“For a democracy looking to ensure ‘a fair go’, it becomes important to understand and listen to the individuals while, at the same time, being cognisant of the will of the majority,” writes political columnist MICHAEL MOORE.

At a time when democracy is under threat internationally, there are people working hard to improve our systems and to make them more receptive to community interests and needs.

At the same time, it is hard to avoid the populists who seek to tap into dissatisfaction, racism and personal grievance. 

Finding sensible ways to have our representatives understand needs and interests can be challenging.

Debate was rife on the concept of Citizen Initiated Referenda in the early days of self-government in the ACT. The arguments seem sensible at a surface level. However, the price of this type of referendum is dominance of majority views when the challenge for governments is protecting minority views, opinions and rights.

Democracy is derived from the Greek – the “cracy” of the “demos”. The rule of the people. Who are the “people”? Those who favour plebiscites perceive the “people” as a unified oneness with its own wisdom and understanding that gives a mandate to rule.

However, when “people” is considered as a group of individuals rather than as an abstract and unified collective agent, individual rights and independence need to be respected. Plebiscites deliver on the rule of the collective.

For a democracy looking to ensure “a fair go”, it becomes important to understand and listen to the individuals while, at the same time, being cognisant of the will of the majority.

Therefore, it is necessary to have majority decisions contestable to ensure that they are also fair to individuals and minorities. 

In a 1997 article published with Prof Philip Pettit, we concluded: “The appeal of citizen-initiated referenda is based on the mistake of understanding democracy as the rule of the collective people, not by the control of government by ordinary, everyday individuals”.

Seeking to assist our federal elected representatives to fulfil their representative role through “ordinary, everyday individuals” is The Canberra Alliance for Participatory Democracy (CAPaD). 

An online poll resulted in a list of 127 proposals that was then considered and voted upon. A total of more than 9000 votes were received.

The top five results from this poll were:

• Tax the fossil fuel industry

• Address the perverse tax incentives that push housing to wealth creation rather than accommodation

• Stop subsidising the fossil fuel industries and divert these resources to a just transition

• Work with First Nations to develop a national truth-telling process

• Ban all forms of gambling advertising

CityNews readers will not be surprised by these findings. 

These five results will be passed on to the senators and MPs. However, CAPaD took an extra step to engage the community in more depth by running a “Community Assembly”.

Through this process they were able to narrow the request to the federal parliamentarians down to two final asks.

Twenty-two people participated in this deliberative process and narrowed the above proposals into two issues they would like the MPs to take to government for action in 2026. 

They are:

• Implement a gas export levy in line with the ‘fair share’ levy (as proposed by the Superpower Institute)

• Implement all the recommendations of the Murphy Report You win some, you lose more, (the report of its inquiry into online gambling and its impacts on those experiencing gambling harm). 

Regarding a gas export levy, the Superpower Institute stated: “Australia captures only a small share of these profits. 

“Countries like Norway and the UK return most of the value from their fossil fuel exports to the public. 

“In Australia, much of that wealth flows offshore to foreign shareholders – even when export revenues soar. It’s a bad deal for Australians, and it’s one we can change”.

Independent senator David Pocock has already described the situation as Australians “being conned”. 

He attempted to set up a Select Committee on Why Gas Companies Pay Less for Offshore Liquid Natural Gas than Australians Pay in Beer Excise. He pointed out that the Norwegian Sovereign Wealth fund has now reached around the $3 trillion mark. Australia has little to show for its own natural resources.

Unfortunately, both major parties have declined to support his call for this inquiry. 

The CAPaD process should put pressure on the other four representatives to implement a levy. After all, Senator Katy Gallagher and MPs Andrew Leigh, Alicia Payne and David Smith are members of the Labor government.

Michael Moore is a former member of the ACT Legislative Assembly and an independent minister for health. He has been a political columnist with “CityNews” since 2006.