Janet Rice (Victoria, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Our democracy is struggling because too many people have tuned out. They are disconnected from politics and don't think that we here are at all interested in listening to them or actually representing them. Largely, they are right. In my decade here, I've heard from so many people who are grateful and surprised that I have listened to them and spoken up for them.

In contrast Labor and the coalition have people just where they want them: feeling powerless and disillusioned and resigned to the idea that nothing changes. That gives these parties free range to implement policies that prioritise the profits of the big corporates rather than the wellbeing of the people. With Labor and the coalition largely agreeing on their planet- and community-destroying policies, they can get away with only paying attention to voters in marginal seats and trying to bribe them with trinkets and baubles, rather than committing to the fundamental changes that are needed for a fair and healthy society.

Big corporations have too much power in this building. That power is reflected this week in the government's plans to introduce legislation to weaken our environment laws so that the resources minister, not the environment minister, would be the one signing off on massive new 'carbon bomb' gas fields that will destroy the cultural heritage of First Nations land and sea owners, despite a big majority of Australians wanting to see no new coal and gas. Big corporate power explains why, even though Australians think that the top two things that we should be doing about the housing crisis are providing more funding for social and affordable housing and increasing rental assistance for people on low incomes, the government keeps giving massive tax breaks to property developers and will not invest nearly enough in overcoming the huge shortfall in public and community housing or providing sufficient income support to people trapped in poverty. It is no surprise that people don't trust governments and don't engage. How do we get people to realise that their vote matters and to realise that they are powerful? How do we rebuild trust and make parliament and government more representative of, and responsive to, the people? I think there are three important things that should be done.

Firstly, parliament has to become more representative of the diversity of Australian society. Changing the Constitution so that people with dual citizenship can be MPs would be a good starting point. We have to open up the discussions here to a broader cohort of people who currently struggle to have their perspectives heard, let alone valued, and to make sure that they are respected, not demonised. Secondly, we have to be more transparent. Information is power. Too often, critical information is hidden to boost the particular case and to discredit others, which corrodes people's faith in our democracy and destroys their trust that we as their representatives are engaging in good governance. Fundamentally we need to all share the same information and commit to basing legislation and other actions in evidence and on quality research and scientific facts, regardless of how inconvenient those truths may be. We need to reform our freedom of information systems and stop blocking orders for the production of documents to ensure that such evidence is available to all of us and to enable us to shine a spotlight on government decisions that are made that are inconsistent with that evidence.

Thirdly, we need to work more collaboratively. People want us to work together, but working collaboratively involves not just hearing different perspectives but grappling with, and seeking to understand, different views and seeing if we can agree on some things and respectfully differ on others. I'm not saying that we should strive to reach consensus about everything. We won't always be able to reach consensus for a range of reasons. One reason is that reaching consensus relies on an underlying philosophy that everyone has the right to have their views respected as much as everybody else. Sadly, not everyone here agrees with this. Another is that to reach consensus you have to be able to share information and trust that the information won't be misused.

But we can do so much better in sharing perspectives, understanding where others are coming from, learning from each other and acknowledging that no one person or party has a monopoly on wisdom rather than resorting to simplistic slogans and personal attacks. And if Labor and the coalition aren't interested in making these sorts of changes, then there's a clear pathway forward for people who care about strengthening our democracy and better representing people—and, yes, that is to vote Green.