Revisiting what is democracy? Peter Tait, Convener If being clear about the DNA of democracy, as Janusz Ruszkowski says, is important to nurturing and safeguarding it, how then to define this slippery concept? I propose that there are a set of value propositions that can be used as a guideline … Read More
Peter Tait Looking at the issues confronting us at present: climate action, jobseeker rate, NDIS, infrastructure development, urban planning, asylum seekers and immigration, defence budgets, and many others, how might community members work with their elected representatives to look at managing them? This isn’t actually new; France tried it with … Read More
Listening to Cathy goes to Canberra, Conversations with Richard Fidler, ABC Radio. Talking abut her new book. Some take homes: Their aim was to make the seat marginal; make it competitive. Start with the local member. Safe seats don’t get attention. Listen to the young people. What do they know? … Read More
My concern here leads me to sound a note of caution: the language is very important here. Are people dissatisfied with that system of politics that we call democracy or are they really dissatisfied with government or with the failure of government to protect and provide for their needs? Or … Read More
This post was originally printed in Intouch, the PHAA Blog and is printed here with PHAA’s permission. Two things happened in late July that makes me worry for the future of the public’s health in Australia. First, Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced that the National Covid-19 Coordination Commission (NCCC) was … Read More
More curly questions about democracy come in from people who have heard of my passion for fixing government; here is another and the response made. I have no doubt that you and others have had to deal with this question many times in the past. And it is a question that … Read More
Recently I was discussing CAPaD and our aim to make democracy in Canberra better. The person I was conversing with challenged me by asking how we can make democracy better if we haven’t a definition of democracy. Good point. So, this is the first part of my response. Defining democracy … Read More