Category Archives: Democracy4Dinner
Community Involvement in Decision Making
Following the recent event ‘Could a ‘Standing Citizen Chamber’ restore trust and resilience?’, a discussion paper was prepared to stimulate conversation amongst local groups interested in improving democracy.
A summary of key points can be found below and the full paper can be accessed here.
Citizen’s Jury and deliberative democracy – case studies
Thanks to everyone who joined in last night for ‘Could a ‘Standing Citizen Chamber’ restore trust and resilience?‘, it was a great conversation led by locals Cathy Wheel and Geoff Turner. The event brief prepared by Cathy Wheel can be found here for those of you who missed in and are interested in an overview of the concept.
Here are some resources for those of you wanting to explore the Citizen’s Jury and other forms of deliberative democracy further in Australia:
- Bendigo used it for council’s priorities for the future
- Canberra used it for a specific issue (compulsory third party insurance) in 2017
- Geelong Citizen’s Jury in 2017 for democratic representation to Councils
- VicHealth had a jury on Obesity, supported by newDemocracy Foundation. The consulting group Mosaic Lab also has a case study on their site.
- Vic Local Gov Association has a summary page on Citizen’s Jury
- newDemocracy Foundation prepared a guide on small format deliberative democracy
- Citizens’ Juries in Australia: A Discussion about Protocols (2000) – includes some links at the ends from 1990s era
How can we do democracy better? Richard Walsh in conversation with Gen Barlow and Cam Walker
On March 21st 2018 Localising Leanganook and Democracy for Dinner hosted interstate guest Richward Walsh and local guests Gen Barlow and Cam Walker to discuss ‘How can we do democracy better?‘ with a focus on local and national reform.
Over 80 people attended the event and many stayed on for lively conversation.
We also asked the audience for their views, and here is what they had to say
What next?
Following on from this event, conversations have continued to explore two ideas raised by our guest speakers:
- Gen Barlow has suggested we consider the Voices for Indi and Kitchen Table Conversation model to engage our community ‘beyond the usual suspects’
- Cam Walker suggested that a whole of community vision would enable us to galvanise community efforts around a shared goals.
Nikki Marshal, Cathy Wheel, and Lexi Randall-L’Estrange are moving these ideas forward in collaboration with both groups and other members of the community. If any of these ideas resonate with you please sign up to the Democracy Working Group and also send an email to info@democracy4dinner.org with information on how you can contribute to making them happen.
Events in other locations
If you would like to hold a similar event in your local area or in Central Victoria, and are seeking collaboration or support, please contact us via info@democracy4dinner.org.
Thank you
Thank you again to Cath and Stewart from People Pictures for all their work on the night and afterwards to bring these videos to us and Iain and the team at newDemocracy Foundation for their small grant.
Digital Inclusion with Chris Wilson and Adam Meehan
Join Chris Wilson and Adam Meehan on February 14th for our first dinner event of 2018, exploring digital inclusion, what it means for our local community, and implications for our democracy now and into the future. RSVP and more info here: https://d4dfeb2018.eventbrite.com.au. Continue reading
