Making Parliament Work... (A Common Sense Approach to Change)

Our current system of governance is a representative system that relies on the voters to elect a representative to attend the House of Representatives to look after the concerns of their area and and to represent their issues to government. While on paper this sounds functional, the system is plagued with some gaps in its functionality that frustrates its ability to deliver effectively and these gaps need to be addressed if we are to find our way to useful change anytime soon.

There are some changes that could have an immediate impact on the system if implemented promptly and properly, and as this government promised to be the agents of real change, who better to begin the process.

The Member of Parliament (once elected) immediately becomes overseer and chief spokesperson simultaneously for the constituency and because of those demands, one would expect it to be a full time occupation. To do otherwise would be to frustrate the intention of the election and fail to best serve the electorate's interests. I would first like to suggest that the Member of Parliament for an area should be resident in the area a full two years prior to nomination and for the duration of the electoral term so as to guarantee a more effective and knowledgeable representation on behalf of the people. This would have the effect of the MP having intimate knowledge all of the issues and problems endemic to the constituency and should motivate a faster response as the fortunes of the area would affect him or her as well, whether good or bad.

Secondly, Members of Parliament should have no further or additional responsibilities save for committees on oversight as I believe the nation would be best served by Ministerial posts being hired out to professionals answerable to oversight committees made up of members of the House. This would have the effect of professionals being responsible for delivering the manifesto promises of the Party who would be answerable to the members themselves. Our history is littered with the mismatched sets we get as successive governments rewarded supporters and members with Ministries they were ill equipped to handle and this practice needs to brought to an end. Again, both Member of Parliament and Government Minister are full time responsibilities and should never be forced upon the same person regardless of how capable they may appear. 

Lastly and quite possibly most importantly, we need to put the power back into the peoples' hands; we need recall legislation enacted with some haste (as promised) if we want our representatives to perform. Gone would be the days of suffering from election to election hoping for adequate representation as, should the elected member fail to live up to his or her promised service, the same people that hired them would have the authority and the ability to summon them back to the constituency and fire them.

Under the current system the people are under-represented and these changes need to be made with some haste so as to restore the people's faith in governance. It is not enough to make hollow promises just to get elected as the people are becoming numb to the process and disinterested. We need to engage the people, empower them, and give them hope that change can indeed be effected effectively. This is as good a place to start as any, and once we get our elected employees working to maximum efficiency the rest of the problems should be a lot easier to solve.