I will be accused of howard bashing but what I say applies to all the parliamentary parasites er sorry I meant, of course, honorable? members.
First is of course the behaviour of our representatives in our Parliament they all act like demented, backward, uneducated, retarded fools. Then howard's control of a compliant, belly-up, totally unabashed liberal biased speaker, I add that all previous speakers have been controlled by their prime minister to one degree or another.
Cop howard recently - whilst talking to his party dummies getting their views he sent a minion er minister to the G/G 'instructing' him to give his consent to the motion or bill that was being debated. How utterly contemptible, how divisive, how deceitful, how howard.
Then, again from the pathetic liberals and their mates, all the grubby, lying 'Dorothy Dix' questions. The sad part of this is that the local (mine)member is the leading 'Dorothy Dix question asker - of course it is all she is good for.
Then there's two homes for the howards and the cost of a RAAF plane to take him to and from Canberra. Not to mention the extraordinary wine cellar all paid for by us twits. It may have been stopped since her marriage but for a long time howard's daughter had a tax-payer funded car park for security reasons. Never occurred to howard to have the common decency to pay for his daughter's safety out of his own deep pocket - he's not that type of person.
Sorry I tend to rave on but our politicians totally disgust me. numbat

Aah... It's the big question, isn't it? "Are we going to sit back and allow the current combination of blatant careerism, media pandering and personal nest-feathering to pass for a democratic form of government? ... Or will we decide that enough is enough, and actually do something about it?"

Disengagement is born from an overwhelming sense of powerlessness. Australians are feeling alienated from the political process because they don’t feel they have a meaningful role to play, so they are not really paying attention to it. In particular, they are disengaging from events at the state and national levels. This is why the AWB scandal got no traction in the public mind, despite its egregiousness.

Perhaps, if people had a real opportunity to participate on their own terms, then they would engage and contribute. But how can this happen, when cynical media types collude with self-seeking politians to limit the range of debate?

The answer might lie in participatory media platforms built at the community level. No offence intended to OLO, but your handwringing about issues, rather than brainstorming practical actions and activities, is really just re-enforcing people's sense of alienation.

Recent research by Hugh Mackay, Richard Eckersley and others shows that Australians feel the most meaningful participation in their lives can be around friends, family and hyper-local communities – the street, local sporting and community bodies, even local government.

Emerging online communities that allow people to gather and participate around ideas and interests at levels and in circumstances that are most relevant and valuable to them could eventually refresh their appetite for engagement at other levels.

Nothing will happen overnight. But helping citizens use the increasing connectivitity and relative utility of the broadband internet to connect with each other to build and provide awareness of local issues and activities and empower higher levels of participation in community life could lead to longer term re-engagement with broader issues.

forgot to tick the box below numbat

Pericles, I believe you've made a safe bet.

Peter McMahon Opens with “Australia is one of the most over-governed places on earth,”

And then goes on to say how he supports labor, the masters of intrusion and Nanny-State laws which over-govern us more than any liberal / conservative would seek to do.

Steve Madden, I too believe compulsory attendance at a ballot box is detrimental to the democratic process, lets face it the first responsibility of any democracy should be the right to choose to vote or otherwise.

Jeez — I agree with you too Steve, Now where is my medication?

David BOAZ, I think God is above politics, the trouble is the Church of Rome and the Anglicans are and always have been up to their necks in it.

If given a choice, Church of Rome or Anglicans (despite who they claim to represent), I am sure God would not vote for either.

I note John Howard decided to live in Kirribilli House instead of the Lodge because his kids were still at school, fair enough maybe.

But now his son is working for the Republican Party in the US he should get his backside back to the lodge.