BY PAUL KILDEA Would a proposal to constitutionally entrench a ‘First Nations Voice’ pass if it were put to a referendum? What about attempts to amend section 44, or replace the Governor-General with an Australian head of state? For years, the conventional wisdom has been that proposals for constitutional amendment must enjoy bipartisan support if they...Continue reading
With rising disaffection and public debate, democracies around the world are facing a crisis of confidence. Does Australia need to rethink its democratic structure? Deborah Richards, Australian Institute of Company Directors 01 February 2019 Around Australia, disaffected, angry voices — from community groups to business leaders to striking school students — are demanding change. “It’s...
Luca Belgiorno-Nettis, Australian Financial Review Jan. 4th 2019 This time of the year makes you reflect. I’m 64, a Baby Boomer/silver-spooner. My Italian immigrant parents did the heavy lifting, building the patrimony that I now enjoy. This year, I spent the Christmas holidays in Tasmania with my wife, son and daughter. We visited Port Arthur and, in one...Continue reading
Mike Seccombe, The Saturday Paper, Dec 22 2018 There can be few tasks in the life of a political journalist as tediously demanding as the writing up of opinion polls. Most of the time it involves the conjuring of an illusion of news. In the vast majority of those surveys of electoral support, nothing really...
Dr Andy Marks, Daily Telegraph, 9 April 2018 We can give the thumbs-up. Heck, we can even be angry, sad, surprised, ecstatic or loved-up, but Facebook will never grant users a thumbs-down button. Why? Because the embattled social media goliath wants us to have “more meaningful interactions” with each other. Of course it does. But...
Picture a candidate out on the hustings today. In Western Sydney, he or she visits a kindergarten and shares messages about spending public money on teachers and after-school care. Later that day the candidate dons a hard hat and talks about a commitment to jobs and making sure the engine room of industry is there...Continue reading
newDemocracy Foundation Research Director Lyn Carson and David Pritchard have their article republished in Le Monde. You will be able to translate the webpage here. The print copy is reproduced here.
Today elected representatives take the tough decisions about public finances behind closed doors. In doing so, democratic politicians rely on the advice of financial bureaucrats, who, often, cater to the political needs of the elected government. Politicians rarely ask voters what they think of budget options. They are no better at explaining the reasons for...Continue reading
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
This week, we’re looking at the way politics has been invaded by mass culture. Content has become, at best, incidental to the real story, which is the entertainment-value of the political spectacle itself.