The Wentworth by-election may be the most hotly contested in living memory, and it also reveals much about why our democracy is broken and needs fixing!

Australia is a secular nation. It is enshrined in our constitution, yet we have a Prime Minister and many others in Parliament who don’t quite seem to understand what that means. The Ruddock report reveals not only state laws in possible conflict with federal law, but with the constitution and the principles of secularism.

Alan Jones’ bullying knows no bounds. And when Gladys Berejiklian instructed Opera House CEO Louise Herron to allow Jørn Utzon’s iconic sails to be defaced by advertising for a horse race, she enables it.

The Ghosts of Eureka are still haunting us. Terra Australis has come a long way since the rebellions of 1854, but that last crucial step to  becoming a fully independent nation again remains elusive.

As trust in our political leaders continue to decline, writings and commentary decrying the malaise in which our democracy finds itself in is booming, including Facebook-, Murdoch- and ABC-bashing, lamenting populism, trashing Trump-ism and generally blaming all the other ‘ism’s’ except one’s own.

Free speech means the freedom of having any opinion, promoting any religion or ideology, distorting history and declaring that climate change is a hoax and that earth is not a planet but a pancake.

The knowledge dichotomy – also known as the Dunning-Kruger effect – is rarely more evident than among climate skeptics and deniers. Guest blogger Charles Nagy explains.

“If only you could see that a true man knows how to stand by, and with, his emotions, rather than voiding all responsibility for them.”