Julia Gillard's Citizens' Assembly Proposal for Australia

A Deliberative Democratic Analysis

Bibliographic Data

ID6234886
AuthorsJohn Boswell (0000-0002-3018-8791, Australian National University), Shirley Niemeyer (0000-0003-3048-5697, Australian National University), Simon Niemeyer, Carolyn M Hendriks (0000-0002-9734-3610, Australian National University)
Year2013
Volume48
Issue2
Pages164-178
Publication date2013-06-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueAustralian Journal of Political Science (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1036-1146 • E-ISSN: 1363-030X
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/10361146.2013.786675
OpenAlexW1964860014
LanguageEN
Citations received17
References cited31

Many governments have embraced the rhetoric of inclusive citizen engagement. Greater public involvement promises to strengthen democratic institutions and improve the quality of policy decisions and services. How do these aspirations sit alongside the reality of Australian federal politics? This article investigates the responses of elite policy actors to the Gillard government's proposal to conduct a citizens’ assembly on climate change in 2010. Drawing on over 200 media articles, the authors identify a series of procedural, institutional and political objections raised by elite commentators against the citizens’ assembly proposal. Many of these objections have little basis in the experience of deliberative designs in practice. Some, however, reflect the challenge of realising inclusive, deliberative governance in highly politicised contexts

Corporate governance · Deliberative democracy · Democracy · Democratic governance · Elite · Government (linguistics · Management · Political science · Politics · Public relations · Rhetoric · Electoral Systems and Political Participation · Law · Public Administration · Social Media and Politics · Urban Planning and Governance

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