At the beginning of this month, I appeared before the federal parliamentary committee tasked with a number of questions, including political donations and campaign advertising. I politely proposed that politicians, when trying to regulate these matters, might be seen as both poacher and gamekeeper. I suggested that a citizens’ jury might help with that. What...Continue reading
Founder’s Messages
The greatest underused asset in politics is people; ignore them at your peril. Luca Belgiorno-Nettis
Conventional wisdom holds that the common sense of everyday people finds its voice in elections, and referendums. However, it’s apparent that political campaigns are banal popularity contests at best, and toxic, divisive, ideological battlegrounds at worst. The French philosopher Emil Cioran said: “Ideas should be neutral, yet man animates these ideas with passions and follies,...Continue reading
A Call to Australians to Donate to Democracy
Sydney Morning Herald | Comment | July 2, 2016 In Australia, our cities are gleaming, our beaches glowing, and our politics pathetic. Cheap point scoring and sloganeering have become hallmarks of modern democracy, yet many people are turned off by these antics. But it’s no one’s fault. It’s systemic. We’ve all been weaned on...Continue reading
And they’re off, but does anyone really care?
Sydney Morning Herald | Comment | May 19, 2016. The great divide between the parties is no longer so great. The punters are considering their bets, with the odds narrowing: not that much between the protagonists. You might end up voting for whoever you hate less. The politicians seem more concerned with their careers than us,...
Democracy flounders in a sea of voter discontent
At the beginning of February, Premier Mike Baird came out fighting on GST, declaring: “I am convinced our political leaders and our community are ready to take the right, hard decisions for our future”. When Harold MacMillan, the British Conservative Prime Minister of the ’60s, was asked what can blow a government off course, he...Continue reading
Sydney lockout: A groundswell of opinion isn’t the considered view of the silent majority
The silent majority don’t speak unless spoken to, and when they’re “consulted” in polling or focus groups, no real opportunity is afforded for deliberation. They get asked opinions for two minutes, but rarely a considered view after learning more deeply about an issue. In December 2013, the City of Sydney and the state government decided...Continue reading
Stagnation erodes trust in democratic political institutions
As published on SMH on 25 August 2015 It has long been an axiom of government that the key to success is trust. As long ago as Confucius it was held that three things were needed for government – weapons, food and trust – but that if a ruler could not hang on to all three, they must guard trust to the...Continue reading
Citizens juries: ancient idea for participation in a modern world
In pockets around the world, democracy is being reinvented as it was conceived in ancient Athens – not modern Greece, I hasten to add! Elections and referenda are all most of us know of democracy, yet elections were never really part of ancient democratic Athens. The Athenian parliament – the Council – was constituted...
True democracy lies in the hands of everyday people
Luca Belgiorno-Nettis, Comment | Sydney Morning Herald10 May 2015 On display in Canberra’s Parliament House is a 13th century copy of a famous agreement. In 1215, King John acceded to the demands of his rebellious barons and signed the ‘Articles’ at Runnymede, near Windsor. This year marks the 800th anniversary of that event and there are celebrations...Continue reading
Equitable representation enhances social cohesion
Luca Belgiorno-Nettis, Opinion | Australian Financial Review TEXT We’ve all grown up thinking that the way we do democracy today is the best on offer. So famously said Winston Churchill. We groom charismatic and articulate political performers, whose primary skill is to debate, divide and conquer. In the development of public policy, we all value the contest...Continue reading