I like this thread, it's good as it's more about process, than if it's green, blue or red.
That was the intent. Keep off the push-button topics and speak more about the process, where solid facts live, rather than wishy-washy opinions.
What do people think of our two house system?
The more I study it, the more I agree with Keating's comment about Senators - "unrepresentative swill".
I didn't like how someone like Mark Habib is able to step down and then within a week or two, without so much as a bo-peep from the people of NSW, they suddenly pull an old war horse from retirement and voila, NSW suddenly have a new Senator in Bob Carr and then a week later he's trotting around the globe as our Foreign Minister.....that doesn't sit well with me.
The Senate also favours the minor parties with the way Senators are elected....I don't like that either....hence we get a litany of Greens Senators and bugger all (soon to be none) in the lower house.
For me, the lower house is where it is at. You have to garner the support of the, on average, 94,000 voting adults in a particular electorate to actually get in. No sliding in on the # 3 ticket somewhere. Those ladies and gentlemen are true representatives....and they are all up for grabs every 3 years or shorter....none of these cushy 6 year fixed terms.
Of course, all of the action happens in the lower house and it's where the Govt is formed. You see Senators trying to get down into the House of Reps all the time. I can't recall too many going the other way.
Have never been through the new Parliament.....but walked thru the old Parliament house as a kid. It looks pretty swisho on the internet, but it's hard to get a sense of the scale of things from the interent, and of course the atmosphere isn't there.
The system of Govt obviously works pretty well. Most of the better countries have our system, and those that don't generally wish they did.