Reading a lot of negative opinions on pollies and the parties here, and sharing them, I wonder....
Perhaps a way to avoid useless time-servers and party-hacks, and the "favours" system, corruption etc that infests our Parliaments, might be to make it mandatory that pollies can only serve two terms, and at least a 5-10 year gap before they can stand again.
This would seem likely to avoid what happened with the Democrats, and is now happening with the Greens, they become corrupted by the system, lose their connection to reality, and addicted to power and "deals".
It would also possibly force the party system to find better people, and perhaps even make voters think a little more, no bad thing.

Dear Max,

The ruling Party Cabinet should be replaced every
2 terms - no matter what the Party governing.

Replacing all politicians may be detrimental when
some politicians who can contribute in the interests
of the Nation may be lost. Therefore - similar to the
system in the US - the Prime Minister (President) -
and that's where we're looking towards a Republic,
should not serve more than 2 terms. (Be it three years
or four years a term).

No matter what the Party politics, each Prime Minister
elected on Party preferred basis will select his/her
own Cabinet for the duration of the term in office.
That way, it will eliminate entrenched politics, as
we have experienced to date.

It has always been the same, we say how unhappy we are with those who rule us but do we truely understand them?
I doubt it.
Daily hourly I hear people who could not name two ministers complain about both government and opersition.
And we must not forget, ever, much of the commplaints are generated in the media.
And much of that is very nearly lies.
I see no gain in stopping people serving more than 2 terms, in every party the best are often the longest serving.
And right now remain convinced Rudd will win the upcoming election.
Note the screaming and open preparations it is going to come soon.
After it, after this current car dealership thing has run its course if we look back we will see much of the anti politician thing is junk .
I would think actions not length of service is the yard stick, but to sack one just for change is silly.

Max
While I agree with you about parliament I disagree with your diagnosis about the demise of the Dems.

As I've said before the Dems shot themselves in the foot because of a flaw in their creation.
They stated and were eminently successful being what Chip stated 'Keeping the Bs honest.'. The public want(ed) a 3rd force to do exactly that.
But the public were reluctant to have another 'big' player.

FYI As a member of the Australia Party I was opposed to the amalgamation/takeover with/by the Dems because I could see the typecasting as an inevitable consequence.

The Dems factionalized some wanting to remain the balance others wanted to become a majority in their own right.
IMHO Careful examination of Aust demographics made the latter unlikely.
Particularly with their *perceived* amateur, idealistic policies. In that they didn't stroke the status quo power bases.They were seen as a threat rather than the solution by these same entrenched powers.
The green will sadly go the same way only more so in that they have deliberately made themselves opposed to big pollution etc.

Notwithstanding I think there should be an old time Dems but one more aware of the political reality in Aus.
It will be easier to change the Parliament than the power bases. Harder to argue against improvements to the constitution than change people's emotions

Dear Belly,

A shorter term would force politicians to put
their goals/aims into practice, instead of
playing politics and delaying outcomes
until the next election, as we've all noticed
with John Howard's term in office - when people
simply got fed up waiting for him to do something
for essential human services like health and
education - which withered on the vine.

A 2 term - time in office - as in the US -
gives the Leader and his Cabinet the first term
to formulate the policies, and the second term
to enact them. So, if they want to go down in history
as having achieved something - they are forced to
move quickly and rationally - and not delay and
procrastinate. As George W.'s record shows - where
he seriously messed up and everyone breathed a
sigh of relief when he left.

The other choice that we have is a dictatorship -
which is the direction Howard was heading.

And Belly, don't forget that a 2 term time could
range from 6 to 8 years (8 years is what Labor is
currently suggesting). And the elected Government
should serve the full 2 terms when elected.
Which is fair enough, in my view at least.

the current system isnt serving the common people[let alone the common weal]little wonder we dropped the common-wealth from our vocabulary[and thus our thinking[and theirs]

its the same how peace officers became policers[noew instead of keeping the peace they become policers of the people under the auspiciouis of suspect acts and moralistic unconstitutional law making

the joke is we are over governed[we need less polititions changing the rules..[peter beaty changed over 2000 laws in the few short years the lawyer ran the sunshine state..[he thought to change into the smart @rse state]..we need more sepperation of powers..[how is it lkawyers are allowed to make laws?

peter beatup even chanmged the qld constitution into an act[act 70 of 2002]...not that the dumbed down voters even know or caRE WHAT THAT MEANS...yeah we need to change the syatem[whats with party loyaly[putting the party before the people should legally be treason

it is worth notiung that we have such a thing as odious debt[like govt creating extra debt[not serving the people makes the debt odious[irrecoverable in court,..because the very act creating the debt was of ill intent...

we should also note that odious creation of law..[should mean the same thing[..ie the drug law..[that enriches lawyers,..while criminalising the people..[one percent each year of which the lawyers convince 20 out of 21 to plead guilty at first court appearance

[for which the lawyers get 250 cash for each guilty plea,via legal aid[in qld the drug law raised 65 million in 1999 alone..[while criminalising 34,000[qld alone][mainly for cannabis[that killed no one ever..[compared to booze that kills 4000..each year[directly]12,000 indirectly]

Examinator, I reckon you're saying the same thing I did about the Dem's, just more specifically identifying the process involved.

