MARK COLVIN: They call it Democracy Plan B – and they’re launching it at an event in Sydney tonight.
They’re a group called the newDemocracy Foundation, which has been working for some years to break down some of the worst aspects of Australian political life and build something more constructive.
It’s backed by former State Liberal and Labor Premiers, leading academics, and businesspeople.
Its founder is the Transfield Joint Managing Director Luca Belgiorno-Nettis.
He and the former West Australian Premier Geoff Gallop came to the studio this afternoon and I started by asking Mr Belgiorno-Nettis, if this is Democracy Plan B, what was wrong with Plan A?
LUCA BELGIORNO-NETTIS: We think it’s too adversarial. We think we’ve probably reached the point in time where we can think of collaborating rather than going at each other.
MARK COLVIN: In what way?
LUCA BELGIORNO-NETTIS: Well, this is the issue because the way we’re currently structured from the very beginning suggests that we go at each other. I mean, we put candidates up in adversarial election contests and so we don’t have a collaborative framework to start with.
For the full transcript and to download the interview (audio) click HERE.
