PM Morrison is talking about the need for State Governments to deliver on “compacts with their people” over the opening of the country post the 80% COVID vaccination level.   Every government in the Australian federation is elected with a compact to govern responsibly and keep to their commitments. We have seen too little of this over recent decades with many commitments made and walked away from due to the political risks of implementing a policy where a vocal minority group, or favoured party support group opposed.   We expect our politicians to serve the common good and live up to their commitments.

Edmund Burke (statesman, economist, and philosopher) expressed expectations of our political leaders well: “Your representa

After the Olympic Games was postponed in 2020, I didn’t think it would be a fair Games if it was to be held the following year- not because of the ROC competitors, but because the countries with fit athletes who could train, travel and be vaccinated would succeed, leaving in their wake the less fortunate countries that couldn’t afford to make the trade-off and send their Olympians to the unknown. Read my full article and make up your own mind on my ideas as to why Israel and Australia had a successful Olympics campaign! https://israeltrade.org.au/2021/08/11/20-olympics-in-21-amidst-covid-19-israel-and-australia-summary/

Grattan Institute publication points the way to clearing the reform path:   “Institutional changes to ministerial adviser roles, to processes for appointing and dismissing senior public servants, to ministerial influence over government contracts and grants, and to controls over political donations, campaign finance, lobbying, and post-politics careers would all help to break the gridlock in policy reform. These changes would also promote the emergence of champions who are usually crucial to the prospects of reform.”   “Without institutional changes, Australian governments will not deliver many of the policy reforms that would.”"Gridlock: Removing barriers to policy reform"  John Daly     https://grattan.edu.au/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Gridlo

In this week’s issue of ‘Pearls and Irritations’ Andrew Podger AO, retired Australian senior public servant and Professor of Public Policy at ANU, calls for serious reform of our democracy:   https://johnmenadue.com/andrew-podger-our-democracy-needs-serious-reform/?mc_cid=af92e21ba9&mc_eid=ff9389eb5b   Podger highlights the way the Australian government shows “so little appreciation of the principles of responsible government and the institutions which protect them.” He lists five ways to fix this.   A roadmap for ways of improving how our democracy works can be found at:    

As we wrestle with the challenges of Covid-19 the weaknesses inherent in our federation are being clearly seen. These weaknesses have been present since 'federation' in 1901 but have been amplified by various legislative, legal and administrative actions. Our state and federal politicians are not willing or able to resolve these issues.     A Constitutional Council of esteemed Australians, not involved in daily political life, should be permanently established to develop referendum proposals to overcome the lack of clarity in federal, state and local government responsibilities and other changes needed so that our constitution reflects the requirements of contemporary Australia.