since women are gaining more representation everyday,
a male proposal to restrict representation
has the odour of misogyny,
especially when the motive involves
the prediminantly male
"useless time-servers and party-hacks,
and the "favours" system,
corruption etc that infests our Parliaments".
speak for yourself, Maximillion.

the whistler has a point[but the thing is those woman who do get into higher positions in politics..only endup out bloking the males].there is too much testosterone in poli-tricks

proper politics would see govt become like the mother..[not the strict diciplinarian father]..the last thing we need is more judge judy/anna blight/magot thatchers[pirates]..running the hen house..[that seems full of living feather dusters..[roosters]..ruling the roost

woman are just as capable of party loyalty[and partisan politricks as any male]..and likely to..in the end outplay,,,the feminised males now running things..[look at the simple beatup of the bird pig mutant flue,..that is closing down schools..[lest the children get a sniffle]

its a boys club..full of sisies at the moment..[that are so full of girlie girlie fears one woulds easilly sumise..that wiman allready run both houses..[a pox be on both of em]..

be they federated or statuted

[its time they didnt get their life-time gifts and bonus..[post their 'service'..[sir-vice]..for a few terms of self service]..we wont even get into the intrenched..[inbred elites running the public self/service..as a privatised franchise..[for the other big multinational business boys clubs]

I can not understand or take whistler as anything other than lost in a world of her own.
Far from reality and the world as it is or ever will be.
We have a woman as deputy PM
Only complete blindness could bring her to say men are keeping women down.
Right now headlines cry about untrustworthy politicians.
Do not fear Foxy, they are fabrications, watch closely, more real danger to Turnbulls leadership exists than Rudd or Swans.
Here is the very root of why we let the wool be pulled over our eyes.
In the 1975 was it? the Ship Lake Illawarra hit a Bridge and bought it down in Tasmania.
The then opersition blamed the ALP PM for it!
We must consider what we want from our countrys parlement, truely want.
Are majority happy with the current senate make up?
That foolish senator who thinks climate change is not happening?
We do not need to fragment our house, more like the SA senator for that river and against poker machines?
Shall we vote whistler into the senate to confuse us all about womens rights?
And sorry CJ Morgan and others but greens have much power, more to come after the up comeing election, how many are happy to see Bob Brown with that much power?
We must change politics from within the existing partys only they can win government, few take the time to join and act in the party of their choice.
If you branch is privatly owned like mine is I DO NOT BLAME YOU.

All politicians are simply people like you and me, but they have been led astray by the lawyers in Parliament. The Democrats were particularly led astray, by their absolute failure to recognize that sixty five percent of the population of Australia claim to be Christian, to a greater or lesser degree.

There was only one party, that voted to abolish prayers in the Parliament of the Commonwealth. They hold no seat whatsoever since. There was one party that thought they had the Christian vote rusted on. They were stopped at the pass by a leader who recognized the great truth, that Australians want a Christian Leader, and would not vote for an atheist. He only just won the leadership, but the rest is history.

I upset a lot of you by asserting that our system is Christian. I ask you to consider the Prayer that the Parliament of the Commonwealth says: It is the Lord’s Prayer, lifted straight out of the Sermon on the Mount, in Matthew 6 verses 9-13. Who is going to argue with the sentiments expressed in it, Hallowed be thy Name, Thy Kingdom come, finds it expression in the creation of Royal courts, Thy will be done on earth, as it is in Heaven. How on earth can the will of Almighty God be done on earth, as it is in Heaven, while we have no Christian courts. The Parliament of the Commonwealth is accepted as a court, and a Christian one at that, but the politicians, have extended their long fingers, to abolish the courts of Our God. They are now State Courts, not Christian courts.

Give us this day our daily bread. This is a very charitable prayer, and finds practical expression in the Centrelink system: A bit like St Vinnies and Anglicare on steroids. Centrelink is the charity arm of a great State church, and sometimes as cold as charity. We pray for the Parliament of the Commonwealth to deliver us from evil. They have done this, but we have a blockage in the gatekeepers at the Courts. They fear jury trial

Overheard in the House of Reps. Canberra:

"You're the reason God created
the middle finger!"

Peace be upon you.

Visit dnb.com (Dunn and Bradstreet)

You can find every Australian defacto governmental body listed. Schools Local Councils/Shires Police Departments, you name it... virtually everything we once thought of as belonging to and working for the public.... Everything has been privatized and is nothing more than a money making corporate whorehouse. Guess who's getting screwed.
(REM If they have rigged the site so that its the search engines do not work properly you'll need to edit the names of the corporations you are searching for in the URL line of your browser) The pols don't want anyone to know about this.

https://smallbusiness.dnb.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductSelection?dunsNumber=19&busName=PARLIAMENT%20HOUSE&storeId=10001&catalogId=70001&productId=0&address=PARLIAMENT%20HOUSE&city=CANBERRA&state=ACT&zip=&country=AU

(cut and paste these links)

www.sec.gov/cgi-bin/browse-idea?action=getcompany&CIK=0000805157&type=&dateb=&owner=only&count=40

They want us as bankrupt as the USA (which is just another corporation btw). We have been sold-off and the country has been taken over by corporations... the people, their labour, their very bodies securitized as bond collateral to the International banksters.

virtually every country and every public asset in that country on the planet is now just a corporation generating profits for the banking cartels at the peoples expense.

It's Time to search for solutions:

http://www.911oz.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=3930&highlight=john+harris

God's love always.