Senate provides protection

Thank heavens Australia has the Senate it has: vigilant, active, democratically-elected and stopping the worst draft legislation our amateur Governments dream up.

It provides the only real opposition to the two-party tyranny of look-alike major parties which have long ceased to inspire the electorate.

A feature of the much-praised but little-understood Westminster system is directly responsible of the lack of quality of our Governments.

That is that Ministers must be "in and of the Parliament".

Thus some 30 portfolios have to be filled from roughly 100 elected politicians.

What can one expect?

It is a recipe for incompetence.

Why not address that serious deficiency, the major cause of the problem?

Klaas Woldring, Pearl Beach