Peter Lang, Mr Road Rage doesn't need a gun to kill you.
He has a car.

He can ram yours off the road and keep ramming until your car is the size of an accordian (with you inside).

EmperorJulian, I can't read The Australian article. I'm not registered.

Any reform designed to "finish" minor parties, "finishes" democracy.

No doubt there will be arbitrary thresholds, onerous registration bureaucracy, etc.

This is purely the Tweedles maintaining their power, nothing to do with what's right, good, fair or "democratic".

"There was nothing about binding citizen-initiated referenda on any ballot."

A referendum *is* a ballot.

A ballot is a "secret vote" to make a decision. Any decision. Not just electing MPs.

If your family secretly vote on what flavour pizza to buy, they are having a "ballot".

My point was that "limiting predation" is too vague.
The question would need to be more specific.

I agree though, there should be a lot more direct, and a lot less "representative", democracy.

Good luck in your laudable endeavors, David. I spent 8 years as a state MP in WA and remain convinced that it's all about leadership. If the government of the day or the Minister is seen by public servants to be frugal and non-wasteful, then they will follow the example set by their superiors. However, you will find that the level of comfort and service provided to you and your colleagues in the Parliament building and in electorate offices is so high that you will have to work very hard changing basic attitudes and existing privileges to make any sort of difference.
But my experience is that change is possible if you are persistent. In my view, your targets should not be the public servants but their ministers. So ask 1000s of questions on notice to Ministers to get them to justify every expenditure that you're unhappy with and ask the difficult questions of Ministers during Estimates and in committees. And don't take no for an answer.
Lastly, don't believe much of what you are told in the first responses to your questions. Public servants see themselves as having a duty to protect their Ministers from criticism, so they will hide the truth (without telling direct lies, of course) as much as possible. It may take 3 or 4 or 5 sets of questions before you arrive at the truth.
Good luck.