[nswnra] Re: Elections and Rugby
- From: "judith stella" <judes@xxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <nswnra@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Fri, 27 Aug 2010 06:52:53 +1000
I really like the the Swiss arrangement. We bang on about democracy but a
two party system where people have to vote with the party ... how democratic
is that?? We don't seem to be mature enough to manage more of a consensus
approach.
I really like that power will not be totally in the hands of one party and
that other views will have to be taken into account. You may have read that
in South Australia when there was a hung state parliament a few years ago,
the labour premier Mike Rann appointed coalition members as ministers. After
the next election when Rann was returned with a majority, he re-appointed
the coalition ministers.
Even calling it a hung parliament is perjorative - its actually much more
democratic!!
And bring on the Greens in the senate - they may be a single interest party
but its their single interest that we really need right now imho.
Judith
_____
From: nswnra-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:nswnra-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On
Behalf Of G C
Sent: Friday, 27 August 2010 4:56 AM
To: nswnra@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [nswnra] Re: Elections and Rugby
From the SMH
System is cuckoo - ask the Swiss
For the 40 years I lived in Australia I have wondered why we call the
Westminster system democracy. I learnt at school that democracy meant rule
by the people, not half the people.
If the same election result had happened in Switzerland, Labor would put up
half the ministers and the Coalition the other half. The prime minister
would be elected by the ministers and rotated every year, with no special
powers except chairing the meetings and representing the nation.
Running a country democratically is not a game in which one side is the
winner for three years. All sides have a right to be involved in the
executive. It puts responsibility on all the parties.
Henty Schneebeli Moree
We moved to Australia from Switzerland in 1988. The longer I live here, the
more I admire my native country for its unity, despite its variety in
language, geography and religion. Our government consists of seven ministers
from five political parties; the bigger parties hold more seats than the
smaller ones. And the consensus works.
Eva Wicki Mosman
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