Those who hold public office in our democracy are vested with the high responsibility of public trust. As elected leaders, they must faithfully determine not just the direction of our nation, our states and neighbourhoods but the funding and delivery of vital community services. Their duty to serve the public is non-negotiable, and it takes precedence over all other concerns. On that, they must be held to account.

The Age raises this in light of astounding comments by the former Liberal member for Indi, Sophie Mirabella, that offer rare and dispiriting insights into dishonourable, cynical tactics that political parties adopt in election campaigns. During a community forum on Thursday, Ms Mirabella declared that the people of Wangaratta had been denied funding for an extension to the local hospital because the independent candidate, Cathy McGowan, had trumped her in the September 2013 election.

Sophie Mirabella is contesting the seat of Indi for the Liberals in the federal election. Credit:Matthew Smithwick

Ms Mirabella was responding to a question from Brendan Schutt, a local businessman, who is the chairman of the board at Northeast Health Wangaratta, which operates the local hospital. She said: "I had a commitment for a $10-million allocation to the Wangaratta hospital that, if elected, I was going to announce the week after the election. You know that." (Mr Schutt nodded and appeared to say, "Yes".) Ms Mirabella then said: "That is $10 million that Wangaratta hasn't had because Cathy got elected."

This is stunningly arrogant and remarkably gormless. Ms Mirabella's comments might be infected with rivalry and spite, but they also raise serious questions about how funding allocations are determined by governments and exactly what behaviour Ms Mirabella considers acceptable. Let's break it down.