I have read a suggestion that no Senators should not be affiliated with a political party. They should be elected on their own merits. Connection with groups like trade unions, corporations etc. - also out.

It makes sense to me.

The Senate is meant to be a house of review, which it cannot be when Senators vote along party lines.

“Senators should be reviewing bills based on the merits of the legislation and the interests of their constituents, rather than the will of their political party”.

Good idea? Bad idea?

1) Great idea.
2) Why only the Senate?
3) May I also use this occasion to propose the policy from [Isaiah 11:6-9]:

"The wolf will live with the lamb,
the leopard will lie down with the goat,
the calf and the lion and the yearling together;
and a little child will lead them.

The cow will feed with the bear,
their young will lie down together,
and the lion will eat straw like the ox.

The infant will play near the cobra’s den,
and the young child will put its hand into the viper’s nest.

They will neither harm nor destroy
on all my holy mountain,
for the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the Lord
as the waters cover the sea."

Amen!

Yuyutsu,

Isiah's peaceable kingdom might be too big an ask, but yes, why just the Senate indeed. Australia's political and electoral system is a mess, and needs reforming; perhaps along the lines of the other suggestions of the Australians for Better Government. (australiansforbettergovernment.com)

no Senators should not be affiliated with a political party.
ttbn,
The same theoretically applies to bureaucrats, alas !

Indyvidual,

Thanks. Reform of the Senate is vital, it being our only protection against the uniparty if it actually did what it is supposed to do - review, not react to orders from the party machines most of the current Senators belong to. Legislation is sometimes sent back to the House; but not often enough, and not for the right reasons.

When one side or the other in government also has a majority in the Senate, it is just a rubber stamp. When the government is in cahoots with a minor party, dirty deals can be done. It's a lot harder to get at 70 or so non-aligned individuals, who would of course have to prove that they would act independently before they could get their names on the ticket.

Ninety percent of Australians voting above the line on the Senate paper, and allowing the political parties to decide preferences helps defeat the purpose of the Upper House.

It is not all that onerous to tick 12 individual candidates below the line. As a conservative voter, I have always been able to pick 12 candidates without including a single Liberal, Labor, Green or Teal candidate.