We innovate in how we do democracy.
It’s easy to be critical of current politics.
NewDemocracy is an independent, non-partisan research and development organisation. We aim to discover, develop, demonstrate, and popularise complementary alternatives which will restore trust in public decision making.
We conduct real world trials using random selection and deliberation - the jury model - as a central process.
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The Magna Carta is a touchstone for democracy: a devolution of power from an absolute Monarch to his subjects. The Treaty, in all its chapters, became a complementary measure to the way the King, the government of the day, governed.
Last year, on the 800th anniversary of that treaty, we thought a further measure might better reflect the aspirations of Australians.
We think a complementary house of randomly selected people - A Citizens' Senate - could be trialed as a third house of Parliament.
We might be wrong, and that’s why we think a fair method for studying this measure, along with any others, is to put the question to a Convention, and let them spend some months deliberating on the measures.
The Irish Constitutional Convention of 2013 is a precedent in this regard.
The Irish had a mix of everyday people selected by lot (as in a jury) together with politicians - two thirds/one third.
In Australia, we could do something similar to consider: ‘How can we do democracy better?’ and report back to Parliament.
Submissions would come from all and sundry on how to improve our government.
Democracy is more than ‘the vote’ - it’s a way of organising ourselves, for no other reason than for ourselves.
In the Media
Democracy is broken but we can fix it with real people power: Campbell Newman
I entered politics with an engineer’s mindset — to assess the challenges, then build things to solve those problems. I went into it knowing politics can be bruising, and I was a willing participant in making sure I offered my arguments with the full measure of force...
Silvertail subversives: the men aiming to change a system in which they prosper
Meet four men who have prospered hugely under our current political system, yet want to dramatically overhaul it for the greater good.
On the cover of Oz magazine's February 1964 edition three young men – one dressed, incongruously, in a suit – stand at the Tom Bass public sculpture in Sydney's Hunter...
Media Release: Giving Geelong the council it wants and deserves
Geelong will have the council structure it wants with the passage of City of Greater Geelong Amendment Bill 2017.
The Legislative Council passed the Bill last night, bringing about the new structure for the City of Greater Geelong following the Council’s dismissal in April 2016.
In an Australian first, the Geelong...
"There’s no foreseeable opportunity for this": Jay declares nuke dump "dead"
Premier Jay Weatherill has officially walked away from one of the major policy hallmarks of his term in Government, pronouncing the nuclear waste dump “dead” and vowing he will not revisit it if he wins another term in office.
The position appears a significant rhetorical shift from his stance last November, when he pledged to...
Our Work
Yarra Valley Water - Price Submission Process
In developing its 5-year costed plan, Yarra Valley Water must pair customer and community feedback with their own in-depth knowledge of their water and sewerage networks, and the challenges these services face. Pricing cannot simply be an expert task.
Additionally, Yarra Valley Water is faced with the fact that water and sanitation...
Nuclear Fuel Cycle Engagement – South Australia’s Department of Premier & Cabinet
The Foundation exists with a goal of finding improvements to how we make trusted public decisions - democratic decisions – which represent the informed general will of the people. To do so, we seek to run practical projects in controversial areas of low public trust and where genuine public discourse is impossible as the topic generates...
City of Greater Bendigo Citizens' Jury
The City of Greater Bendigo has a large urban area home to around 85% of the local government area's population; in turn this is surrounded by an array of rural areas and small towns. In most circumstances this pattern generally leads to a sense that the centre “gets everything” at the expense of the outer areas. We had no idea of the...
