As most of you know, there is a common misunderstanding that a lawyer’s primary obligation is to his or her client. In reality a lawyer’s first responsibilities are those of an officer of the court, i.e. to the legal system itself.
I suggest that parliamentarians have a similar obligation to the democratic system they serve.
I understand that those of you who are motivated by a desire to serve the electorate according to personal or ideological preferences, may be tempted to conclude that you can achieve nothing without power. The easy next step is to decide that the ends justify the means and that you are duty bound to do whatever it takes.
The temptation to arrive at this position is great and many have been there before you. The galleries of infamy are filled with their portraits.
The results of the last election clearly demonstrated that with respect to the Senate, our electoral system is broken and must be reformed.
Consequently I ask the HONOURABLE members and senators to rise above your personal ambitions and partisan commitments and fulfil your primary obligation as defenders of our parliamentary system and our increasingly fragile democracy. Its fragility is largely a consequence of increasingly myopic goals in politics and public policy. Please, for all our sakes, step back and take a longer view. You are just as likely to be the beneficiary of doing so as your political opponents.
Tony Dickson.