Uncategorized

Chapter 7: A Potent Force Needs People

Table of ContenTS
INTRODUCTION
CHAPTER 1 – MAKING THE BEST OF THE SYSTEM WE HAVE
CHAPTER 2 – THE CURRENT DYNAMIC IS ‘PROGRESSIVE VERSUS CONSERVATIVE’
CHAPTER 3 – OUR CURRENT PARTY STRUCTURES ARE INEFFECTIVE
CHAPTER 4 – INDEPENDENTS CAN’T FORM EXECUTIVE GOVERNMENT
CHAPTER 5 – BREAKING INTO THE CARTEL
CHAPTER 6 – PATHWAYS TO SOMETHING NEW
CHAPTER 7 – A POTENT POLITICAL FORCE NEEDS PEOPLE
CHAPTER 8 – PRODUCING LEADERS
CHAPTER 9 – KEEPING IT SIMPLE
CHAPTER 10 – DRAFT ORGANISATIONAL MODEL
CHAPTER 11 – PEOPLE
APPENDIX 1 – HISTORICAL COMMENTARY ON THE TWO-PARTY SYSTEM
APPENDIX 2 – AUSTRALIAN COMMENTARY

If political parties adapt or evolve to new institutional environments, it stands to reason that they must also respond to a new type of politically active citizen. This may require a radical rethinking of what we mean by the notion of a political party as a mediating institution and where its organisational boundaries lie. At the very least, a more nuanced account of what it means to be active within, or engaged with a political party, is necessary— one that moves beyond the notion of a formal member. [1]

— Anika Gauja, Australian political scientist

A potent political force needs people to achieve its goals. In a democracy, this is self-evident. The 21st-century human is experiencing prosperity and opportunities that previous generations did not have. The narrative of pulling together for common causes has been weak. We are living in an era of individualism, personalisation, self-identity, and expression. Interest in political participation is at a low ebb. This has been happening in most democratic countries around the world.

The number of ‘dutiful citizens’, who are interested in active political participation in traditional ways, is diminished.[2] People are far more likely to want personalised participation where you get to choose your leaders and ways of participating on your own terms. Perhaps this is why the US, the most individualist of nations, has the largest number of people actively involved in the political process—they never really went for the communal ‘dutiful citizen’ membership model in the first place. There is no idea of membership in American political parties. For all the failings of their democracy, public participation in the process is not one of them. You can choose to register as supporting a party as part of the voter registration processes and get to automatically vote in the preselection of that party’s candidates with no further time nor effort.

According to Professor Anika Gauja, Australians are more likely to be involved in ‘micro-political forms of participation, such as donating money, signing a petition, or purchasing particular types of goods “without the need to interact with other people”.’[3]

Creating a New Participation Model

Many Australians are interested in creating a progressive future for their country, keeping a strong society together, and facing challenges like climate change. There is no reason that a potent political organisation shouldn’t be able to attract a large number of people to participate in it. It is about participating, not about any traditional ideas of membership.

It is in our interests to adapt to the social and technological realities of 2021, and to develop a new progressive party that can actually function throughout the 21st century.

These conversations are happening around the world in countries like the UK, Germany, and Canada. In 2016, the Canadian Liberals (their progressive party), led by Justin Trudeau, dispensed with the notion of membership entirely. Instead, ‘anyone willing to register with the party (for free) is able to participate in policy development and candidate and leadership selection’.[4] This was a jump toward the US model.

Key aspects of a new participation model could include:

Easy to Join

  1. You register once, providing proof of identity and basic personal details—name, date of birth and address—and then update any that change over time. You do not have to do anything to maintain your ongoing full participation; there is no set expiry date except to meet AEC requirements
  2. Joining is free and there is no ongoing fee. Instead, you may be asked for donations. This model would encourage more people to participate in the party.

Easy to Understand

  1. It is easy for lots of people to understand how it works, and to get information.

Easy to Participate in

  1. It should be easily understood and straightforward for interested individuals and groups to interact with the party and participate
  2. It should be understood that people will dip in and out, in terms of their level of involvement, through their lives.
[5] [6]

Using Primaries as Part of the Preselection Process

A feature of the two major political parties in the US is they allow any registered voter to take part in deciding who will represent the party at an election. They do this through open processes called primaries (see ‘How the Major Parties Select Candidates in the US’). There is no separate concept of party membership as we know it. Rather than being a subscription with added ‘benefits’, party membership in the US is linked solely to the electoral process – you just register which party you’re affiliated with, and can then freely participate in their primaries.

Primaries are linked to the US system of voter registration; when you register to vote, you can nominate the party you support and register to vote in its primaries, at no additional cost. The big benefit of this system is that it involves large numbers of people in party-political processes.

In starting a big new organisation from scratch, primaries are a tried-and-true way of involving a large number of people. When adjusted for the population difference, if a major Australian party ran a US-style primary process with a roughly equal level of participation as is regularly seen there, several million Australians would be involved in preselecting its candidates.

How the process could work:

  1. Everyone who is registered as a ‘Participant’ in the organisation would get to vote in the primaries to select candidates for their lower-house electorate and their state’s Senate seats. Your name must be on the party participants roll as well as the national electoral roll
  2. The candidates for preselection get to build a profile, and they would also be able to campaign to a wide audience
  3. There could be a certain window of time in which participants could vote
  4. The voting process could involve secure modern technology and user-experience design to make participation easy. This must often be balanced with the effects of new processes.

[1] Gauja, Anika. 2017. “Party Reform: Where are Australia’s Political Parties Headed in the Future?”, in Papers on Parliament 67, Parliamentary Library, 19-41, p. 25. https://www.aph.gov.au/About_Parliament/Senate/Powers_practice_n_procedures/pops/Papers_on_Parliament_67/Party_Reform.

[2] Gauja, “Party Reform: Where are Australia’s Political Parties Headed in the Future?”, pp. 24–25.

[3] Gauja, “Party Reform: Where are Australia’s Political Parties Headed in the Future?”, p. 23.

[4] Gauja, “Party Reform: Where are Australia’s Political Parties Headed in the Future?”, p. 27.

[5] The Green Papers. 2020. “Republican Convention”. The Green Papers: 2020 Presidential Primaries, Caucuses, and Conventions. https://www.thegreenpapers.com/P20/R.

[6] The Green Papers. 2020. “Democratic Convention”. The Green Papers: 2020 Presidential Primaries, Caucuses, and Conventions. https://www.thegreenpapers.com/P20/D.