Gregor Watson
Neither allowing citizens to vote in elections nor compelling them to do so constitutes a democracy. Indeed, numerous dictatorial regimes present the facade of elections even though no choice is actually offered. To some extent, the same could be said to apply in Australia … the sham is more elaborate but the effect is much the same.
Neither allowing citizens to vote in elections nor compelling them to do so constitutes a democracy. Indeed, numerous dictatorial regimes present the facade of elections even though no choice is actually offered. To some extent, the same could be said to apply in Australia where, although there are more candidates to select from, there isn’t really an alternative option on many important issues; the sham is more elaborate but the effect is much the same.
The problem is that Australia (at both state and federal levels) is effectively a two-party state and where, as often occurs, the platforms of the two parties coincide, electors are left without choice. Unless they turn to minority parties and “risk the financial security of the nation/state” they must accept one of the big two. This is then interpreted as a mandate for all that the party stands for, regardless of the actual views of the voters.
This situation need not exist though. The problem of representation is soluble but, unfortunately, the remedy requires the tackling of one of the holy cows of Australian politics, namely the belief that we need strong majority government. This is a major hurdle as demonstrated in previous election campaigns where the big two have either scared the voters away from independents and minor parties by exaggerating the perceived disastrous impacts of handing them the balance of power or even stated outright that they would refuse to form a government if they did not have a majority in their own right. In other words, they have stated that they will not accept the will of the people when the people demand that certain issues be addressed.
For democracy to work, it’s time to look beyond this rhetoric and bluster. In many countries of the world, most notably in Europe, multi-party states exist and successful governments are formed. They perform their regular functions effectively and without the many problems that our current leaders would have us fear. Further, they provide a greater level of representation as all elected members have some chance of making a contribution by garnering support from other minor players. Minor parties aren’t just elected to parliament then frozen out as irrelevant as tends to be the case here.
Given that minority government isn’t really a problem, the question then moves to one of how to apply it in Australia. Unfortunately, the main minority party, the Greens, is currently unpalatable with a significant section of Australian society so short-term options are limited. They’re even worse when you consider that the only other possibilities tend to be ultra-conservative. New political parties take time to form and experience indicates that they have a very poor chance of becoming established. If they make any mistakes, the big two will quickly team together to tear them down. A good example of this would be the experience with One Nation. Whilst this party clearly had bad policies, the overwhelming combined effort to crush them was apparently more related to the threat they posed to the two-party state than just their misguided platform.
In the absence of alternative parties, independents offer the best chance of success in restoring democracy to the system. If the best quality candidates could be encouraged to run as independents, then they may have some chance of being elected. Once there, and if in sufficient numbers, they might share the balance of power with minor parties such as the Greens and, not being hamstrung by party rules, would be able to vote on issues based on conscience and what they know to be the attitude of a majority of their constituents. They would be highly accountable for their actions as blame for bad legislation would go to these individual politicians and not just to a party, so a higher degree of representation would be assured.
There is a clear role for existing parties under such a system, it’s just that they wouldn’t have the duopoly on power that they currently hold. They would have to learn to share and work together and the system would require genuine statesmen/women as leaders and not just the current type of bully boys supported by party room allegiances.
Parties, under these circumstances, would act to provide general policy direction but, without outright power, would not be free to ram through their whole agenda. Each item would need to be justified to the significant numbers of independents that would be there providing representation to those who elected them. Issues would be decided through the scrutiny of rigorous debate on the floor of the house and the representations of electors.
Of course, there are problems with a democratic process as described. For one thing, it would take more time to make decisions and the decisions would be likely to be far more balanced and well considered as a consequence. The decisions might also turn out to be representative of the desires of the population too, and they may turn out to be in the best long-term interests of our society. Recent experience has shown that outcomes such as these are not particularly popular with some influential entities lurking in the background and there are even some ill-informed types amongst us who still cling to the belief that what is good for big business is good for all of us.
So, whilst it’s unlikely to become a reality in the near future, a genuine representative democracy is possible but it will require a major mind shift amongst the voting public. We need to shed the long-held fear of minority government and embrace the reality that strong majority government is the true problem. We need to recognise that increasingly arrogant executive government is unhealthy and put in place truly representative people who will retain some respect for those who voted them into office. If we want a successful democracy we need to restore genuine representation to parliament. Seesawing between two very similar options achieves nothing so we need to put in place some alternative voices to reinvigorate our democracy. The forthcoming federal election is a good time to make a start.
