wanting 2017 to turn the page on last year's poor performance.
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