Dilemmas, disasters and deliberative democracy

Featured in

  • Published 20110607
  • ISBN: 9781921758218
  • Extent: 264 pp
  • Paperback (234 x 153mm), eBook

THE JANUARY FLOODS in Queensland and Victoria were a disaster but also a showcase for civic engagement. Thousands of volunteers – strangers to each other – spontaneously came together, made collective decisions about what to do, and then got on with doing it. The evidence on our TV screens was not just that nature is powerful and unpredictable but that action for the collective good comes naturally to most people.

So why, when Julia Gillard announced a citizens’ assembly on climate change during the 2010 election campaign, were there howls of protest from the media, from opposition parties and from environmental groups? Not from me: I leapt out of bed with excitement at the news. A small band of us – academics, activists and professionals – were thrilled that, at last, a national government would let the people provide advice about how to resolve a wicked problem. We had faith in the process that was proposed. I’d seen it work dozens of times, in my work with deliberative democracy in Australia and around the world.

Already a subscriber? Sign in here

If you are an educator or student wishing to access content for study purposes please contact us at griffithreview@griffith.edu.au

Share article

About the author

Lyn Carson

Prof Lyn Carson is a professorial Fellow with the Centre for Citizenship and Public Policy at the University of Western Sydney. Prior to that,...

More from this edition

Three for all

GR OnlineFROM THE THREE bears and wise men to the enduringly mundane 'sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll', the neat and weighty triple has for...

Dying, laughing

FictionKYLIE THOMAS'S CHILDREN had been on the roof since early morning. She had heard them, vaguely, tapping at the edges of her consciousness, as...

If wishes were fishes

EssayI LISTLESSLY TRAWLED through endless canned quote pages, searching for a line that would capture my feelings and ideas about the links between fun,...

Stay up to date with the latest, news, articles and special offers from Griffith Review.