Preface
We are slip-sliding away from democracy. Our political life suffers from a cancerous disease called the 'party system'; in which party leaders corner the power of the people after each election, substituting government by 'executive' for the democratic principle of 'government by the people'.
It has long been recognised that the party system is an oppressive anomaly that subverts our democracy. To overcome the dominance of powerful organisations and restore power to the parliament, and the people, the power of parties to establish executive rule must be curbed. This requires that our representatives elect all ministers and officials by secret ballot, in parliament. Furthermore, all debates in parliament must be decided by the secret ballot of all the members.
This quite radical proposal is unavoidable if we would free our representatives from the confinement of the party system, to play their individual roles in our parliaments. The issues are the important thing (not 'politics'), and must prevail over all else. This is the essence of genuine representative democracy.
With people of political stature avoiding the issue of democratic reform, 'A Chariot of Fire-Secret Ballots in Parliament' was published in 1992. Reviewing this book for the 'Geelong Advertiser', John Craig, of Deakin University, said that this suggestion: "Would change the face of politics as we know it".
Some expressions of interest in a revision of that work have encouraged a fresh look at the question of the operation of our parliaments in the climate of the institutionalised political conflict, and the negligible representative ability of our MPs under the existing system. The following chapters represent that revision.
This book therefore challenges the notion that party politics is essential to democratic government. On the contrary, it insists that party politics destroys democracy and that only the adoption of secret voting (by electronics) in our parliaments can enable our representatives to act as genuine independents, able to genuinely represent the people, and revive diverse leadership in, and a new authority to, our parliaments.
Australia has the history and the potential to be an influential democratic leader in the world, at a time when a far-from-certain future is calling on all the world's political, diplomatic and social resources. This challenge can and must be met; but it will require, for people and parliament, the vitality of a new and purer democracy-one that only the secret ballot in parliament has the power to create.
Many will agree; some may oppose. But let the debate begin.