Why does South Australian democracy need to evolve?
If democracy is to survive and flourish, it needs to evolve to meet the new circumstances we face, writes Democracy36 chair and Professor Emeritus of Education at Adelaide University Alan Reid.
It is rare for a day to pass without someone in the Australian media warning about the mounting dangers to democracy. More often than not it is in reference to overseas trends such as rising authoritarianism, civil unrest, or increasing tribalism in civic discussions.
Often there is an element of relief if not schadenfreude in the comments because, at least in comparative terms, there is much to celebrate about Australian democracy. Our democratic institutions are in pretty good health, our electoral processes are sturdy and independent, and our politics is largely free from corruption.
And yet there are warning signs that tell us we can’t be complacent. Some studies show a steady decline of trust in government; and periodically there are events that suggest we need to be on democracy watch. These include concerns about executive overreach, threats to civil liberties, challenges to the rule of law, and inequalities relating to wealth and whose voices are heard. There is also the question of reconciliation between First Peoples and the settler state which our current democratic structures and processes haven’t seemed capable of meaningfully addressing.
More than that, our democratic institutions – designed in the 19th century and adapted since to meet the new contexts of the 20th century – are facing new challenges in the 21st century. Not the least of these is the impact of artificial intelligence and social media use, including the siloed bubbles in which many of us now live our lives. These are changing the ways in which citizens have access to information and communicate with each other, not to mention diminishing the quality of information and analysis in the public domain.
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In other words, if democracy is to survive and flourish, it needs to evolve to meet the new circumstances we face, if it is not to be compromised or even die.
Why should SA play a lead role in democratic renewal?
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For some time now, a volunteer group of South Australians – we are calling ourselves Democracy36 (DEM36) – has been talking about the role that South Australia can play in democratic renewal. DEM36 grew out of a meeting which followed a series of four articles that I wrote for InDaily in May 2023.
Based on the conviction that democratic change must be community led, we are proposing that, over the next ten years, South Australians engage in a robust conversation about the kinds of changes that could and/or should be made to our democratic structures and processes.
The aim is to place South Australia at the vanguard of democratic change once again, taking what we learn from our conversations and advocating for concrete reform proposals including, ultimately, a refreshed South Australian Constitution and its supporting conventions.
I say ‘once again’ because back in the 19th century the South Australian Constitution and its electoral laws contained features which, when taken together, support the claim that our state led the world in democratic practice.
From the time of responsible government in 1857, these features included the secret ballot and universal ‘manhood’ suffrage with each voter having only one vote rather than multiple votes on the basis of holding property in different districts. Over the next fifty years it evolved by widening the scope of who was included in democratic life.
Notably, in 1894 South Australia became one of the first places in the world to extend to women the right to both vote and to stand for Parliament; and it was also a leader in strengthening the political and industrial rights of working-class people.
However, in the first half of the 20th century South Australia began to lose its reputation as a leader in democratic practice. Indeed, in some respects we fell behind other Australian States. For example, South Australia was the last State to elect women to its Parliament and to abolish property qualifications for voting in Legislative Council elections.
Certainly, it has not been all downhill; South Australia regained some lost ground after a flurry of democratic reforms in the 1970s, and we have instituted a range of sporadic reforms in the decades since. But we have never recovered our vaunted reputation for envelope-pushing innovation.
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So what are the changes that might be needed to renew our democracy and regain our role as a global leader in democratic practice?
A Charter for Democratic Renewal
Importantly, DEM36 argues that the process for renewing our democracy must itself model democratic principles. That is, rather than starting out with a number of ‘solutions’ to perceived problems, DEM36 is proposing an extensive community consultation about what is working, what is not working, and what needs reforming and how – across various aspects of South Australian democracy.
We are planning to involve a diversity of voices in a wide-ranging discussion conducted over the next decade through such avenues as forums and issue-focused events, research, trials of new approaches and articles – in order to build a consensus about the kinds of changes South Australians would be willing to adopt.
Rather than starting with a blank slate, DEM36 has developed a draft ‘Charter for Democratic Renewal’ to assist with a process of lively, yet systematic, community conversation.
The draft Charter proposes a set of principles which we believe should be the basis upon which a healthy democracy functions, as well as some possible strategies and big ideas to help initiate discussion about different aspects of democratic life.
We are aware that there are individuals and groups who are already working on ideas similar to those contained in the draft Charter. Our intention is to collaborate with them to advance the agenda in each topic area, and to link across groups to establish a broad framework for democratic renewal.
And we hope that the South Australian Parliament as a whole will see the value of citizens engaging in such an activity and will get behind it as partners in the democratic exercise.
After all, since it is the citizens who give and withdraw consent to those who govern on our behalf, it follows that it is the citizens who must shape the spirit of our democracy and the rules and conventions through which it is practiced.
Alan Reid is Professor Emeritus of Education at Adelaide University. He is Chair of DEM36 which comprises eleven volunteers from a range of backgrounds. Readers are invited to contact DEM36 directly, contribute comments about one or more aspects of the Charter on the website, or participate in events conducted by the group. Over the next few years, DEM36 will also contribute a number of articles to InDaily about some of the ideas contained in the Charter.
