In May 2023, the Association of Australia Medical Research Institutes (AAMRI) hosted a deliberative panel made up of 30 randomly-selected people drawn from medical research institute staff and researchers from across the country and stratified to match the medical research institute workforce in Australia by gender, seniority, job type and institute type. Over the course...
President Biden convened the first Summit for Democracy following his election in 2021. The initial Summit focused on some ‘traditional’ democracy topics but tended to omit new and emerging approaches. newDemocracy was in contact with the US State Department to make the case that arguably Citizens Assemblies were arguably the most promising democratic innovation: in...Continue reading
Around Australia there is growing demand and momentum for deliberative engagement practice. This includes changes to the Victorian Local Government Act to mandate deliberative engagement practice, the NSW Government producing a deliberative democracy toolkit, and the increasing number of local councils and utilities making use of citizens’ panels or juries in their long-term strategic planning....Continue reading
We thank the Joint Standing Committee on Electoral Matters for this opportunity to contribute to the inquiry into the provisions of the Referendum (Machinery Provisions) Amendment Bill 2022. Our submission is focused on the temporary disapplication of section 11 of the Referendum (Machinery Provisions) Act 1984 (Cth). The relevant clause: Section 11 of the Referendum (Machinery...
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 make public decisions. It sought to move the discussion from complaints about problems to potential solutions. This project is one...Continue reading
The Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe has published an explanatory memorandum that calls on the local and regional authorities of Council of Europe member States to implement deliberative methods. The memorandum heavily references newDemocracy’s work throughout. You can read the document here. Summary In recent years, governments have increasingly...Continue reading
You can read the guidelines here and the summary here. The OECD report Innovative Citizen Participation and New Democratic Institutions: Catching the Deliberative Wave (2020) demonstrated that public authorities from all levels of government increasingly turn to Citizens’ Assemblies, Citizens’ Juries, and other representative deliberative processes to tackle complex policy problems. As the use of...Continue reading
Read the full report here. Summary video. Western Sydney University is partnering with The newDemocracy Foundation to run a world-first students’ assembly that openly shares the problem of student representation with students themselves. This project announces WSU as a leader in democratic innovation and student politics, setting the standard for Australian universities and drawing the...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 make public decisions. It sought to move the discussion from one of complaint about problems into one of potential solutions....Continue reading
This guide from Wesminster Foundation for Democracy (WFD) and the newDemocracy Foundation is designed to support the needs of elected representatives and their advisors—those who would like to strengthen how elected politicians engage with their voters. It is meant for those decision-makers who want to be inspired by new and innovative ways to bring citizens...Continue reading