Opportunity for major government system reform has arrived

After the historic election results, progressive action is now needed to reform Australia's system of government, writes Dr Klaas Woldring.

REMEMBER THE FAILURE to get the republic proposal accepted? And the failure of numerous constitutional amendments? And the Voice disaster? Here is the chance to fundamentally improve a deeply conservative political system by addressing its flaws and defects.

The unexpectedly strong election win by the Albanese Government presents a great opportunity to catch up and introduce major structural reforms. There really is now more to do than fixing taxation and housing, however important these issues undoubtedly are.

Twenty-five years have gone by, allowing the colonial structures to block the progress of multicultural Australian society. The Constitution has proved to be virtually unamendable, the desire for a republic that made perfect sense but was frustrated by mostly Anglo system conservatives, and an electoral system which is burdened by the single-member district system for all lower houses of parliament, which is demonstrably undemocratic.

Republic should be top priority for Albanese re-election

For a better chance at winning the 2025 Federal Election, the Albanese Government needs to rethink Australia's political system.

This is the moment that Australia can say goodbye to the dominance of conservative politics and the now dubious values of the Westminster system in the shifting international climate of international politics that began after WWII. Australians have to decide what is good for them in this dramatically changing international situation.

However, some will say Anthony Albanese is not the man who would tackle such a progressive range of new political changes. That may seem to be a fair comment given that he tackled the last three years by failing to make three or four policy changes — quite atypical for the left of the ALP. One could also argue that this secured him the election win necessary for a much more progressive second term.

Amending the existing Australian Constitution has proven to be an impossible task and should be abandoned altogether. What Australia needs is a new Constitution, one that is fairly easily amendable, if required. Of course, such a new Constitution would have to be introduced on the basis of Section 129 of the existing Constitution, but this may well be quite possible. This would also ensure that sensible clauses of the existing Constitution can be extended to a new one.

Of course, a new Constitution should also be a Republican Constitution at the same time. These two major issues can and should be tackled together, rather than separately. And the new Constitution should include such objectives as were intended to be provided by the Voice Referendum. That disgraceful campaign against that referendum needs to be corrected. It was a display of exceptional ignorance about the realities of the Indigenous people by many — as well as disgraceful political opportunism by former Liberal Leader Peter Dutton.

The final major reform that should also be approached is the electoral system for Australia.

A more effective Australian electoral system is long overdue

The adversarial two-party political culture in Australia is in need of replacement.

Contrary to major misconceptions, even in the ALP, the existing electoral system is not a democratic system. One only has to consider the result of the Greens in the 2022 Election – and probably even more so in the 2025 Election – when the Greens received 12.2 per cent of the vote in 2022 and ended up with just four seats.

In the 2025 Election, the Greens may even end up with zero or one seat while the percentage of the vote (around 12 per cent) suggests they should have 18 seats. The notion that Australia has a democratic electoral system is plainly false.

The ALP states in its policy platform that it favours a fair electoral system. Here is the opportunity to ensure that this finally happens. It would be a great idea if the ALP could get away from the extremely short election periods of three years. A four-year term would offer more effective government. Few people would argue about that. Altogether, progressive action as soon as possible now makes perfect sense.

The moment has arrived for a major system change in Australia. Spread the word, please.