Rethinking the Parliamentary System: Contributions from the Australian Debate

Abstract

The author considers whether the parliamentary system is an effective institution by examining its capacity to handle its five traditional functions. Those Junctions are: maintaining the government, passing laws, controlling government expenses, monitoring the government of the day, and setting long range policies. She concludes that parliaments are incapable of performing these functions on a consistent basis. This incapacity stems from a variety of factors including party discipline, the passive nature of members of parliament, and the fact that there is no separation of powers in the parliamentary system. To remedy these shortcomings she calls for changes which are aimed at giving parliam..