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The Forum > Article Comments > The philosophical bazaar that is politics > Comments

The philosophical bazaar that is politics : Comments

By Michael Sullivan, published 6/10/2010

The independent members of the House of Representatives have driven a new age of behaviour in parliament.

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Interesting article.

Parliament began in about 1450, but formal political parties didn't start until about the 1750s, and they were what the author is calling independent coalitions until late in the 19th century when the labour parties developed strict party discipline.

Yes it has been refreshing to see the independents break the stranglehold of the major parties. For many years it was common for the governing party to have control of both the lower and the upper house, thus reducing Parliament to a mere rubber stamp for what was in effect, rule by executive decree.

A political party is a private organisation set up to capture the public law-making power. The reason we have political parties is not because they are a benefit to the people, but because, parasite-like, they lodge themselves in the innards of our legislative system, and we couldn't get rid of them without getting rid of Parliament.

If one party were to relax its discipline and permit conscience votes on a wide range of issues, I think what would happen is that the other party would tend to out-compete it in getting its agenda carried; and hence strict discipline, and partisan politics, will re-assert its dominance again once the historical anomaly of the last election result is past.

Even if the people returned far more independents, there will always be a tendency for 'natural selection' within the system to favour partisan politics for the same reasons.
Posted by Peter Hume, Wednesday, 6 October 2010 9:16:27 AM
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What is the use of an independant if he does not have an afilliation.
With out party voting deals would be done underhanded.
Posted by 579, Wednesday, 6 October 2010 12:07:38 PM
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Interesting article, really like the idea of indpendent coalitions.

The beliefs and ideologies, even in the one party, of the recently elected parliamentarians is too broad.

http://currentglobalperceptions.blogspot.com/
Posted by jorge, Wednesday, 6 October 2010 3:43:20 PM
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The independents are enjoying their 15 minutes of fame. Maybe they’ll be able to stretch it to three years. That’s about it. A hung parliament is unlikely to be repeated any time soon. Then it will be back to business as usual and the pontificators will have to find something else to pontificate about.

Does anyone seriously believe a piece of paper will restrain Gillard from calling an election if she thinks she can win it?
Posted by stevenlmeyer, Wednesday, 6 October 2010 5:12:02 PM
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She will win it, as long as iron man stays put.
Posted by 579, Wednesday, 6 October 2010 6:34:43 PM
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Enjoyable article. Proportional representation for the lower house might hasten the demise of the increasingly irrelevant major parties.

Also, if this parliament proves to be successful, Australians might get a sniff of what a representative and responsive parliament could look like. All the more reason Tony Abbott must sink it, though.

Unfortunately, the political reality of a party system beholden to blinkered discipline instead of to ideas and principle is that Julia would have to do likewise were she in opposition.
Posted by Bryan Kavanagh, Monday, 18 October 2010 6:03:48 PM
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