It featured the 13 Senators, all of whom had been elected in the 2016 double dissolution poll, who had left the upper house over the course of 347 turbulent days.

Forget decimation, the ancient Roman tradition in which every 10th soldier in a disgraced legion was put to the sword. In this instance almost one or six, or just under 17 per cent, left the chamber.

While three, including Nick Xenophon, departed for family reasons or, in his case, to seek election as a state MP, seven were banished for not doing their homework on Section 44 of the Constitution.

Two One Nation Senators were given their marching orders for bankruptcy and an undisclosed criminal conviction respectively, and Sam Dastyari fell on his own sword.

A private corporation with an attrition rate this bad would be holding crisis talks and staving off attacks by angry shareholders.

In this case the shareholders, the voting public, have every reason to ask their surviving elected representatives to explain what they have done over a year marked by rising instability abroad and an emerging cost-of-living crisis at home.

The year saw tensions rise in the Pacific with North Korea and America coming to the verge of blows over the so-called "rogue state's" nuclear weapons and rocketry program, and China insisting on control of the South China Sea.

The Syrian crisis is far from over and US President Donald Trump's latest essay into twitter diplomacy has further destabilised the fragile detente between Jews and Palestinians in Israel.

Closer to home, ordinary Australians, who have seen their prospects for job security decline as major manufacturers such as Holden shut up shop, emerging technologies replace skilled workers with "algorithms" and online retail giants such as Amazon target Australian retailers, are left wondering how they will make ends meet and if their politicians care.

The only clear message coming from the corridors of power in the past 12 months is that the only job security Malcolm Turnbull, Bill Shorten, Pauline Hansen, Richard Di Natale and Barnaby Joyce care about is their own.

A year in which parliament could have explored ways to enhance Australia's role as a middle power able to speak the truth to powerful friends and allies such as China and America, to clearing the roadblocks to constitutional recognition for Indigenous Australians and to developing a bipartisan energy policy that would guarantee affordable and reliable power for all, has been wasted.

Both sides of politics got bogged down in the Section 44 debate over who was, and who wasn't entitled to hold office. Even the same-sex marriage victory was a loss given this issue should have been resolved years ago by a free vote of the two houses of parliament.

2017 has been a year in which there have been no winners and the Australian people have been the losers. Let's hope 2018 isn't more of the same.