A Good Start

The Parliamentary reforms that have been the focus of the *3 Musketeers* over the past couple of weeks are a *good* idea. Not yet great because the major parties will likely attempt to gain political advantage once all this hoo-haa has died down. But a good start.

If we can encourage the *3 Musketeers* to keep up the good work once a Government is formed - and to work with other "independently minded" MP's to expand and improve on these reforms then that could become a *great* thing.

But it will take a while for key reforms to be prototyped and tested and agreed in order to find the best possible form. It might even become too hard to make it work for the benefit of the parliament and the people. We probably won't know that for another 3 years or more.

But there is something that could be done right now that would improve our national governance - enormously.

And that would be for our media to treat all 150 Members of the House of Representatives and 76 Senators - as though they were equal - which they actually are. By that I mean lets not have our media playing favourites with the usual suspects being asked over and over again for their opinion and for commentary.

Shows like The 7:30 Report, Lateline and Q&A would benefit enormously by having some diversity and by showing the talents of our elected representatived to the people. The ABC could lead the way in this and set an example for the rest of our media.

I don't expect it to happen anytime soon - but it would be a *great* thing and might even lead to a more politically engaged community - and we would all benefit from that.