Gareth Hutchens reports in The Guardian (25.1.18) on a new Australia Institute report which indicates that democracy would improve if the nation’s parliamentary representation kept up with population growth.’Do you think Australia needs more politicians, or fewer? The progressive thinktank the Australia Institute says, perhaps counter-intuitively, that our democracy may improve if we have more.
‘It has released a new discussion paper, “It’s time … for more politicians”, laying out the case for greater political representation in Canberra.
‘It says the number of members of parliament and senators has not kept up with Australia’s population growth. The number of constituents represented by each federal MP has tripled since federation in 1901.
‘… The thinktank commissioned a national poll of 1,408 people in April and May 2017, conducted by Research Now, and found less than a third of respondents felt confident that they would be able to speak with their local MP if they were concerned about a current political issue.
‘It said greater political representation could benefit the country, but admitted voters did not want more politicians.’
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