AUTHOR:

Geoffrey Robin worked in the Federal Parliamentary Press Gallery in the Menzies era, with the Department of Social Security during the Whitlam/hayden reforms, in the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet in the Fraser years and the Australian Local Government Association in the Hawke/keating years. He represented Australian local government at the 1996 Bathurst Constitutional Convention, organised by the Constitutional Centenary Foundation. The decision of the Senate Legal and Constitutional Reference Committee to consider aspects of Australian democracy inspired this article. For detailed analysis of the sections of the Constitution that require review, there is further reading at: http://bit.ly/ozconstitution