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.

Getting the right balance between local, state and federal responsibilities for revenue and services would make Australia a stronger and more cohesive nation. “Rather than have an all-powerful unitary government, federations offer the advantage of several governments operating closer to their constituents. By rights, accountability is enhanced and sub-national governments can learn from each other.” ...“The empirical evidence from around the world is also strongly supportive of federations. Federated countries consistently have outperformed unitary states in terms of the key economic parameters, such as gross domestic product growth, unemployment and the like.”Judith Sloan – The Australian 20/7/21

“…current rules for holding a referendum are archaic and ill-suited to modern times. Fortunately, parliament has begun work on this through a new inquiry by the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Social Policy and Legal Affairs.”  The Australian 19/7/21 : George Williams - Deputy Vice-Chancellor and Professor of Law at the University of New South Wales The sad truth is that our politicians are not trusted enough to be in charge of an issue as important as Constitutional Reform. Our country needs a Constitutional Council outside the political sphere to undertake such important reform now and into the future.

"The closely watched Edelman Trust Barometer’s half-year update reveals a rapid decline in trust in government, business and media...The level of trust in government in Australia (52 per cent) puts it below the average of 14 global counterparts (56 per cent), but still above the US, which sits at 48 points."The Australian 19/7/21