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The Forum > Article Comments > A bastion against democracy? > Comments

A bastion against democracy? : Comments

By Sylvia Marchant, published 16/2/2010

The Australian Senate is a mystery to many citizens. Not many have a clear idea of its role, activities or membership.

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The problem with the Senate is that the Senators' voters are not so much the people but the pre-selection panel of their party. If that panel gives you a good spot on the party ticket, you're guaranteed to be "elected". In practice, only a few Senate seats are up for grabs each time. For these two reasons, the Senate has more party hacks than is healthy and too many Senators that hang around for far too long. It is beyond me what some Senators actually do to earn their salary, because most certainly don't spend a lot of time in the real world of ordinary people.

Here's a thing to illustrate my point. At your next Quiz Night, ask the people to name all their State's current Senators. I bet few will get more than two or three. On the two occasions I've had that question asked at a Quiz Night down here in Tasmania, the most common answer was Senators Bob Brown, Eric Abetz and Brian Harradine (who hasn't been a Senator for years). Only one table got three names correct - they got Senator Milne as well. Which begs the question, if nobody has heard of the other nine, what on earth do they do ? Well, they hang around the party machine and suck up to the handful of party loyalists on the preselection panel to ensure they get a good spot on the ticket at the next election. Providing they get that, they don't have to do anything as crass as talk to (or listen to) ordinary people.

The Senate's a good idea in theory. But, given the system that elects them, there's a lot of truth in Paul Keating's description of the Senate as "unrepresentative swill". In practice, most Senators don't represent us and certainly don't represent their State - they represent the party that has the say in whether they get a winnable spot on the ticket next time around.
Posted by huonian, Tuesday, 16 February 2010 7:04:07 PM
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Huonian,

There is nothing wrong with the system by which senators are elected. It is not compulsory to accept a party’s choices. It is not compulsory to vote above the line. If people do so, they are indicating their agreement with the party’s choices. Since 1955, many people have voted for DLP, Democrat, Green and independent candidates, all of whom have won seats in the Senate but none of whom has won a House of Representatives seat in a general election. It is even possible for a party supporter to vote for his or her own party’s candidates in an order different to that recommended by their party. That is the essence of STV. If they do not do so, that is their democratic choice.

The argument that the Senate was created to be anti-democratic falls down on the fact that its franchise has always been the same as that for House of Representatives. Unlike various state Upper Houses, there was no property restriction on voting. Women in South Australia and Aborigines in SA and Victoria voted in the first Commonwealth election for both Houses.

The senators represent everyone who voted for them, including the above-the-line voters who could not be bothered checking where their preferences went.
Posted by Chris C, Wednesday, 17 February 2010 2:52:46 PM
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Huonian,

I should have said, “ Since 1955, many people have voted for DLP, Democrat, Green candidates, all of whom have won seats in the Senate but none of whom has won a House of Representatives seat in a general election” as I know that independents have won seats in the House of Representatives at a general election. I made a mistake as I changed what I had originally typed.
Posted by Chris C, Thursday, 18 February 2010 12:32:59 PM
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Australian two party system: "In any event...the real need for reform is not so much in the institutions of government as in the political parties. They have become narrowly based, factionalised, undemocratic oligarchies, apt to be controlled by too few people, closed to public view but open to manipulation and outright corruption. Reforming them would make the institutions of government work better without changing those institutions, but without reforming them the institutions cannot work very much better than they do at present." - Harry Evans, Clerk to the Senate in 'The Australian' 10 March 1997.
Posted by SapperK9, Thursday, 25 February 2010 1:44:57 AM
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