Legislature

A new Clerk of Parliament assumed his position in June 2013, and the management of Parliament is undergoing some change. The operation of Parliament has become more open, with video and audio now being broadcast live. Recordings are also available on the website. The backlog of Hansards has also been reduced and a number of other plans to strengthen the functioning of committees with the assistance of agencies such as UNDP and the Parliament of Queensland are underway. The administration of parliament does, however, suffer from lack of human resources. Whilst the administration of the legislature is developing there is considerable concern about the performance of members of parliament. Parliament is currently comprised of representative of 16 political parties and 4 independent members of parliament (mps). This necessarily means government is a coalition. Coalitions are unstable and motions of no confidence are frequent. The causes of instability are discussed further in the foundations section, and are a reflection of both the socio-cultural environment in which democracy operates, and the simple fact that democracy, and the values associated with it are new. As such, instability is not able to be simply cured by law reforms. Internal politicking, including changes in executive positions, occurs in order to maintain coalitions or succeed in motions of no confidence. This weakens the ability for the legislature to play its role asnthe central accountability mechanism for public entities and expenditure. It also distracts members of parliament from their role as representatives of the people. Public trust in mps is low and mps do little to inform their constituencies about the work of parliament or represent their concerns in parliament. There is also little public information about Bills, or opportunities for the public to contribute to discussion associated with the legislative changes