As I noted previously, Switzerland actually isn't a bastion of good politics. They are just as bad as the rest of us. At the end of the day, the Australian government reflects the values held by Australians since we voted them in. The problem with direct democracy is that while it provides power to the people, nothing is preventing these people from being influenced by demagoguery and commercial blitzes. An example would be the minaret ban, which was basically pushed by the SVP (a major political party) who are famously anti-Muslim and immigration.
It'd actually be interesting if we had direct democracy in Australia. That poll seemed to suggest we're mostly fine with how we're treating asylum seekers, with 28% believing we're too easy on them. So that's at least 62% of people (this is well and truly a majority) surveyed that are fine with us doing what we're doing. Which is why the government treats asylum seekers badly in the first place, since that's what a lot of us appear to want.
And looking at the trend, a direct democracy approach could actually make it worse since people want harsher measures to be taken. Appenzell Innerrhoden is pretty much the prime example of how direct democracy can seriously fuck things up for minorities. At the end of the day, the asylum seekers are at mercy to the tyranny of some majority and direct democracy will not rectify this disgrace, if the poll is to be believed, since this is actually what a lot of Australians increasingly want.
