Is Australia a Democracy? pt 1

No. And I’ve maintained this for a long time now. Or at least I did, but I’ll get to that shortly.

I don’t have time to go into the full details of why Australia is not a democracy from a constitutional point of view, I’m simply too busy to put in the effort to make a convincing argument on the blog when I need to do so in 6 school subjects in order to keep my future available to me.

So here is the short reasons why Australia is not a democracy.
Democracy means the people rule. In Australia the people don’t rule. The rule is with the government, so not even with elected people as we like to believe. The government is the political party that holds the most seats in parliament, so the people in the parliament are elected yes, but they are elected by people in some areas and so if they only just hold majority (or in the case of the current government don’t hold majority, but do hold more seats than anyone else) you can’t even say that there are the most popular for rule. But then we never even hear about the other members of the party who still have an impact on policy but don’t come from parliament.
The people don’t get to decide what the laws and policies are, what decisions are made. We get to elect who represents us in parliament and as an extension from that which party will form government, but that is all. I might like the no war at any cost idea, or the anarchist party, or the fisherman’s united party or whatever, but if on election day the only people on my ballot paper and Labor, Liberal and Greens, it doesn’t matter what I want.
In fact it doesn’t matter what I want anyway because despite paying tax, following laws and most certainly being able to come to an opinion on how the country should be run, because I’ve not turned 18 yet I don’t even get the luxury of deciding who the least bad member is to form a government that I have no input into.

My teachers at this point will probably be cringing, because we are always taught that we live in a democracy because we can write letters to politicians or the media and have our voices heard that way.
None of my letters to John Howard ever even made it passed the office boy, newspapers and other news media are biased, usually right wing and just won’t publish a letter they don’t like, at least they only let through a few to leave the impression they are objective but anyone who has done media analysis at even a year 9 level can tell you the media is biased.
So I can’t vote and even if I could it wouldn’t have an effect on the political landscape and my letters are ignored. How the hell can I seriously say that I live in a democracy?

This is how I can claim I live in a democracy:

“(From GetUp received 10:56am 18th February 2009)

You are among thousands of Australians who emailed a politician last week to ask for a fair go for the jobless in the stimulus package.

Together we achieved a vital win. The Government agreed to double the amount of savings a jobless person can hold on to before qualifying for Government assistance. The longer someone is unemployed, the less likely they are to find work. That's why this is such an important win - it means hundreds of thousands of Australians who lose their jobs in the financial crisis will receive help sooner, before they hit rock bottom.

After your emails, The Greens, Nick Xenophon and Steve Fielding all entered fierce negotiations with the Government, demanding the stimulus package help the hundreds of thousands of Australians who will lose their jobs in the financial crisis. We worked closely with all three parties in Canberra - they listened to your concerns and strongly represented them to the Government. You actions were crucial.

Congratulations - this is a significant victory, and a great step in reforming the welfare system at a time when it's most needed.

Thanks for being a part of the solution,
The GetUp team

PS - There's still much more work to be done to help those who are currently jobless, and the 300,000 Australians who will join them due to the financial crisis. To help make sure our campaign continues as we head towards this year's Budget, you can donate here.”

Yes, last week I emailed Wayne Swan and told him that I thought he should rethink his approach to the economic recovery plan. It may have worked, it may have not, I don’t know. I’m only one person and my voice doesn’t really mean very much in a country with 20 million others. But as this email I received today from GetUp says, I was not alone and many other people emailed other members of parliament and together we did have an effect on the policies and decision making of the government.

The people who say that the internet is bringing about democracy 2.0 are right! (Although the name democracy 2.0, really, what a cliché I mean does anyone but Hollywood producers and the 13 year boys who follow them actually use that kind of terminology?) So for the first time in I don’t know how many years (I grew up under Howard so probably all of them) I am finally claiming to live in a democracy.
The government doesn’t understand the internet though, and they are trying to impose a net filter that is not only undemocratic but also I would consider to be in violation of human rights (not that Australia has a Bill of Rights it has to follow). So the battle to use new media and technologies has only just begun, but as for this afternoon I’m celebrating a victory.