Our Work
We Need Real Democracy Now
What is democracy?
Democracy comes from the Greek words 'demos', which means people, and 'kratos' which means power or rule.
So, democracy basically means 'people power' or 'rule by the people'. It means that people themselves decide how their social and political systems work.
Democracy can take many forms, such as representative democracy (where people vote for politicians to represent them), direct democracy (where people make decisions themselves such as through participatory democracy or citizens assemblies), deliberative democracy, or a combination of any of these models.
Today, democracies are often viewed as, and practiced through, the form of representative democracy, as is the case in Australia.
Key principles of a healthy democracy
Popular sovereignty: True power ultimately lies with the people.
Rights and freedoms: Everyone has fundamental rights such as safety, liberty, housing, food and education.
The rule of law: Everyone is equal before the law, including the people who make laws.
Transparency and accountability: Decisions and decision-makers are open, transparent and can be held to account.
Shared and limited power: To prevent arbitrary and concentrated power in the hands of a few.
Informed debate: Supported by a fit-for-purpose education system, and free, independent and pluralistic media.
Active and meaningful public participation: Everyone plays an active and meaningful role in decision-making.
The problem
Democracy comprises principles such as freedom, rights, equality, public participation, and transparency and accountability, to enable everyone, from our elected representatives to ordinary members of the public, to make decisions in the public interest. However, in practice, Australia’s democracy is rife with personal, political and vested interests, misguided pursuit of power, and misinformation and disinformation.
If decisions are not being made in the public interest nor the will and interests of an informed public, but by personal and/or vested interests of select powerful individuals, groups and organisations who wield immense influence, then it cannot be said that Australia’s political system is truly democratic.
Furthermore, our ‘representative’ democracy is not working.
Elections give the illusion that we live in a democracy. We get to vote once every few years, and outsource our decision-making to someone else, with only the partial and limited opportunity to hold them accountable every few years as part of the electoral process. The current state of our democratic system means that when it comes to participating in a meaningful way, we the public do not have a real opportunity to participate, only the illusion that we can.
Why democracy matters
A healthy democracy is the pillar to a thriving society. It enables our society (people and systems) to make decisions centered on the public interest and work collectively towards the common good.
Australia faces significant challenges - systemic inequality (in turn directly causing the housing, poverty and cost of living crisis), climate change, First Nations rights and justice - to name a few.
Whilst these are complex issues, there are no shortages of solutions. However, the best ideas and evidence-based solutions to complex social and public policy issues do not matter if our political leaders do not act in the public interest, or if the public themselves do not have the opportunity to play an active and meaningful role in decision-making due to an inadequate political system.
A truly democratic society will enable us to tackle the challenges and opportunities facing Australia.
The solution
In a healthy democracy, true power lies with the people, and people play an active, not passive, role in democracy. It's time that we, the public, have the real power to make decisions beyond the ballot box.
We need to fix Australia’s representative democracy, in addition to establishing other forms of democracy which have been tried, tested, and have been found to work, such as direct democracy, deliberative democracy, different electoral models, more localised democracies, or a combination of any of these.
Ultimately, Australia’s democracy should be one where true power lies with the people, something which has never been and is not currently the case.
Systemic change to Australia’s democracy is required, through both a top-down and bottom-up approach.
The top-down approach comprises transforming our political and decision-making systems, power structures, culture and practices.
The bottom-up approach comprises education and community capacity building to support and enable people and communities to play an active and meaningful rule in civic and political life.
Our work to transform Australia’s democracy
Our work is based on two strategic objectives and five focus areas to drive systemic and social change:
Strategic objectives
Foster the reimagination of democracy: Promote a broad rethinking, restructure and practice of democracy beyond a form of government and towards a whole-of-society approach where the public plays an active and meaningful role in civic and political life as the new norm.
Build a community and movement: Support, equip and empower people and communities to practice democracy in their everyday life and amongst their communities, and to take action for broader systemic change.
Focus areas
Transformative Democratic Education: We work with students and educators through our Transformative Democratic Education Program to equip and empower students to think critically about democracy, and begin practicing democracy actively in everyday and civic life from an early age (at home and school, amongst peers and in their community). We also work to enhance the civics and citizenship curriculum and democratise the education system itself, based on the principles of self-determination and two-way learning.
Driving collective action: We bring together people, groups and organisations working in areas of positive social change as we can achieve more through a holistic and collective impact approach.
Community capacity building: We equip and empower people, communities, businesses and organisations to actively practice democracy in everyday and civic life and at the community and organisational level.
Campaigns: We are building a democracy movement to foster a culture of democratic thinking and practice, and place public pressure on elected representatives to drive political change.
Systems change and advocacy: We develop and advocate for systems, policy, legislative, and cultural change at all levels of society, engaging with government, elected representatives, and other organisations, to ensure our social and political systems are fit for purpose.
Why we exist and how we are unique
We are taking a holistic (transdisciplinary), systemic (addressing root causes, and creating enduring systems and cultural change)
and collective (capacity building, and bringing people and organisations together) approach to creating a democratic Australia,
including through reimagining what democracy should and could be, and building a community and movement of action.