Some useful background information on the subjects under debate here can be found at the following sites:

Democratic Audit of Australia: ANU study due for completion late this year
A Democratic World: Owen Harries' Boyer lecture from November 2003
Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948)
International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (1976)
Charter 88 (UK)
NSW Council for Civil Liberties
Democrats' draft Bill of Rights for Australia
USINFO and Wikipedia definitions of democracy
Teddy Roosevelt's full speech to the Ohio Convention
Democracy101 (US)
"Accurate Representation in Representative Democracy" a useful treatise on the methods for change
"Parliamentary Democracy in Australia" - Sir Garfield Barwick, former Chief Justice of the High Court of Australia
"Betraying our Values" - Julian Burnside

There is some relevant discussion on several aspects of the possibilities for improvement in this book:
Democracy: choosing Australia's republic - Robert E McGarvie, 1999, Melbourne University Press

See also the Proportional Representation Society of Australia's booklet Democratic Elections: The Right to an equal vote. Available from GPO Box 3058, Sydney 2001. or 02 9960 2193

A four-party discussion on the workings of open democracy in Australia was held in Sydney on the evening of Monday 3 May, which covered a number of relevant questions -