for a House of Assembly seat.

The Senate was not designed to give vote-getting exposure to House of Assembly aspirants in a parliamentary forum. To use it that way has both social and political dangers. Remember the ill-fated political career of Senator Charles Marshall and you know that there are political dangers involved in giving people a public forum. Think of the wild allegations of Senator Trevor Woolridge and you know of the social dangers involved in giving unproved people a political forum.

The Senate was not designed to give people a chance to decide at public expense whether or not they really want to be in politics, like Senator Dennis Tucker and Senator Cindy Trimm.

The Senate was designed to be the senior public body where review of the Country's affairs could be carried out by serious and seasoned members.

Ideally the members should be of a variety of ages but they should have one thing in common, experience of public affairs. The purpose of the Senate is to check to be sure that legislative horrors do not slip past the more expediency oriented members of the House of Assembly who can be distracted by constituent and party pressure.

For members to fit the purposes for which the Senate was intended, they should have been around for a while and they should have had some success and some experience, which is quite the opposite of using the Senate to give new candidates exposure.

We have noted that recently-retired Senator Charles Collis has defended the appointment of neophyte politicians to the Senate and we see that as something of a shame because, in many ways, Senator Collis was the ideal Senator. He was experienced and he received the appointment largely because he was a self-made establishment figure who had the guts to support workers in a wage dispute.

Senators don't need to pander and he was never very popular because he was not afraid to speak his mind and did not tolerate foolishness and he heard a lot of nonsense during his time in the Senate especially from the PLP appointed Senators Alex Scott and Trevor Woolridge.

The point is that Senator Collis is an example of a man of stature who was capable of making a serious review of the public's business. That's what a senator is supposed to be and that is the role appointments should seek to fill. Governors have traditionally known that fact and have often searched hard to find quality independent senators. It is not fair to senators who have been carefully chosen for the quality of their talents, or to the Senate as an institution of democracy, for political parties to seat capable people with learners or with callow incompetents. It is, in fact, mis-use of the political system.