So our governmental system is pretty much screwed.

The problem is, we have a “leader” in the form of a Prime Minister. We always have, of course, but Edmund Barton did not have a 24-hour media cycle. 

There is a Constitution in this country that outlines how it is run. The Prime Minister, the Cabinet and, most importantly, Alan Jones, are not mentioned in it anywhere. So, here’s how we fix everything.

To do this, it would have to be a commitment from a party in government. So if I ever form a party and run for Parliament, this will be part of my platform.

Read what Chapter II of the Constitution actually says about who runs the country. This is it, in its entirety:

Chapter II – The Executive Government

61. The executive power of the Commonwealth is vested in the Queen and is exercisable by the Governor-General as the Queen’s representative, and extends to the execution and maintenance of this Constitution, and of the laws of the Commonwealth.

62. There shall be a Federal Executive Council to advise the Governor-General in the government of the Commonwealth, and the members of the Council shall be chosen and summoned by the Governor-General and sworn as Executive Councillors, and shall hold office during his pleasure.

63. The provisions of this Constitution referring to the Governor-General in Council shall be construed as referring to the Governor-General acting with the advice of the Federal Executive Council.

64. The Governor-General may appoint officers to administer such departments of State of the Commonwealth as the Governor-General in Council may establish. Such officers shall hold office during he pleasure of the Governor-General. They shall be members of the Federal Executive Council, and shall be the Queen’s Ministers of State for the Commonwealth. After the first general election no Minister of State shall hold office for a longer period than three months unless he is or becomes a senator or a member of the House of Representatives.

65. Until the Parliament otherwise provides, the Ministers of the State shall not exceed seven in number, and shall hold such offices as the Parliament prescribes, or, in the absence of provision, as the Governor- General directs.

66. There shall be payable to the Queen, out of the Consolidated Revenue Fund of the Commonwealth, for the salaries of the Ministers of State, an annual sum which, until the Parliament otherwise provides, shall not exceed twelve thousand pounds a year.

67. Until the Parliament otherwise provides, the appointment and removal of all other officers of the Executive Government of the Commonwealth shall be vested in the Governor-General in Council, unless the appointment is delegated by the Governor-General in Council or by a law of the Commonwealth to some other authority.

68. The command in chief of the naval and military forces of the Commonwealth is vested in the Governor-General as the Queen’s representative.

69. On a date or dates to be proclaimed by the Governor-General after the establishment of the Commonwealth the following departments of the public service in each State shall become transferred to the Commonwealth: Posts, telegraphs, and telephones: Naval and military defence: Lighthouses, lightships, beacons, and buoys: Quarantine. But the departments of customs and of excise in each State shall become transferred to the Commonwealth on its establishment.

70. In respect of matters which, under this Constitution, pass to the Executive Government of the Commonwealth, all powers and functions which at the establishment of the Commonwealth are vested in the Governor of a Colony, or in the Governor of a Colony with the advice of his Executive Council, or in any authority of a Colony, shall vest in the Governor-General, or in the Governor-General in Council, or in the authority exercising similar powers under the Commonwealth, as the case requires.

And that’s all. So it’s actually pretty simple.

So here’s what I would do, were I running the government. Pare it back to what the constitution says it is. There would be no Prime Minister. The governing body would still be Parliament, which would work as it does now (with the exception of Question Time, which I’d remove for pointlessness). But rather than a Prime Minister and a ministry serving at his/her pleasure, a one-(wo)man show backed up by cronies and factional heavies, it would be the Executive Council who would exercise the real power. 

Now notice that the ExCo members are legally appointed by the GG. That’s not terribly democratic and indeed the convention has always been that the government-of-the-day chooses the members of ExCo, which is all their ministers. That wouldn’t substantially change. What I would do is have the governing party elect however many people it needed (probably between twelve and twenty) to be the Federal Executive Council, and those people would then be appointed by the GG. This isn’t very different to current practice. Each of those people would also be a minister of state, as defined under Section 64. 

And that’s the government. A smallish group of Executive Councillors, chosen from the members of Parliament. The chair of ExCo would be, as now, the Governor-General. I would have the GG chosen by a 2/3 majority of Parliament to increase accountability and to prepare for the same model of appointment as a republic. There would be no Prime Minister. Each member of ExCo would be truly equal. In many ways it would resemble the Swiss Federal Council, a seven-member body that is collectively the Swiss head of state, with the Presidency rotating among them. No one member of ExCo would have any more influence than any other. The governing party would not have a formal leader. ExCo would make decisions in council, the GG would approve them, they would pass Parliament, and they would be law.

No Prime Minister for the media to obsess over. No ‘leadership tensions’ because there’s no leader. No constant press conferences. No attempts to make one person the focus of the government. Government would continue, quietly and confidently, without the constant need for media attention, or at least media attention focused on one person.

We would not have a national leader. We would have many national leaders.

I love it. I’d do it. It’d be fantastic.