Howard's Senate reform proposals are another grab for absolute power

Many people regularly vote differently in the Senate than the House of Representatives specifically to ensure the government doesn't have a tame Parliament that will blithely give the nod to the Prime Minister's every wish. The Prime Minister really should respect the Australian public's instinctive appreciation of the value of checks on rampant government power between elections.

The Senate must also remain strong as it is arguably far more representative in its composition than the House of Representatives, and therefore far more accurately reflects the diverse will of the people. Its 76 Senators - 12 from each of the six states and two from each of the mainland territories - are elected by proportional representation within each state or territory, so that the Senate's composition closely reflects the voting pattern of the electors.

Further, by hamstringing the Senate, the political influence of the smaller states suffers against the power bases of NSW and Victoria.

In the face of John Howard's constant gripes about the Senate, the facts actually totally undermine his claims that the Senate is not functioning as a house of review. Bills are constantly being amended as a result of Senate inquiries and the government is accepting those amendments.

So far this year, the Senate has passed 44 Bills and the Senate successfully amended 12 Bills. Last year 156 Bills were passed, with 42 Bills successfully amended by the Senate.

The Senate in recent years - indeed since the Democrats initially gained the balance of power following the 1980 election - has operated and continues to work in anything but a hostile manner.

The Senates of the previous four parliaments have passed between 97.6 and 99 per cent all bills that came before it.

To say that the Senate has operated in a hostile manner really is the latest in a string of untruths emanating from the government on issues ranging from the children overboard affair, to the state of the nation's finances, and now to the Senate's actions and motives.

But, under this government, the calculated and sustained attack on the Senate motivated by an overwhelming desire for absolute power by the Executive has been thinly disguised.

We have seen the separation of power constantly under attack by the Howard government. This government has unleashed some of the most blatant attacks on the Judiciary that Australia has ever seen. It openly advocated stacking it with "Capital C" conservatives. Under this government, department heads are now also subjected to miserly short-term contracts, reducing the independence of the bureaucracy and making it a lap dog to its political masters.

Despite the whinging, there are just four double-dissolution triggers at present.

It is important to look at the content of what the Senate is stopping before leaping to the conclusion that this government, having been elected to power, is being frustrated in introducing its program of reform.