AUSTRALIAN DEMOCRACY
Our democracy as a means of operating our society or running our government of ourselves is not set in stone.
It has developed, it has changed, it has been modified as successive generations have made the protection of our rights and liberties a priority. This is not the case in too many societies around the world however.
The events which took place here in Victoria and Ballarat at Eureka in 1854, had a powerful influence upon Australian society. Eureka played such a large part in embedding the “Fair Go”- that expectation that injustice will be swiftly redressed - in the Australian psyche.
It was also a series of events with some global linkage and context. Its participants had come to Victoria from around the globe seeking opportunity and Eureka’s searing messages about ‘rights to democratic representation’ were a call to all societies about dignity, justice and self-determination.
For Daniel Yankelovich, renowned social researcher and Co Founder of Public Agenda in the USA:
“The defining characteristic of democracy-as-a-way-of-life is that the public participates responsibly and thoughtfully in shaping important communal decisions, such as what to do about health care, criminal justice, immigration, climate change and economic inequality.”
John Dunn, Emeritus Professor of Political Theory at King's College, Cambridge, argues ..”[it] is not that we govern ourselves….It is that our State and government which does so much to organise our lives draws its legitimacy from us and that we have a reasonable chance of being able to compel each of them to continue to do so.
They draw it from holding regular elections, in which every adult citizen can vote freely and without fear’ in which their votes have at least a reasonably equal weight and in which any uncriminalised political opinion can compete freely for them”.
Dunn also reminds us that not understanding our current political structures is a good recipe for not being able to change them for the better.
Australia is one of the world’s longest continuously operating and most stable democracies. The Australian way of life, the context for our democratic society, has been built around an open, free and essentially tolerant society which has worked towards functioning with reduced rancour.
Democracy (in Australia and for any country) relies upon much more than elections, effective electoral administration, elected members, parliaments, parliamentary debates and respect for the separation of powers (between the parliament, the executive government/ cabinet and the judiciary).
A mature democratic society requires other preconditions – such as community respect for the rule of law and property rights and intolerance of corruption; basic liberties including freedom of expression and opinion; freedom of religion; freedom of assembly; and for human rights additional to those implicit in the above. It also demands openness and transparency in the way that government interacts with the community, business, individuals and other organisations in their decision-making processes.
It relies not only on effective consumer protection, fair labour conditions, environmental protection mechanisms and institutional arrangements to reduce anti-competitive behaviours, but also upon conventions about accepted behaviours and social norms – the ways in which governments lead the public debate, how society operates and interacts with each other as individuals and as organisations; the encouragement of a diversity of cultures; plus transparent, citizen focused and high standard public administration; effective regulation to keep unfettered self-interest from imposing harm or garnering unfair benefits which disadvantage others, and by standing firm against those who might seek to impose their will through violence and intimidation.
Our democracy as a means of operating our society or running our government of ourselves is not set in stone.
It has developed, it has changed, it has been modified as successive generations have made the protection of our rights and liberties a priority. This is not the case in too many societies around the world however.
The events which took place here in Victoria and Ballarat at Eureka in 1854, had a powerful influence upon Australian society. Eureka played such a large part in embedding the “Fair Go”- that expectation that injustice will be swiftly redressed - in the Australian psyche.
It was also a series of events with some global linkage and context. Its participants had come to Victoria from around the globe seeking opportunity and Eureka’s searing messages about ‘rights to democratic representation’ were a call to all societies about dignity, justice and self-determination.
For Daniel Yankelovich, renowned social researcher and Co Founder of Public Agenda in the USA:
“The defining characteristic of democracy-as-a-way-of-life is that the public participates responsibly and thoughtfully in shaping important communal decisions, such as what to do about health care, criminal justice, immigration, climate change and economic inequality.”
John Dunn, Emeritus Professor of Political Theory at King's College, Cambridge, argues ..”[it] is not that we govern ourselves….It is that our State and government which does so much to organise our lives draws its legitimacy from us and that we have a reasonable chance of being able to compel each of them to continue to do so.
They draw it from holding regular elections, in which every adult citizen can vote freely and without fear’ in which their votes have at least a reasonably equal weight and in which any uncriminalised political opinion can compete freely for them”.
Dunn also reminds us that not understanding our current political structures is a good recipe for not being able to change them for the better.
Australia is one of the world’s longest continuously operating and most stable democracies. The Australian way of life, the context for our democratic society, has been built around an open, free and essentially tolerant society which has worked towards functioning with reduced rancour.
Democracy (in Australia and for any country) relies upon much more than elections, effective electoral administration, elected members, parliaments, parliamentary debates and respect for the separation of powers (between the parliament, the executive government/ cabinet and the judiciary).
A mature democratic society requires other preconditions – such as community respect for the rule of law and property rights and intolerance of corruption; basic liberties including freedom of expression and opinion; freedom of religion; freedom of assembly; and for human rights additional to those implicit in the above. It also demands openness and transparency in the way that government interacts with the community, business, individuals and other organisations in their decision-making processes.
It relies not only on effective consumer protection, fair labour conditions, environmental protection mechanisms and institutional arrangements to reduce anti-competitive behaviours, but also upon conventions about accepted behaviours and social norms – the ways in which governments lead the public debate, how society operates and interacts with each other as individuals and as organisations; the encouragement of a diversity of cultures; plus transparent, citizen focused and high standard public administration; effective regulation to keep unfettered self-interest from imposing harm or garnering unfair benefits which disadvantage others, and by standing firm against those who might seek to impose their will through violence and intimidation.
