After the election, Australia is likely to have a minority government with the independents, who will hold the balance of power, negotiating each issue on its merits.

Democracy is best served if each independent politician states before the election which party they will support to form a government by guaranteeing supply.

For months, opinion polls have been almost unanimous that neither Labor nor the Coalition will win a majority of seats at the forthcoming election, which must be held sometime before mid-May.

That means that the Greens and the teal independents are likely to hold the balance of power. I further suspect that quite a lot of voters will welcome this election outcome.

Many of us are critical of the major parties because of their timidity and their refusal to deal adequately with key issues, such as climate change and the environment, administrative integrity and freedom of information, election funding, gambling, and tax reform.

It is these critics who will be inclined to support an independent instead of a candidate from a major party, in the expectation that if the government has to negotiate with the independents that will lead to better government.

But that still leaves the critical question of who will these........

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