I understand that the Labor and Liberal Parties are ganging up for a
referendum to reduce the size of the NSW Upper House, presumably so that
two-party ("bipartisan") control is consolidated. (Shades of Tasmania?).
Tinkering with representative systems is perfectly acceptable if it
strengthens the hand
of the electors and hence strengthens democracy -- even if the motive is to
advantage one or another party. However, it seems that the tinkering going
on in NSW is aimed at weakening the ability of the voters to elect a
representative mixture (including independents and parties not owned by
corporate business) which reflects numerical strength in the community.
Dion Giles
Fremantle, WA
