DEMOCRATIC NETWORKS FOR A MORE INCLUSIVE FUTURE

DEMOCRACY21TASMANIAtakes its lead from the newDEMOCRACY Foundation  and initially D21Tis looking at Local Government in Tasmania. Currently in Tasmania interest is growing in how local governance in particular can be delivered and deliver better outcomes. 

England's Magna Carta is a touchstone for democracy. It devolved power from an absolute monarch to the subjects of the realm. It's an model treaty stuck between a monarch and his subjects and in all its parts it has become a measure for the ways the realm and the government of the day is governed. 

This year, on the 800th anniversary of Magna Carta and its time for complementary measures to reflect the aspirations of constituencies and democratic thinkers in a 21st Century context. 

The newDEMOCRACY Foundation thinks that its time to explore the concept of a complementary 'house' of randomly selected people - A Citizens' Senate. In Tasmania a totally reimagined mode of 'Local Govt',  an ancillary component of 'council', needs to be trialled in order to deliver a more credible, more accountable, and more inclusive, level of governance for the State. 

The thinking might be wrong but that’s why a fair method for studying such innovations, alongside any others, needs to be put  to a Community Forum in some form and let the 'Forum' spend some months deliberating the measures that might be put in place. 

The newDEMOCRACY Foundation uses the Irish Constitutional Convention of 2013 as a precedent for moving the discourse forward. 

The Irish had a mix of everyday people selected by lot (as in a jury) together with politicians - two thirds/one third. 

In Tasmania, a similar mix could be assembled to consider: ‘How can we govern ourselves better at a local level?’ and report back to Parliament. 

In order to be inclusive submissions should come from all and sundry on how to improve local government in Tasmania. 

Taking the cue from the newDEMOCRACY Foundation, "democracy is more than ‘the vote’; it’s a way of organising ourselves, for no other reason than for ourselves."

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