A decent analysis of one of the systemic weaknesses of our system, party discipline.

Think about one of the things happening in our parliament at the moment. An independent candidate, in the form of Andrew Wilkie from Tasmania, is trying to get the parliament—the body we elect to represent our views—to pass legislation that would ban gambling advertising. It is an issue on which we-the-people are in loud agreement and yet our elected body will not enact such legislation. Or rather, cannot. The impediment is the government itself, more specifically, the Labor Party, even more specifically, the prime minister.