Given the mess that Australia is in, highlighted by the unimpressive Albanese Labor government, we might need a root and branch reform of our political system to get back on the rails.

"The Westminster System may have served us well in the past, but it is now sorely in need of a comprehensive overhaul." (Professor Augusto Zimmermann, Head of Law, Sheridan Institute of Higher Education, and former Commissioner of the WA Law Reform Commission).

The system makes it "too easy for politicians to acquire a vast concentration of power." There is no legal-institutional mechanism for holding the parliamentary government to account, and the effect is that such a government is "accountable to no one, except once in a few years at general elections".

It is no wonder that "so many of our basic rights can be ignored and violated." The current legal-institutional design operating in Australia can be "fairly described as an elective dictatorship" because of the enormous power acquired by a government with an overall majority in the House of Representatives. So much concentration of power and no proper checks and balances facilitates "arbitrary government and ... undermining .... fundamental rights and freedoms."

According to Zimmermann, Australia has only a "very weak" separation of powers, concentrated in too few people. The mere separation of agencies is insufficient, for it is possible for those agencies to be controlled by the same people, and the risk of "arbitrariness" increases.

The coercive removal of freedoms during the Covid debacle are one example of our problems with government.

(https://quadrant.org.au/opinion/qed/2023/11/the-westminster-system-in-need-of-an-overhaul)

Not for those building the nation !

One only has to recall the recent “Prime Minister for Everything” to see our systems of governance are not working as originally intended.

our systems of governance are not working as originally intended.
Albie Manton in Darwin,
Yes but also aren't our citizens. Even more to the point, our bureaucrats are mostly working against the policies of Govt. I doubt very much that there's one incumbent politician who instructs Public Servants not to do the job they're assigned to. Ever since the Goaf did away with the one discipline-shaping institution, the National Service, the sense of responsibility has been replaced with the sense of entitlement.
I have had a personal experience in which an opposition (Labor) supporting bureaucrat declared to me "I'll do everything I can not to cooperate with this (Conservative) administration.
The one big mistake all our Govts make is to consult with academic "experts" rather than people who know from experience in actual society-building work/industry. Also, many top bureaucrats are not replaced after changes of Govt. Big, big mistake ! People will take as much as they can if there's no-one or no Law or policy to stop them from doing so. Senior bureaucrats constantly fail in closing immoral loopholes which cause an immoral economic inequality ! Yes, politicians should & could do better but we must also demand better from our bureaucrats & their "advisors" ! After all, they're the ones living off us, not the other way round. Uni degrees mean nothing if the Degree holders are stupid or corrupt or both !

The Old Fart founding fathers of the Australian "democracy" did not envisage the nation as an inclusive democracy, rather an exclusive elitist state with an exclusively elite Anglo male dominated society, both politically and economically .... there was no consideration for the "Blacks", and certainly no room for the inferior Asian or African hoards, thus the 'White Australia Policy'. Australia was to be an "independent" appendage of the British Empire, with the status of a White Dominion, like Canada, New Zealand and South Africa.

The claim that; ""The Westminster System may have served us well", is certainly true, as it has served the elite of society very well indeed.

"so many of our basic rights can be ignored and violated." Depends who you consider as "us", for many Australians, Aboriginals, minority groups, such as gays, certain ethnic groups, Asians for example, the poorer working class, they have all had their "basic rights" violated from the very beginning. In fact today Australia is more democratic that it has every been, and the old guard don't like it!

WTF?

"The Westminster System may have served us well in the past."

This remains one of my favourite interviews with a politician.

The first line is a question put to Joh Bjelke-Petersen.

'What do you understand by the doctrine of separation of powers under the Westminster system?'

'The Westminster system? The stock?'

'The doctrine of the separation of powers under the Westminster system.'

'No, I don't quite know what you're driving at. The document?'

'No, I'll say it again. What do you understand by the doctrine of the separation of powers under the Westminster system?'

'I don't know which doctrine you refer to.'

'There's only one doctrine of the separation of powers.'

'I believe in it very strongly, and despite what you may say, I believe that we do have a great responsibility to the people who elect us to government. And that's to maintain their freedom and their rights, and I did that - sought to do it - always.'

'I'm sure you're trying to be responsive to the question, but the question related to the doctrine of the separation of powers or the principles -'

'Between the Government and the - Is it?'

'No, you tell me what you understand.'

'Well, the separation of the doctrine that you refer to, in relation to where the Government stands, and the rest of the community stands, or where the rest of the instruments of Government stand. Is that what - ?'

'No.'

'Well, you tell me. (laughter) And I'll tell you whether you're right or not. Don't you know?