Summit for Democracy (Deliberative Democracy Cohort)

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

Submission to JSCEM Inquiry into Referendum (Machinery Provisions) Amendment Bill 2022

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...

Council of Europe Explanatory Memorandum

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

OECD: Evaluation Guidelines for Representative Deliberative Processes

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

NSW Parliament: New Options for Parliamentary Committees

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

Submission to the Senate Standing Committees on Finance and Public Administration

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

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