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> A classic example of why you really shouldn't be giving the government too much power, because even so-called "modern democracies" can and will go bad.

I'm not an expert, but I'm under the impression that Australia uses a "first past the post" / "simple majority" voting system. If that is true, calling it a "modern democracy" seems deeply misguided, democracy yes, modern no.

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Not true at all. Australian federal election House of Representatives uses a preferential voting system where you have to number every candidate in your order of preference 1..N. Also voting (or at least attending) is compulsory.

Not even close. The Australian electoral system uses instant-runoff for the House, and single-transferable-vote for the Senate.

That has almost the same results as first past the post though.

Kinda, but that "almost the same" occasionally counts for some significant differences.

Australian politics is dominated by the two major parties, but the minor parties form a reasonable percentage of held seats, and occasionally neither major party holds a majority, which leads to a hung parliament where the balance of power is open to negotiation.

https://www.aph.gov.au/Senators_and_Members/Senators/Senate_...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australian_House_of_Representa...

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