"Chloe Hooper's recent spread on much younger Liberals in the The Monthly"

Where can I read this? Thanks, Cameron

Don't think it's online. Available at good newsagents, and well worth buying.

People feel alienated from political parties and the political process. You will be more successful in changing policy by joining Amnesty International, Greenpeace and your local Chamber of Commerce than if you join a political party. You will be heard and your views considered and judged on merit, not whose standing behind you as you express them.

As those institutions that once underpinned Labor - the Unions and the Catholic Church, and those that underpinned the Coalition parties - farmers, big business and the Protestant Churches, change and in some cases lose relevance in a new social and economic modernity the challenge for the modern political party is to broaden its membership base and public appeal. The faceless men and women who make all the decisions in the major political parties would no longer be able to abuse power as it is distributed to the local branches and general membership. An independent membership auditing commission would ensure branches are not stacked with paper members and proxy votes would no longer be used to preselect the unelectable candidates and adopt unpopular policies that would otherwise garner the support of a minority of sectional interests.

In short, in order to produce a new generation of good quality candidates, the parties must first modernise themselves to make themselves attractive to quality potential candidates.

You can't have intellectuals in politics, let alone people with science or medical degrees, people who know the periodic table is not an astrology chart and people who can speak more than one language fluently. This will really upset the apple cart.

What we need for the future of this dynamic nation of visionaries are more lawyers in politics, some teachers from the Teachers' Union, some lefty party hacks with political science degrees and some people who have no knowledge of history or other cultures.How about a few 20 year olds who have really lived life in the real world and served in a few wars. This will ensure we remain adaptable. Throw in a few ex-pop stars, and retired footballers...even Kylie...and Bob's young uncle...The Oz Politik for the X generation..
Now where is my Ipod..I have to download some more pop songs..