Belly,

You are right that we have a preferential system, but that does keep us in the thrall of the two majors....so it's still a matter of tweedledee and tweedledum. (I misread Yuyutsu's meaning when I replied, although I agree with the rest of his post)

The senate at least can act like a house of review if barking madness and ultra- megalomania overtake a government at any given time

The upper house is intended to give us proportional representation across the State. This should be the responsibility of voters and not the Parties lobbying minors. No voting above the line as this gives the Major parties their choice of preference. All preferenced votes of the voter should be counted till they exhaust. This would exclude unknown persons with wacky policies.

Preferential voting is there to protect us from having an elected
member that the majority DID NOT want.

The upper house is a different matter.
It was a requirement of the states at federation.

Bazz hold on, do we say we change nothing that was part of the federation agreement.
That took in fighting to put together and even the American constitution has been changed.
We know, or surely are equipped to comment, that in about 1956 QLD Labor abolished the upper house.
Poirot, I understand,but disagree with the thoughts you hold.
Howard is proof even major party's can hold all views, he was forced to back down by members of his own party on boat people.
My belief that we give too much power to small/minor party's, see Victoria, ALP preferences , yes ALP, put DLP our deadly enemy, servants of the increasingly questionable Catholic Church in that upper house.
I contend there is room in EVERY PARTY for those holding minority views.
And that IF those views have real Merritt real support they will get to be laws.
This hung Parliament, troubles our country.
Focus is not governing but winning.
I am sure if we asked do we want another one most would say never.
While I charge Liberals who insult two independents but not the one who sides with them fools.
I think we would be better with one house one winner.
I am confident most, far more than small party's want to admit, resent small voting bases over ruling majority's.
Is this true? even a tiny bit? if greens get balance in the upper house and Liberals win a landslide, is it democracy or the opposite?
One vote one value one house not a parking spot for minority's.
I fear the death of true democracy if minority's continue to have that much value for so little votes.

Whoa Belly, I never suggested that we could not change anything.

The House of Reps has 150 Members each of whom
represents about 80,000 voters living in one
particular area (or electorate). Victoria and
NSW have the largest populations, therefore
most of the members of the House of Reps come
from these two states.

This is balanced by the Senate, where all states
no matter what their populations have the same
number of senators. The Senate has 76 senators -
12 are elected for each of the six states, and two
each for the ACT and the Northern Territory.

The Senate gives fairer representation to the states
especially those with smaller populations but larger
land masses. It also keeps of House of Reps on their
toes.

I think this balance works rather well. Members of
the House of Reps get to know the people in their
electorates and local issues. When in Parliament
they speak on behalf of the people in their
electorate, discuss proposals for new laws,(Bills),
and important national matters.

Senators debate current issues, consider the Bills
(proposed new laws), committee reports, and papers
presented (or tabled) by ministers in Parliament.
They travel to meet the people in their state and
take the views they hear back to Parliament.

I am of the view that these two houses help strengthen
governments and make them more stable and accountable.
But that's only my opinion, for what it's worth. And I
am not suggesting that we shouldn't be open to making
changes. However, before we do - we want to make sure
that the changes we make are going to improve things.
I dare say that when and if we ever decide to become a
Republic - then we can begin to look at the various
models available and select the one that is the best.
At present we're not doing badly with what we've got.