In the Media

Since the 1970s, the major political parties have seen their power slip as the ground moves from underneath them. Growing affluence, education/media access and discredited ideologies have helped tipped the balance in favour of the people. Yet the parties still lurch from one election to the next; forever hopeful that, out of the inane contest,...Continue reading

Luca Belgiorno-Nettis, Sydney Morning Herald. Comment. 17 February 2016. 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,...Continue reading

Athens can teach us a lot about real democracy – not the weasel democracy practised so often, British classics scholar Robin Lane Fox tells Kevin Chinnery.

As part of Policy Network’s work on democratic innovation and renewal, in partnership with the Barrow Cadbury Trust, Policy Network discusses Australian democratic innovations, and how the UK can learn from them. Panellists Luca Belgiorno-Nettis, Alison McGovern, Claudia Chwalisz, Jeremy Purvis and Shahrar Ali discussed the potential for citizens’ juries and assemblies in the UK, and...Continue reading

Premier Jay Weatherill | Democracy Renewal Forum Governments have lost the art of involving the people Democracy is not in crisis – it is just that governments have lost the art of talking to people about their concerns and involving them in the solutions. When Australians can still vote in free elections and influence government decision-making...Continue reading

Luca Belgiorno-Nettis | SMH Comment  Planning for human hives – our cities – could be strengthened by adopting the wise ways of bees. When honeybees move their hive, scouts “waggle dance” to persuade the swarm of the merits of the new location. “One of the popular misconceptions about honey bees is that they are ruled by...

Very quietly and far from the headlines, Canada has become something of a global leader in democratic innovation and experimentation. Here’s a good news story for anyone exhausted at the prospect of our current 77-day federal election and anxious about the health of Canadian democracy. You might never know it watching the endless reels of...Continue reading

As published on SMH on 25 August 2015 Luca Belgiorno-Nettis 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...Continue reading

The parliamentary vote on same sex marriage is likely to be defeated, and the Prime Minister is advocating a range of options for what comes next. One is a national plebiscite on the issue at the next election. This would only be the third in Australia’s history.

By Michael Gordon, Political editor, The Age. What struck new MP Tim Watts most about question time when he took his seat in the Parliament after the last election was not the rancour, or the shallowness, or the pettiness or even the name-calling. It was the noise. So Watts downloaded a noise-meter on his iPad...Continue reading