Manusco distinguishes between four ethical types of British parliamentarians: Puritans, Entrepreneurs, Servants and Muddlers. Here the author, Smith, argues that such a study has two shortcomings when applied to Australia. In Australia, Parliamentarians’ individual responses form invisible cultures of legislative ethics. The visible cultures found in the everyday discourse of legislatures contain considerably less ethical variety. Parliamentarians generally appear limited to Puritan and Party Servant perspectives. These arguments are explored through a systematic investigation of parliamentary discourse on the ‘sports rorts’ affair.