The 2025 Australian Election Study produced by ANU and Griffith University is out. For the first time, it provides new evidence on what citizens think about proposals to strengthen Australia’s democracy. Amongst all the juicy data was this gem — when given a choice of democratic reform ideas, respondents rated Citizens’ Assemblies as the most-favoured...Continue reading
UK Justice Secretary under fire for cutting jury trial numbers
Deliberative democracy advocates regularly use the jury system as an analogy to explain why randomly selected citizens can be trusted to make complex public decisions. In this article by The Rule of Law Institute, the author makes the case for juries in the justice system. It argues that by bringing together ordinary citizens to assess...Continue reading
Final report: Victorian Parliament’s Upper House Electoral System Inquiry
The Electoral Matters Committee (EMC) of the Victorian Parliament has released its final report on Upper House electoral reform. The EMC inquiry sought to explore possible reforms of the voting system and composition of the Legislative Council. Among its recommendations, the Committee proposes ending Group Voting Tickets to improve transparency and better reflect voter intent. On...Continue reading
Democracy Is in Trouble. This Region Is Turning to Its People.
A small corner of Belgium is recruiting ordinary citizens to help create policies. Participants say it’s renewed their faith in government. By Jenny Gross Reporting from Eupen, Belgium Nov. 23, 2025 Full article from The New York Times.
Citizens’ Assemblies: Reclaiming the normative power of law
The Law Society Journal October, 2025 In a polarised world where many feel increasingly removed from government decision-making, does deliberative democracy offer a way to restore faith in democratic processes? By Vincent Barry. Read more.
Punter’s Politics: Renewing Australia’s democracy with Citizens’ Assemblies
What do Freddo Frogs, Cadbury Dairy Milks and Caramello Koalas have to do with democracy? newDemocracy Foundation Executive Director Iain Walker joins Konrad Benjamin on the Punter’s Politics Podcast to discuss how the major parties use electoral incentives to sway your vote and explains how everyday citizens can help strengthen our democracy in between elections....Continue reading
LIVE from the United Nations on International Day of Democracy 2025
From the Goals Lounge at the United Nations in New York, newDemocracy’s Iain Walker shared a stage with the UN Permanent Representative of Malawi Dr. Agnes Mary Chimbiri-Molande and Ireland’s Ambassador Fergal Mythen to discuss how democracy can be strengthened using innovative participatory methods. The event “From Voice to Action” was convened by the Office...Continue reading
In Australia, citizen juries have achieved what parliamentarians alone could not. Would they work in NZ?
“When we were standing up in 2011, saying, ‘Our democracy is about to get a lot worse’, people laughed at us. People thought we were out of our minds. You can probably guess we don’t hear that any more.” newDemocracy’s Iain Walker reflects on two decades of citizens’ assemblies in Australia and the slow dawning...Continue reading
Submission – Victorian Parliamentary Inquiry into Community Consultation Practices, August 2025
Read our submission here. We thank the Victorian Legislative Council Environment and Planning Committee for this opportunity to contribute to the inquiry investigating community consultation practices by government and certain non-government entities, and your invitation to appear. This paper addresses the six key terms of reference and endeavours to highlight opportunities for improvement to achieve...Continue reading
Research note: Why is the American Government Unable to Balance Social Security?
In 2024, about eight in ten polled American adults believed that the Social Security system should either be kept the same or expanded; however, the Social Security Trust Fund, the monetary base for the Social Security program, is projected to become insolvent by 2034. The Research Question: ‘Why is the American government unable to balance...