TRANSCRIPT:
In recent years, there's been a worrying trend emerging in Australian society.
Former Home Affairs Minister Clare O'Neil told a security forum at the Australian National University earlier this year that there was a perception the community has become disengaged from politics and the democratic process.
"I'm a politician, so I absolutely love elections. And I know a lot of Australians don't share that view with me, and I completely get why."
Australian Electoral Commissioner Tom Rogers told the same forum technology is driving much of the polarisation in evidence, as well as a decrease in trust of democratic institutions.
"The continued rise of mis- and disinformation now being potentially turbocharged by the use of artificial intelligence, the continued spreading of what I think are quite unhinged conspiracy theories about the electoral processes, and increasing threats to electoral officials. And these all require urgent attention."
The newly appointed Social Cohesion Envoy Peter Khalil has told SBS social media is part of that threat, putting pressure on how people relate to each other.
"With political populism on the rise, the fact that that causes distrust in our democratic institutions, there's socioeconomic challenges, there are intergenerational challenges. There's challenges around social media, where some of the algorithms can be used to sow division and discord."
But if technology is part of the problem, for entrepreneur and investor Paul Bassat, it could be part of the answer to stop the fracturing.
He's launched a new organisation called Amplify that he hopes will provide a way for people share their ideas and opinions, and make a real difference.
He says a survey they've recently conducted of 4,000 Australians found more than 80 per cent think politicians prioritise winning votes over developing sound policies - and they wanted more input on policy decisions.
"Right now there aren't a lot of places we can go to. Political parties are much, much smaller memberships than they were. People aren't participating in things like Rotary groups or union memberships or churches that they used to. And so there isn't really those civic places for people to go to have their say and be heard. And we want to provide that in a very non-partisan way... I'd love them to hold us to the test. And visit our website at amplify.aus.org. Sign up, take a few seconds, be part of our online community platform."
Georgina Harrison will be the organisation's CEO.
She says promising online conversations are already happening.
"The initial conversations have started online. People have started engaging on our platform over the last 24 hours, which has been great to see. They're really thoughtful engagements. Definitely feels like an antidote to [social media platform] X in that sense. We have people online engaging in conversations like around the intergenerational divide about trusting government and what they want to see change, talking about the ambition they want to see in government and in society. So it's really lovely to see people diving in and getting involved."
Amplify won't be restricted to an online presence though.
It also plans to have more community-building activities, like hosting in-person "town hall style" events nationwide [[from November 2024]] to help the community influence key policy decisions.
Kaytetye woman from Central Australia, Rona Glynn-McDonald, is the founding CEO of Common Ground and co-founder of First Nations Futures.
She's also one of the board members of Amplify.
She says Amplify could be the circuit-breaker that changes things in a positive direction.
"So ensuring that the community forums that we hold and the in-person dialogues that we hold, have people from all those intersections with all different backgrounds - different ages, demographics - is going to be integral. And that includes not having powerbrokers and people who are aligned to political parties, in terms of (not) having that partisan approach, is such an important way that we need to operate as an organisation. And I'm excited to be part of it. It's really early in the development and there's a big ambitious plan to drive this work and ensure that all people from all walks of life get a say on the issues that matter to them."
Rona says she wants to see Indigenous voices involved in policy discussions, particularly after the defeat of the Voice Referendum and the outcome of the Northern Territory election.
She says there is a lot of wisdom in First Nations communities that is not being fully utilised in the policy cycle.
"I think that we need as a nation to have more investment into advocacy and more investment into backing voices to be heard and acted upon. And then the Voice referendum, that was part of that movement. And without - what hasn't been legislated and what hasn't been brought forward for referendum, we need to create more community-led solutions that enable that. And I see Amplify as being another mechanism in which we can ensure that voices are heard and there is that backing in terms of advocacy and voices on the ground being centred in policy solutions."
Paul Bassat says their data shows three quarters of people believe there is a lack of long-term thinking in politics.
He hopes Amplify can provide a non-partisan platform to change that.
"We want to bring people together who are left of centre or right of centre, or right in the middle. And we want to hear a whole range of views. Because we think Australians - we agree with each other more than we disagree. We think we've got more in common than we don't, but the system accentuates the differences between us."
Such community engagement initiatives are not a new idea.
In 2010, former Prime Minister Julia Gillard proposed conducting a citizens’ assembly of randomly selected every day Australians to deal with the polarisation in climate change policy.
And last year, Independent Teal MP Allegra Spender told Sky News there needed to be a similar body to find policy solutions on housing.
"A citizens assembly is pretty similar to a jury. We trust Australians to come together and deliberate about serious issues and then make a judgement. A citizen's assembly is a similar approach but on a policy issue... And I think this is a great opportunity to do politics differently."
But for Georgina Harrison, Australia has a rich history of innovation in democratic processes - and this project extends that tradition.
"Australia has been at the forefront of innovating in democracy. We gave the world the secret ballot. We were one of the first places to give women the vote. We have a tradition of collective decision-making that goes back over 10,000 years from our Indigenous communities. We have an incredible wealth of experience in this country. And we have an incredible culture of innovation in democracy that I think we should be drawing from."
