Christians for an Ethical Society in association with the Canberra Alliance of Participatory Democracy (CAPaD) held a forum on 20 November 2019 on the topic “Getting the democracy we want: government with the people”. Audio is now available (see below)
Four CAPad members shareed what the group is doing and learning, ideas for democratic renewal in the ACT and actions we can take as individuals and in our groups and associations.
Beth Slatyer has a background in health policy and system reform and is an Honorary Fellow at the Nossal Institute for Global Health at the University of Melbourne. Through her work with governments and civil society in Australia and overseas she has developed a deep appreciation of how good governance, public interest institutions and accountability underpin equitable and sustainable social and economic systems.
Peter Tait has been a General Practitioner for 38 years, 30 in Aboriginal health in Central Australia. He was the 2007 Royal Australian College of General Practitioners General Practitioner of the Year, and 2017 Public Health Association Australia Sidney Sax medalist. He attained a Masters of Climate Change at the Australian National University (ANU) in 2010. He is a Clinical Senior Lecturer in Population Health at ANU Medical School. Peter believes a person’s health is grounded in a healthy society, and a healthy society in a well-functioning ecosystem.
Sue Ingram has a deep interest in governance building on a professional career as a senior executive in the Australian Government, as a senior member of post-conflict peacebuilding missions in Timor-Leste and Solomon Islands, as principal governance adviser in AusAID and as an international governance consultant. She holds a PhD in political science based on research into the post-conflict political settlements in Timor-Leste and Bougainville and has joined international election observation missions for the last three national elections in Timor-Leste and Bougainville.
Petra Cram has been a Primary school teacher for 25 years, is committed to excellence in education and also cares deeply for the well-being of Earth and its complex living systems. She is passionate about finding participatory and democratic solutions to the problem of the corporate takeover of our and political lives, and is convinced that a cohesion of our diverse civil society groups, will garner the power needed to create a balance between economic, civic and political forces in our society.
Audio files of the night’s proceedings are now available.
- Introduction and welcome from Ann Skamp
- Address: Overview by Beth Slatyer
- Address: Mini Publics by Petra Cram
- Address: The relationship between electred representatives and their constituents by Sue Ingram
- Address by Peter Tait: How are we going to make representatives and government work better for us in the ACT?
- Reflection by Beth Slatyer on Hopes for engagement with CAPaD
- Question 1: What has been the experience in the ACT Citizen Juries that have already taken place?
- Question 2: To what extent is democracy in teh ACT able to throw off teh hold of vested interests and foster representation of grass roots interests?
- Question 3: How it is possible for electors to hold politicians accountable to their pre-elections committments?
- Question 4: How is it possible to encourage more independent candidates in the ACT?
- Question 5: Enhancing engagements of the electorate with its political representatives?
- Question 6: How do we get more decisions based on evidence?
- Concluding remarks and thanks by Ann Skamp.
