I don’t want to let the passing of the Democrats go without mention, but their contribution has been covered in just about every political blog and newspaper column over the past fortnight. Suffice to say, I suspect that I am like many people – I voted for the Democrats sometimes, and didn’t vote for them other times; I liked some of the Democrat Senators, and disliked others; and I agreed with some of the positions they took, and disagreed with others. But through it the past three decades, they made an important contribution to public awareness and debate of issues that might otherwise have passed without mention.
Now we are commencing on a new era of balance in the Senate. Remaining aware of the positions and processes in the new Senate is going to be important, as Mark Bahnisch notes. And Jeremy Sear has kicked off a discussion about the Greens’ placement in a Senate that still leans slightly to the conservative side.
