Editorial: A Free Vote
This week's charade of the Senate amending the Howard Government's workplace laws raises fundamental questions about the sort of democracy Australia has become. The PM's ideological obsession is old news. Barnaby's buffoonery and ultimate back down was to be predicted and the Opposition parties'outrage, while well-executed, was never going to change anything.

What has been more striking are flaws in our system of government that have been exposed, the failure of our democratic structures to fulfilthe basic roles they were created for. When a 700 page Act has a six day Senate Inquiry and then when the Senate has just two days to deal with more than 300 government-sponsored amendments, any pretence to being a House of Review should be dispensed with.

Of course, we are in an unusual moment in our nation's politics - never before has such an extremist and ideologically driven administration had control of both Houses. However, it does expose as farcical the alleged separation of legislative and executive power.

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