Published in today's Adelaide Advertiser, written in response to the front page story yesterday. 

[excerpt] 

Premier Mike Rann wants Parliament's Upper House abolished and will ask South Australians to bring about the greatest electoral system change in the state's history in a 2010 referendum.

Labor, frustrated by legislative delays and the watering down of new laws in the Legislative Council, will begin moves to get rid of it after the March 18 election that polls suggest it is likely to win. Mr Rann said yesterday there would then be four years for the issue to be debated.

"It is for the people of this state to decide," he said yesterday. "My preferred option is total abolition."

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 

The Upper House members, elected for eight years, are important to democracy in South Australia.  Those particular politicians have the chance to be more involved in long-term planning than the "average" politician.

 Instead of needing to change their policies every four years to maintain their positions in Parliament, MLCs have nearly a decade to act as ambassadors to the population they represent.

In a world filled with "globalised" corporations implementing long-term agendas, we need to be able to include in our democratic process politicians who, without being driven by political self-preservation, have the extra "clout" that an eight year term gives.  While a Lower House four-year member has to fight for survival, members of the Legislative Council can remain aloof, and provide a sense of detachment from the electoral process that is necessary to implement and maintain a long-term South Australian strategy.

The fact that "Media Mike" [SA Premier Mike Rann] wants to abolish such people as public representatives suggest to me that he doesn't wnat the general public to be able to think of the reality that they might inhabit in eight years time.

If we don't have representatives of our people who are immune from the spasmodic thinking required by terms of office of four years, how we defend ourselves from people who make their plans 10, 20, or even 50 years into the future?