What If ?

How depressing at election time to be faced with all those shrieking, squawking politicians offering us millions of dollars of public money in the hope of attracting our vote.  As they say in the classics. " It's a helluva way to run a rail road ".

What if we did it in a different way  ?   There are one hundred and fifty seats up for grabs in the House of Representatives and another seventy-six in the Senate.  That is twelve Senators from each state and two each from both the Territories.

Suppose instead of elections we had the computer do a random pick of a citizen from each electorate. A man or a woman - someone just like you or me - would find themselves representing their electorate for the next three years in the House of Representatives or in the split terms that apply in the Senate.

Their first job would be to select a prime minister.   The choice would be Scott Morrison, Bill Shorten,  Pauline Hanson, Clive Palmer or Richard Di Natale.  The prime minister would need an executive cabinet and would make a choice from industry, as is the system in the American presidential system.   Those chosen would need affirmation by the new members of the Australian Senate.

We would have a mixed House of Representative and Senate composed of "ordinary " Australians aged between their eighteenth birthday - and infinity.  They would attract the salary given to present politicians, but when their term ended they would merely receive a moderate superannuation contribution and return to jobs preserved under the same conditions that affect absence for jury service.

This random pick would have safeguards.  People with Dementia or medical conditions that prevented rational decision making could recluse themselves but the formation of political parties would be banned amongst those serving in each parliament.   The computer would assure an even mix of each gender and the policies put forward by the prime minister would need the approval of the majority of each house of parliament to become law.  At the end of each three year parliamentary term, the computer would select a new grouping to fill those parliamentary seats.

Cabinet executives chosen from industry would be compensated with a salary that equates to a similar public service grading. By doing away with the shackles of political party membership in the voting process of the parliament there would be a chance that the rationality of " ordinary " Australians would best serve the will of the Australian electorate.

Of course, it could all dissolve into a monumental shambles, but it is hard to expect anything even remotely worse than the chaos we experience in the present system.