In hyper-factionalised major parties it is all too likely that candidates backed into parliament are not outsiders attracted to a career in public service, but apparatchiks whose entire working life has been spent inside the bubble of organised politics.

There is perhaps no better example of why this is a problem than the troubles of Labor Senator Sam Dastyari.

During his notorious media conference on Tuesday, Dastyari said he had "reflected" on his decision to have a private company, Top Education, pay a $1670 travel debt he owed to the federal finance department.

He decided it was the wrong thing to do - a conclusion he arrived at almost a week later than everyone else. Why?

In a nutshell, Dastyari's explanation was that he didn't consider the consequences before acting; that he was moving too fast and failed to stop and think.

He might have been describing not only this episode, but his career so far.

Dastyari's Senate biography page shows he joined the ALP in 2000, aged 17. He became president of Young Labor five years later.

His Sussex St career started as state organiser in 2008-09 before, at the age of 27, he became NSW NSW Labor general secretary in 2010.

NSW Labor was experiencing its political nadir. Its shelf life had well and truly expired before the 2011 election crushing that saw Barry O'Farrell's Liberals take power.

Accordingly, Dastyari cast himself as a reformist general secretary whose mission was winning back the trust of the people of NSW.

One way he professed to do this was renewal, including by encouraging more people into Labor ranks and eventually the parliament.

At the time there were rumours he was next in line for a NSW Senate spot.

But in line with his mantra, he told some people he felt the need for some real world experience before embarking on a parliamentary career. After all, he wasn't even 30.

Yet when the opportunity arose in 2013 after another former NSW Labor general secretary turned Senator, Matt Thistlewaite, quit to contest the seat of Kingsford Smith, Dastyari didn't hesitate.

He strapped on his factional parachute and glided into the Senate.

Now beneath the sub heading "Qualifications and occupation before entering Federal Parliament" on Dastyari's Senate page there are but two entries: BA (Macq.) and General Secretary, ALP (NSW) 2010-13.

Tellingly, during Wednesday night's media conference at which he announced his resignation from the opposition front bench, Dastyari declared: "The Labor party owes me nothing and I owe the Labor party everything".

Friends and colleagues of Dastyari say he is "terrible" with money.

This may point to one reason he approached Top Education to cover his debt and earlier relied on a property developer, Yuhu Group, to take care of a personal legal settlement believed to be somewhere between $5,000 and $40,000.

But it's difficult not to view these decisions as a result of life in the political bubble; an incapacity to see the "real world" perspective on the appropriateness of these types of favours.

To those outside the bubble - all of us - they clearly establish a dangerous level of indebtedness.

But insiders like Dastyari, whose mentors included Graham "whatever it takes" Richardson, it's just another opportunity in the murky world of donor politics. No second thought is given.

At 33, Dastyari is still only just embarking on his parliamentary career. There's no question he has been a stand out performer, but this episode has radically reset his trajectory.

In the absence of any shocking new revelations, there is every likelihood he will bounce back.

Meanwhile, we are left to reflect on how things might have been different had Dastyari followed his own advice and got a real job - and some much needed perspective - first.

For the sake of Australia's political future, hopefully Dastyari, the rest of the ALP and party bosses everywhere are doing the same thing.