I am none too sure what would be the best form of Government for Oz but one thing is for sure the current system does not produce leaders of much ability.
Our system appears to spawn leaders who are all about politics and ego and very little talent when it comes to management and leadership.
I guess it comes back to us, the people, we put them there, maybe we should be just a bit more selective.
SD

Clem
Well it's an interesting thought experiment, anyway.

The internet would not do away with the need for the executive or judicial arms of government, only the legislature which, as it claims its authority from the people, must concede to the *actual* will of the people.

So what might it look like? Each elector would have, or access an electronic device that allows them to make a single, secure, secret vote on each proposed law or proposed amendment. This kind of thing is already common for banking, taxes, insurance, etc.

The E-Parliament would comprise all the people voting as one electorate. Any person could propose or amend any proposed law. A law could be one sentence, or long and sectioned as with modern Acts of Parliament. In form it would look like a newsgroups site. It could be set up so that proposals with the most votes rise to the top.

As soon as a proposed law gets 50% of the vote, it becomes law, simple as that.

How is the law to be implemented? The same way as laws today are carried out. The government departments continue. The voters elect the PM or Premier and Cabinet and Ministers, just as they do today. However the Ministry and Cabinet continue only in their capacity as executive officers; losing all legislative capacity. The Governor or similar is retained in case the system gets into gridlock for any reason, with residual power to return the issue to the people for their decision.

The advantage is that there would be a hell of a lot less law-making going on, for the simple reason that most people do not in fact agree with most laws that are made. The thought experiment proves that it's simply a lie that modern Parliaments "represent" the people.

The disadvantage is that it would permit the plunder of everyone by everyone, but no more than the status quo! Another disadvantage is that it would probably conserve the status quo at the time of its inception, because of the difficulty of getting 50% of the vote.

The best form of Government would be a benevolent Dictator. However, since we're stuck with pseudo democracy we need to focus on rebuilding discipline & above all, fairness.. The first step is a non-military national service & the second step is to introduce a flat tax. After all, we must have a degree of fairness up front. Then we need to overhaul education by getting away from education for education's sake & start teaching again. Education can be introduced by having only teachers who have completed national service.

Shaggy Dog,
It's been that way decades, the social mobility achieved in the 20th century merely elevates the brighter children of the working classes to the bourgeoisie or on occasion into a pseudo ruling caste which floats adrift from it's roots.
Bill Shorten Sr was a Scottish immigrant who worked as a Painter and Docker, scraping barnacles off the hulls of ships for a living, his son is now part of the Australian political elite, his kids will be the colonial equivalent of "Blue Bloods".

That's just the ultimate in lazy thinking, individual.

>>The best form of Government would be a benevolent Dictator<<

Benevolent?

To whom?

To whom?
Pericles,
I'd be need based instead of the present want based system. I have long stated that in order to re-establish some resemblance of community life we must be on a level playing field for a start. The money marketeers have successfully (for them) manipulated economies & industry with this artificial complexity they call stock market. The playing field is now so uneven that only warfare on a global scale can curb this cancer. Everyone is guilty of increasing the number of sweat shops by looking for the best bargain but when the exploited start looking for a bargain in return words like tariff acts are being legislated. Irrelevant bureaucrats on huge money are getting awarded for sending whole companies & countries down the economic shute. It's all coming to haunt us gradually as the sweat shop economies are gradually clambering their way up on the economic ladder into huge middle classes.
Just wait till their weirdoes come to play with our children like our weirdoes have done for so long to theirs. It'll be one constant wailing by our do-gooders to "do something".