One or two senators should not be calling the shots

Sooner or later someone has to have the courage to question whether or not our electoral system is democratic, or is it merely a dysfunctional reality that we must live with.

One could argue we are a democracy in the purest sense of the word, but when we get to a stage where a single senator, Pauline Hanson, can decide which direction this country follows to the extent that the rest of the parliament and the system itself becomes largely irrelevant, the sadness only deepens.

Whether the motive be a sincerely held belief, a whim, or the result of external interference, duress or worse, the shortcomings of the system just become more obvious.

Isn’t it called a dictatorship when one person controls the whole show? Perhaps a look in the mirror might not be a bad thing.

Why do we need an upper house? New Zealand and Queensland both seem to manage without one.

What makes it more of a sadness is when the likes of Hanson, whose pre-political life experience seemed to have peaked at managing a fish and chip shop, can be seen to wield more power than the PM, not to mention that dangerous vacant space that is Tasmania’s brightest Senate star, her involvement in the system at any level is possibly more frightening than any other.

David Tibbett, Hallidays Point, NSW

It was inevitable Labor, being the glove puppet of the unions, would oppose the Ensuring Integrity Bill. What is more concerning is that the one-trick ponies, Pauline Hanson and Jacqui Lambie, can block the Morrison government’s right to govern that was approved by the majority in May. Our democracy is seriously flawed.

J. D. Harding, Eastwood, NSW

Pauline Hanson has let down Australia by voting down union busting legalisation in the Senate last week. She has virtually said union thuggery is acceptable because what is good for the goose is good for the gander. She quoted Westpac management’s bad behaviour as one of the reasons for voting the legalisation down.

I would have thought that someone who once ran a small business would have a better understanding that union standover tactics were never going to be good for our future prospects and economy. I guess now that she lives off the public purse, she does not have to worry about the next pay cheque.

Dennis Winn, Clifton Beach, Qld

Pauline Hanson’s statement saying that the Morrison government has one rule for white-collar crime and a much harsher rule for blue-collar crime is debatable.

White-collar criminals are often sentenced to jail for long periods and rarely reoffend. Blue-collar criminals don’t always go to jail but do sometimes reoffend — and the union probably pays the fine.

L. M. Silbert, West Leederville, WA

It is the highly-paid bureaucrats and political advisers who are the actual unelected power behind the politicians who govern us.

While Nick Cater (“Labor’s song is unchanged: we’re part of the union”, 2/12) says it shouldn’t be ignored that those who live and work in the Canberra bubble of Parliament House and the various federal government head offices are mainly tertiary educated as are many in the Canberra press gallery. The politicians and their advisers who have actually held down jobs in the real world are to be lauded.

Cater is correct when he cites many of the Labor and Greens parliamentarians and their advisers who have come through the union hierarchy, have a disdain for anyone who classes themselves as tradies or as small business operators who aren’t obsessed with gender quotas.

Hugh Francis, Portland, Vic

Your editorial should be a wake-up call to all governments and the wider community who appear reluctant to use the everyday conversation on the high street (“Hard lesson from UK horror”, 2/12). Terrorism is now part of living in the West. So we should demand that Jacqui Lambie pass the medivac law which has already damaged our security laws. This bill has allowed asylum-seekers, deemed not to be refugees, to enter Australia by the back door.

We are tongue-tied when we try to speak of the nationality of immigrants we should be avoiding. Politicians are too frightened to speak out. What occurred in London could happen here in the future.

Lesley Beckhouse, Queanbeyan, NSW