The politicians and the media first heard the alarm bells ringing early one morning in October 1997, when Senator Nick Sherry was found on the floor of his Canberra flat in a pool of blood, having tried to take his own life.

Senator Sherry, a Tasmanian, had been claiming travel allowances while staying overnight with his mother at Opossum Bay, 49 kilometres from Hobart.

The senator had been unmercifully ridiculed and humiliated in the days before, in the Parliament and in the media, as a cheapskate and a mummy's boy. The details emerged at the height of a travel rorts affair that cost prime minister John Howard three ministers; and this was payback time.

For a few days after that terrible event, a sort of ceasefire was called. But it didn't last long. A few days, that's all. Then the hostilities resumed.

Three years later, Victorian Labor MP Greg Wilton was found by police distressed in his car with his two young children in the You Yangs, near Geelong. His marriage had only recently ended. There was never any evidence that Wilton planned to harm his children but the tabloids nevertheless reported the incident as an attempted "murder-suicide".

There were numerous follow-up stories that, in the words of former Victorian premier Jeff Kennett, "subjected this young man to national humiliation". No account was taken of his depressive state.

On June 14 that year, Wilton did commit suicide alone in a national park near the town of Labertouche. He was the first federal MP to do so.

Again, the politicians and the media heard the alarm bells.

Prime Minister Howard told the Parliament that the experience reminded the community that MPs are "weak and frail like the rest of them". The then member for Ballarat, Michael Ronaldson, now a senator, said:

Ultimately the responsibility is ours. We must wear the responsibility for looking after each other. We are a political family, irrespective of our politics. In some respects I think we are a family that lets itself down.

Tony Abbott, then minister for employment services, told the Parliament:

Obviously Greg was not gentle on himself, and I think the best thing we could do would be to rededicate ourselves to being kinder and gentler to each other.

It was the same form of words he later used in relation to parliamentary behaviour when he was trying to persuade the independents to join him in a minority government.

Again, in June 2000, there was a ceasefire of sorts that didn't last long. A few days, that's all.

August 31, 2005, the Sydney Morning Herald reported that:

John Brogden was rushed to hospital last night after an apparent suicide attempt, one day after he resigned in disgrace as the NSW opposition leader. He was found at his Pittwater electorate office sometime after 11pm with self-inflicted stab wounds. He is believed to have been in a drug and alcohol induced stupor, and was taken by ambulance to Royal North Shore Hospital.

What brought all this about? Brogden – at a Christmas party in his office in 2003 – had, according to an unnamed woman, "jokingly" suggested a threesome to her and another woman. "Jokingly," is how she put it.

The Daily Telegraph in particular let loose with sensational news treatment, suggesting he had propositioned women for group sex and running front page headlines over stories the newspaper described as his "sordid past".

Brogden had apologised and resigned, paying a high price for a flippant remark over a few social drinks, but that was never going to be enough for the tabloids.

This time, the ceasefire didn't happen at all, certainly not in the media.

August 4, 2008, the Hobart Mercury reported that a rising star in the Labor Party, Paula Wriedt, the daughter of a former state Labor leader, Ken Wriedt, had been admitted to hospital after an apparent suicide attempt.

Wriedt's marriage too had broken down, and she was then facing allegations of an affair with a former chauffeur. In the days before the incident, she had been the subject of a disgusting sexist slur on Network Nine's Melbourne version of the The Footy Show.

Now – 2012 – the alarm bells are ringing again.

Liberal MP Mal Washer, a doctor, told the ABC's 7.30 this week that MPs had a duty of care to make sure that former Labor MP Craig Thomson "is not at risk of self-harm".

Washer said:

He's under tremendous pressure. He's got a young child and a wife so we've got to take all those things into consideration. Our party sees this as an opportunity to give the Labor Party some grief, but it's a very unfortunate, I think, thing to witness from my point of view.

Thomson himself called a rare doorstop interview to plead with the media to give it a rest, pointing out that there were now nine separate investigations into his affairs. "How many more do you want?' he asked.

Clearly, he was particularly upset that the Nine Network had reportedly offered a prostitute $60,000 to identify him as a former client.

What is this about, he asked: "Is this about trying to push someone to the brink?"

Earlier this week, the Herald Sun on its front page sketched Thomson with a Pinocchio nose and declared, "We Don't Believe Him." Then they followed up with an opinion poll, giving the public a chance to be the executioner as well.

How has it come to this? How is it that the media can now judge the guilt or innocence of a citizen? What has happened to the respect we once all shared for the rule of law? Where will all this end, and why are we not deeply disturbed as a nation about plunging headlong down the American path?

A censure in the Parliament based on the "findings" of the Fair Work Australia report is an outcome worth debating. So is the option of a maximum two weeks' suspension.

The Parliament doesn't need proof of criminal behaviour to take such a course of action. Neither does it need proof beyond a reasonable doubt. Different standards can apply if the Parliament sees fit, and if it is prepared to accept the consequences of the precedent set. Others have been suspended before merely because they behaved badly in the chamber. The Parliament can judge, as the Labor Party already has judged, that "a line has been crossed".

However, if the Parliament was to share that judgment, you would hope for the sake of the record that it was explained a little better.

They are legitimate options open to the Parliament. The question is, why doesn't it just get on with it? Call it on. Test the numbers. Take whatever action it deems necessary, and whatever action fits Thomson's known and proven behaviour, as they see it, then move on.

Perhaps then the media will do the same, and Thomson might have a remote chance of one day having a fair trial, if it ever comes to that.

But judging guilt or innocence of potential criminal charges is not on, not for the media or the politicians.

The independent Tony Windsor told the Parliament this week:

I know there is a lot of hostility (in a hung Parliament) ... and that can be built up by redneck radio and a whole range of other people to a crescendo, where the hounds call for blood. ... our fathers and grandfathers and others have fought for this country not just to keep us in a free state but also to preserve the rights of the individual, the rights of the democratic process, the right to separate the powers of the judiciary from the Parliament. I make a plea to people: be careful that you do not walk down a road that you regret later on just for the short-term advantage.

The alarm bells are ringing again. They can all hear them, in the Parliament and in the media. But as we have seen so often in the past, precious few are heeding them.

People seeking support and information about suicide can contact Lifeline on 13 11 14.

Barrie Cassidy is the presenter of ABC programs Insiders and Offsiders. View his full profile here.