Read the Citizens’ Jury’s Final Report here. In developing its 5-year costed plan, Yarra Valley Water must pair customer and community feedback with their own in-depth knowledge of their water and sewerage networks, and the challenges these services face. Pricing cannot simply be an expert task. Additionally, Yarra Valley Water is faced with the fact...Continue reading
Krystian Seibert. Comment. Sydney Morning Herald, 9 January 2017 The recent release of the Australian National University’s election study showed that just under half of respondents were not satisfied with the state of democracy in Australia, the lowest level since the 1970s. It’s not surprising that there’s such a level of disillusionment. One explanation may...Continue reading
By Michael Koziol, Sydney Morning Herald In a stylish waterfront office, not 500 metres from the Sydney Harbour Bridge, a high-powered group clink champagne flutes and imported Italian stubbies in the name of pre-Christmas cheer. There among the crowd, poised as always, is Human Rights Commissioner Gillian Triggs. Former NSW premier Nick Greiner chats amiably...Continue reading
By Helen Christensen and Bligh Grant Australian governments of all levels are increasingly familiar with two trends in public budgeting. Firstly, the pressure to deliver ‘more with less’ in public budgets; secondly, an increased realisation by communities that they have a democratic right to participate in public policy decisions. In local government, processes of participatory...Continue reading
Brexit and the Trump presidency are making people ask whether the current form of democracy is the best we can do. By Joe Humphreys. As published on The Irish Times What’s happening to our democracies? Donald Trump’s presidential-election victory in the United States, after a bitter campaign characterised by deceitful and incendiary rhetoric, is not...Continue reading
By Matthew Knott. Sydney Morning Herald. 20 December 2016. Australians’ satisfaction with democracy has collapsed to its lowest level since the Whitlam dismissal, according to a major study that shows the country in an increasingly dark and distrustful mood about politics and the economy. The survey, conducted by the Australian National University, portrays a...
This initiative is transforming schools approach to civic education by facilitating student experimentation with innovative ways to structure student government. Elections, full-year terms, and hierarchy have been replaced with random selection, rotation, and horizontal teams, making student government more inclusive, representative, and engaging. Through experimentation, students also begin to think critically and creatively about fundamentally...Continue reading
newDemocracy Founding Director, Luca Belgiorno-Nettis, in conversation with Robbie Buck.