Do we need a Senate?
We are hearing a lot of promises and statements in this election campaign but the conversation is yet to turn to the issue that has been bothering us more than ever. An issue that has been on everyone's lips for at least the past few terms of government.
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That issue is the lack of actual government and leadership of this country.
Sure we've had plenty of politicking and ridiculous behaviour in both houses of our parliament but no leader has managed to stand up with any authority and appear to be leading this place!
I have always taken an active interest in politics and government but now I find myself slipping into the criticism of this generation of career politicians, particularly senators, Paul Keating's 'unrepresentative swill', who are often deliberately elected by well-meaning voters who want to keep the House of Representatives governing party 'honest'.
Then there are the 'other' senators who seem to get into highly-paid employment with only a handful of votes because people either haven't voted correctly on the idiotic Senate ballot paper or alternatively they don't care and give no thought to the Senate, thinking that that bunch of eccentric, extremist crackpots will be a controlling factor on one party having too much power.
It never ceases to amaze me who our senators are. These previously unheard of, faceless characters, sometimes representing parties with crazily narrow interests find themselves doing multi-million-dollar deals with desperate governments trying to get their legislation through.
Some want to repeal gun laws while some enter the Senate wearing costumes or launch into racist maiden speeches.
What we have is paralysis. No party has been able to actually govern this country unhindered in recent years. Our system of government with its Senate providing equal representation for states is not functioning the way it was intended. Party politics has taken over and I'm sceptical that Senators are representing their states.
Do we need a Senate?
John Morton, Bendigo
Read more: Hostile Senate would worry Labor on tax
What's on offer?
What is the LNP offerering to the ordinary Australian voter in the lead up to this election? Zilch, nought, zero.
Surely it must be apparent to this government that the circumstances they are creating at the moment are continually hurting the very people they need to keep the economy strong.
The Australian population want to hear the positves about the future, not more of the negativity and failings of the past.
To put it mildly, the majority of Australians are "over it". Tony Abbott cured us of that. If this incompetetant lot cannot see it or don't care, it is about to be demonstrated to them in the most emphatic way - the loss of their seat and endless expenses that the ordinary person can only dream about.
Australians pay tax primarily to ensure that their families, children and the elderly can be looked after, as well as the health and education systems being available to all. But at the moment, as just two examples show, both the disabled and the elderly are being let down by a government and a system that prioritises dollars over care.
It's time the priorities were focused on all people, not schemes taking away billions of dollars that benefit the few. Australia is a great country, being run by a second rate government. This must change, if not expect more of the same.
Ken Price, Eaglehawk
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