Extend the Parliament, limit the politician

“The pound of flesh which I demand of him is dearly bought; ’tis mine and I will have it.” So requested the Merchant of Venice, and from time to time Australians should demand the same from their politicians.

Shadow Treasurer Chris Bowen, in a speech at CIS this week, made the case for extending the term of Parliament to four years. If parliamentarians wish for extra time between each electoral judgement day, the Australian public should ask for something in return.

One such payment for voters would be to place a limit on a politician’s time in office to three Parliamentary terms, or around 12 years total time served.

There are many potential benefits flowing from this reform. First and foremost, term limits change the role of a politician from being a career to a vocation.  If prizes enjoyed while in office have a use-by date, there will be a change in who runs for office and in what they do once they are there.

The limit would encourage a more diverse set of political candidates, as it reduces the lifetime payoff of working for the party machine (thereby reducing internal party candidates) while also shortening the time required to become a Minister — making running for office more attractive to high calibre candidates from other fields.

The certainty of one’s political death also adds a similar impetus to the bucket list for the aging: act now or lose the chance. Parliament might finally make some tough decisions.

Term limits would increase the number of new ideas flowing through Parliament, lessen the opportunities for corruption and increase the Parliament’s time horizon as roughly a third of each Parliament is retiring — so those MPs can focus on principled policy, not re-election.

The Merchant was ultimately unsuccessful in acquiring his pound of flesh, but if the voters are asked to extend parliamentary terms, they should insist they receive theirs.