A MODEST CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT
I have a modest proposal for a modest amendment to the Australian Constitution, which in its present form I broadly support in the belief that it has served us well over the 120 years of its operation. Please make no mistake. I repeat: it has served us well. In the international constitutional stakes, it is a front-runner, and the Americans would do well by studying it. But there are problems. These I believe are highlighted by the way we appoint two important categories of decision-makers: jurors and politicians. . Jurors are appointed by random (off an electoral roll) selection. But arguably, they have the greater responsibility; literally a life-and-death one until not so long ago in Australia. . For very good reasons, jurors cannot self-nominate. Anyone who hung around court houses buttonholing passing court officials , judges and lawyers, offering their services as a juror and extolling their manifest fitness to ‘serve’ in the manner of campaigning politicians would probably be ar