A widely held view is that governments rely heavily on polling to make decisions. Our experience, drawn from liaising with MPs, government agencies and stakeholders, is that polling is infrequently drawn upon and that MPs will often rely on anecdotal evidence – people who contact the MP directly through their offices being one example. At...Continue reading
We thank the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Social Policy and Legal Affairs for this opportunity to contribute to the inquiry into constitutional reforms and referendums. Our submission is focused on the second item in the Terms of Reference – Suggestions for mechanisms to review the Australian Constitution and for community consultation on any...Continue reading
Read the full document here. Parliamentary Committees are the backbone of our Parliament. They scrutinise problems and policy as MPs on these committees develop expertise in their particular subject areas, bringing an informed view to the consideration of legislation. At their best, they showcase elected representatives from all sides working together on the in-depth exploration...Continue reading
The way water is delivered in NSW is complex. It features an apparently ‘simple’ product that requires evolving technology, a balancing of intricate third-party impacts for all decisions, has overlapping layers of legacy decisions, the Murray Darling Basin Plan, intermittent state-wide drought,s and other water agencies’ roles in rule setting, compliance, and license trading. Despite...Continue reading
We thank The House of Lords Constitution Committee and Baroness Taylor of Bolton for this opportunity to contribute to the inquiry into the future governance of the United Kingdom (UK). While we note the Committee has posed six specific questions, one theme unites them all and one public sentiment underpins the reason for this inquiry:...Continue reading
We thank the Senate’s Standing Committees on Finance and Public Administration for this opportunity to contribute to the inquiry into the current capability of the Australian Public Service (APS). We recommend that the APS improve its public engagement capacity by (a) adopting and (b) measuring adherence to OECD-standard deliberative engagement practice. These deliberative processes build...Continue reading
The November 2017 Symposium event convened by newDemocracy sought to challenge opinion leaders by asking them what practical testable improvements could be made to our democracy in order to improve public trust in how we take public decisions. It sought to move the discussion from one of complaint about problems into one of potential solutions....Continue reading
You can read the full report here and highlights here. The OECD has collected evidence and data that support the idea that citizen participation in public decision making can deliver better policies, strengthen democracy, and build trust. This report focuses on representative deliberative processes in particular, as part of a wider effort by democratic institutions...Continue reading
For the 2020 Research Project click here. The November 2017 Symposium event convened by newDemocracy sought to challenge opinion leaders by asking them what practical testable improvements could be made to our democracy in order to improve public trust in how we take public decisions. It sought to move the discussion from one of complaint about...Continue reading
This inquiry being held by the NSW Upper House’s Procedures Committee has two terms of reference: one on the usage of Green and White Papers as cornerstones of government policy development, and the second on the applicability for using deliberative processes to assist the parliament when bills are highly contentious. Those interested in this work...Continue reading