Similar to the argument in favour of political advertising is that third party donations are a form of freedom of speech . A contrary view suggests that they significantly reduce public confidence in the motives of our elected representatives due to the perception that donations are only made in expectation of a commercial return, rather...Continue reading
Australian advertising entrepreneur John Singleton described election campaigns as the “ultimate one day sale”. This ought not be considered an endorsement. Arguments in favour of political advertising centre on the theme that it provides voter information and is a form of freedom of speech. A contrary view suggests that it provides little in the way...Continue reading
Online and by Mail. As originally suggested in Rethinking the Vote (see Further Reading below) and then expanded by other authors, this seemingly minor change is suggested as improving the deliberative and comparative component of voting. The emphasis on home voting potentially sees voters armed with quite different sets of materials ranging from a short precis of...Continue reading
Currently, political advertising is not required to adhere to the same guidelines as commercial advertisers under the former Trade Practices Act (now the Competition and Consumer Act) or the Privacy Act. The lack of a requirement to adhere to the TPA prohibition on actions that “have the intent, or likely effect, to mislead or deceive” – coupled...Continue reading
As referenced here, today each citizen’s valid vote is worth $4.78 in public funding provided to major political parties ($2.39 for each of the Lower and Upper House primary votes cast). One unresearched concept put to the Foundation (by recently retired politicians) would aim to break the increasing trend toward “career” politicians by proportionally tying...Continue reading
Reproduced with the author’s permission from the work of Marcus Schmidt. With each citizen being politically active for 50 or more years, the core of this concept is to select one fiftieth of the voting age population each year and engage them in discussion and subsequently an online vote. This voice would constitute an additional house...Continue reading
Based on a paper by Alex Zakaras, reproduced with the author’s permission . The Athenian ideal of securing better representation (and interrupting power) by lottery is the focus of this model. There are two key differences with the Citizen Legislature and Popular Branch models which also emphasise the value of random selection. The first is...Continue reading
(Selective excerpts from writings by Brian Martin, University of Wollongong; and John Burnheim, reproduced with the authors’ permission.) Today we elect a small number of people who make decisions on a wide range of issues. Demarchy, by contrast, is based on a network of numerous decision making groups. Each group deals with a specific function...Continue reading
(selective excerpts from ‘A Citizen Legislature’ by E. Callenbach and M Phillips reproduced with the authors’ permission.) Many reformers recognise the threat of money in politics, but solutions that only deal with campaign spending have failed to reach the root of the problem. The Citizen Legislature is a scientific way to select legislators so they...Continue reading
Drawn from the work of Prof. Ethan Leib, University of California A basic tenet of western democracies is for a Constitution which provides for three basic branches of government: executive, judicial, and legislative. But with parliaments seemingly increasingly unrepresentative of the people they govern, it is suggested that a fourth branch should be added –...Continue reading