It's not just a chance for parliamentary employees to kick back with their favourite copy of Hansard and a pineapple daiquiri. Or for MPs to spend more than four hours straight with their families.

It's also an opportunity to be out with the old of 2015. When Parliament resumes next February, some things shouldn't be coming back. Apart from press conferences decorated by 50 flags, obsessing over the significance of tie colours and the use of the word "exciting", we should also let go of:

Constituency question time

It was introduced under "trial' circumstances by Malcolm Turnbull and Christopher Pyne in November, in a bid to give the backbench more of a crack at question time.

But instead of enhancing the spontaneity of the 2pm session, it has made it even more dreary and premeditated. Far from holding the executive to spicy account on local issues, it seems to be a chance for MPs to ask Major Projects Minister Paul Fletcher questions with a parochial twist. Snore.

It's too much to hope that Parliament would get rid of Dorothy Dixers altogether (by banning them from general question time), but constituency QT would be easy to dump. You can see this innovation's a dud as far away as Yass.

MPs using pop culture to make political points

Is nothing sacred anymore? So much gets dragged through the political dirt, but surely some things are off limits? This week, we've had Scott Morrison borrowing from pop uberette Taylor Swift in a bid to dodge questions about when Malcolm Turnbull offered him the Treasurer gig.

ScoMo said the revelation that Turnbull had a Treasury tete-a-tete with him in February was a boring old conspiracy theory and in the words of Tay Tay, told journalists to "shake it off". This prompted Labor's Sam Dastyari to talk about Morrison pulling a "swiftie" and all the "bad blood" (that's a Swift song for anyone who only listens to Schubert) in the Liberal Party.

You might say this is all just a bit of fun. But it takes something innocent and entertaining and gives it a political vibe – and ruins it for everyone else.

There's a reason why I can't listen to Bruce Springsteen anymore (yes, Wayne, I am talking about you).

The loyalty surplus

This week on Kitchen Cabinet, Cory Bernardi referenced the maxim, "if you want a friend in politics, get a dog". But while politicians are renowned for being shady types who will dump allies if life becomes more convenient without them, 2015 has seen some unhealthy overabundances of loyalty.

Even without looking at his inaction regarding Joe Hockey and Peta Credlin, Tony Abbott waited way too long to do something about the Bronwyn Bishop chopper scandal. This let the cloud over the speakership grow into a full blown thunder catastrophe.

Malcolm Turnbull has been similarly hesitant to act around Mal Brough. This is the same Mal Brough who, after earning a dishonourable mention from a federal court judge in 2012, has more recently had his home raided by the cops over the Slipper/Ashby snafu. To make matters even more cartoonish, the guy is supposed to be the minister who oversees MPs entitlements and integrity matters. You couldn't make this stuff up.

Reading poetry in Senate estimates

Politicians have to sit through a lot of boring stuff. There are meetings, committee hearings and speeches all day long. So they have developed strategies to cope. This can include getting on with other paper work during things like question time, or the time-honoured techniques of looking at Twitter and texting pictures of cats to friends.

But Attorney-General and bookworm George Brandis took this one step too far in estimates in July when he reclined in his chair and boldly read some Australian bush poetry, while he was supposed to be monitoring evidence from Foreign Affairs officials.

Call us old-fashioned, but we pay politicians to at least pretend that they're working.

Leadership spills

There is nothing more thrilling than a spill. They are unpredictable, high stakes and are one of the rare moments when all the prancing and foxing of politics get really real. This year has seen two spills – one where the sitting PM was re-elected without a challenger, the other where he was dumped for his long-time foe.

But sometimes too much is too much. Coming off the back of the four (yep, FOUR) we had during the Rudd/Gillard years, we are in grave danger of spill fatigue – to the point where they don't seem that special anymore.

Gags about spills

In that vein, Labor and Coalition MPs must stop having a go at each other about changing leaders. It is the parliamentary equivalent of the famous primary school riposte: "I know you are, you said you are, but what am I?".

Both major parties have had coups, so there's no great moral high ground to be captured here. It's time for some fresh ways to get stuck in to the enemy.

Tony Abbott

He is the biggest loser of 2015 and yet continues to sit in Parliament and provide colleagues with cakes and commentary about what the new government should do. As the democratically elected member for Warringah, he of course has the right to continue stay in Canberra.

But the question remains, why would he want to?

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