Former Prime Minister John Howard says most politicians are genuine and do their job properly, when asked to comment on the Craig Thomson and Peter Slipper sagas.
The possibility of a code of conduct for MPs was flagged following the tabling in parliament of a Fair Work Australia report, which found NSW MP Mr Thomson misused members' funds when he headed the Health Services Union (HSU) from 2002 until his election to federal parliament in 2007.
The MP for Dobell, who has been suspended from the Labor Party, denies any wrongdoing and will defend himself in parliament on May 21.
Mr Slipper, a former Liberal MP turned independent, stepped aside as Speaker to defend claims he misused taxi vouchers and sexually harassed a staffer. He denies the allegations.
"I think that there's a problem because of a dispute between two people and it's wrong to spread the responsibility for that to other members of Parliament. I think most people who go into politics on both sides go into it for the right reasons and try to do a good job," Mr Howard said.
He says it's not fair to blame all of them.
"There's a problem, clearly, but I'm not going to add to that. Enough has been said on Craig Thomson and Peter Slipper to sort of sink the ship.
"My experience was that most people that go into politics do it for the right reasons and they work hard and they are honest, so as a class I am keen to defend Australian politicians. I don't agree with a lot of them of course, but I don't question the sincerity that most of them bring to the job," Mr Howard said.
