A stable and successful system

Our current electoral system is obviously not perfect, particularly in what we end up with in the house of review, the Senate.

But how we would improve it is a vexed question.

Some have suggested that we should have a first-past-the-post system of voting, but this could result in us having a candidate with less than 50 per cent of the votes gain a seat, with the majority of the voters frustrated that their intentions had been overridden.

Another suggestion is to abolish the states.

Those who advocate such a drastic move must surely be aware that the foundation of our political system, the Federal Constitution, set out by our Founding Fathers and approved by the people, gave sovereign powers to those former colonial governments, ceding their rights only for the defence of the nation and for matters relating to international trade and customs.

The states were to retain the policing of crime and matters of health and education, while local councils were to deal with development applications and rubbish collection.

Putting local councils in charge of the nation would turn everything on its head.

Talk about putting the cart before the horse.

Even more alarming is any exhortation to scrap and rewrite the Constitution itself.

Who would rewrite this new constitution: the politicians and lawyers?

The fact that public referenda have only been successful in eight out of 44 attempts is a positive blocking by the people to limit the powers of the politicians, so for the past 116 years we have enjoyed a stable and successful governmental system.

Let's keep it that way.

Letter, 18 Jul 2016

Don Parkes, Woy Woy