But his record does not give grounds for confidence. In his National Press Club address, PM Albanese referred to the “trust deficit” in other democracies such as the US. The clear inference is that Australia does not have a “trust” deficit.

We may be doing better in “trust” than the shambles that the US is becoming, but by almost any measure we are losing trust in our major institutions – parliament, media, business, universities, churches and many more.  Fortunately, our legal institutions remain in good standing.

“Democracy” has been narrowed down to a view that it is only about elections and not about well-functioning institutions. Our democracy is becoming more and more a facade. There are still many signs of decay, post-Morrison — wasteful expenditure (fossil fuel subsidies), corporate capture (Woodside), favours for failed political mates (Marles), lobbying in secret (gambling) and a corrupt media that propagandises for Washington and avoids key issues (AUKUS, genocide).

Democracy is losing its appeal as PM Albanese reminds us. Many people around the world feel alienated and are concluding that the “system” is working well for a rich and powerful few but not for the many. There is a pervasive sense of unfairness. “Strong leaders“ like Trump are trashing key institutions, even the Supreme Court.

Our politicians and media have been groomed over decades by US propaganda. Our security services have been colonised by the CIA and other US agencies. Our Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade is pushed aside. A US admiral in our Defence Department shaped our navy and a senior consultant to the US Studies Centre authored our Strategic Defence Review.

We are clearly not the innovators we were over a hundred years ago in institution building. In 1856, Victoria led the world when it introduced the secret ballot for parliamentary elections. It was known internationally as the “Australian ballot”. In 1859, all male British subjects in the eastern states and South Australia had the vote. In 1894, South Australia was an international pacesetter in votes for women. The first democratically elected Labor government in the world was in Queensland in 1899. In 1901, six disparate states joined together in our federation.

We are no longer an active democratic builder.

The Australian Labor Party is still controlled by an unrepresentative coterie of factional heavies and state and union officials. The ALP is not a national party. It is a federation of eight state and territory parties. Party members have little influence. Donors and marketing gurus are more important than members although members are good window dressing. The ALP does not represent the people who traditionally vote for it.

The situation of the Liberal Party is much worse.

Unless the political parties broadly represent their voter constituencies, we will continue to tread the slippery road of personalities and political spin, rather than addressing the real issues and concerns of the community. While the major parties refuse to treat the community seriously and run from public discussion, their natural constituencies are disenfranchised.

Because the major parties are out of touch with their constituencies, the debate on the big-ticket items runs into the sand – climate change, reconciliation, the republic, taxation, relations with Asia and drugs.

Instead of boldness, the major parties stitch up deals between themselves, for example, on election reform and the Independent Commission Against Corruption.

How then can we renovate our public institutions and restore public trust?

Parliamentary reforms could include regular audits not only of the entitlements of MPs but also their performance; more conscience votes by MPs with less party discipline on “non-core” issues.

All public authorities should be required to facilitate public discussion on key public issues. Transparency is critical.

The office of the auditor-general must be adequately funded. Independent MPs should be better supported.

We need an improved parliamentary committee system that hopefully will promote the art of negotiation and compromise. The Senate has shown that improvements are possible. A good start in our next parliament would be an all-party committee to consider ways in which the performance of the parliament could be improved and the power of the executive contained.

To assist members of parliament to counter the power of the cabinet and provide independent advice, the Gillard Government established a Parliamentary Budget Office. It provides nonpartisan analysis on the budget cycle. It was a good start. But its work is limited to budgets. Similar offices should be established for health, education, defence and foreign affairs.

NZ has a unicameral system, but our Kiwi cousins have shown us under both National Party and Labor Governments that a multi-party system can be successfully managed.

We should have four-year, fixed term Parliaments.

Lobbyists must register, but they should also be required within a week and on a public website to disclose all contacts with ministers, ministerial staffers, members of parliament and senior officials and the substance of those contacts. This should include paid employees of interest groups as well as external lobbyists. They should all be banned from Parliament House. Lobbyists are corrupting public life. Gambling reform is off the election agenda because the gambling lobby calls the shots.

Ministers and senior officials should be barred from taking employment for three years with any organisation with which they have dealt in government. The revolving door particularly in the Department of Defence must be closed.  As Jack Waterford  in the Canberra Times described the  abuse…“The Pacific Ocean is choked with the traffic of consultancies, cross-postings, post-retirement jobs, and a revolving door of appointments, including handsome jobs in defence industry to people involved in approving tenders of billions of dollars. It is a market full of potential for corruption and conflict of interest, a risk from the lack of integrity controls, the lack of service, bureaucratic and political will to enforce the pathetic ethical obstacles that exist​”.   Even more concerning is that personal  loyalty gravitates to the US.

Election campaign donations by corporations and unions should be banned and limitations tightened on individual donations and expenditure by candidates. Property developers, liquor and gambling interests would hate these changes.

We now have more than 450 unaccountable ministerial advisers at the federal level. They provide deniability for ministers they lack policy skills to contest the advice of senior and experienced public servants. Ministerial staffers should be dramatically reduced in number, their names disclosed and a strict code of conduct for them introduced.

Freedom of information should be strengthened to enforce more disclosure. Whistleblowers need more encouragement and protection.

We need a strong federal anti-corruption commission with real powers. Not the damp squib we have now.

We need a Human Rights Act to enshrine our civil liberties. We need a reforming attorney-general like Lionel Murphy.

Before 9/11, we had no counter-terrorism laws. We now have scores of these laws that threaten our freedom and privacy. We are no safer!

We need to curb the war powers of prime ministers who have taken us into disastrous wars in Vietnam, Iraq, Afghanistan and Syria without parliamentary approval.

Because our monopoly mainstream media is failing, independent media should be appropriately supported. The ABC must be much better funded and with leadership spine to help us dig our way out of the Washington media cul-de-sac.

Defamation laws must be reviewed. To shut down examination, the rich and powerful threaten prosecution. The Zionist lobby plays this card again and again.

Institutions, like people, are all prone to error and abuse of power. Robust democratic institutions and democratic debate are critical. Too often, we avoid addressing institutional failure by suggesting that they are all leadership problems. “If only we had a better prime minister, or a better chairman, all would be well.” But all leaders inevitably disappoint us. We need institutions and a public culture that are in good order.

We desperately need democratic renewal.

The political leader who does restore trust in democracy would also reap a political dividend.

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