actical elements that empower them to begin their involvement as early as practicable.
- Young children from 10 and older get a say: particularly in decisions that will affect their future (like protection of the environment…etc). Their vote does not count toward wins, but it is recorded, reported on and it allows young people to appreciate and participate in the system from an early age if the choose. It also provides government ministers with a strong sense of the thoughts of young people and how to cater for them as they enter into official voting age.
EDUCATION OF POLITICIANS
There is a big gap in Australian politics at the moment: education. Society accepts that to get a job you must finish school or university or an apprenticeship. To get finance for a new business idea you must show a lengthy business plan, yet there are no specific requirements when it comes to people choosing to represent the views of their people and communicate on a national scale and have responsibility for decisions on multi-billion dollar portfolios and millions of lives. This is simply not good enough. In the new democratic system I would propose:
All politicians elected are required to complete a mandatory 3 month intensive course prior to a parliament role: history, citizenship, law, leadership, media training and parliament etiquette and day to day operations.
FAIR AND REASONABLE STRUCTURE REQUIREMENTS FOR NEW POLITICAL PARTIES & ELECTIONS
1. Before registering as a new party, the party must have a website and a clearly defined policy on every portfolio area available for view for all members. Only after that, will 500 members be counted and then party can apply to be accepted as a registered party.
2. Once the party is accepted, to run in an election, they must complete mandatory political skills training. This training must be completed 1 month prior to the election date or they will be disqualified from running in the election.
3. All party policies must be in place and online (same for all minister plans) 4 weeks before the 5-year election date. Each policy must be LOCKED IN during the election period. Which means, once the election campaign begins, the party may not change their stance unless it is to match what another political party is already providing. They may not remove an item already on their priority list.
1. Elections move from 3 years to 5 years (as individual ministers can be voted out on a yearly basis after a review).
2. Elections are called at exact same time every five years: Feb – 2 month campaigning (Feb and mar) last week of March is election. Then April, May and June, all new politicians are getting up to speed. Incumbents work with any new ministers to hand over and provide insight so there is a much smoother handover of work and responsibility. The last month is to provide intensive training for any new politicians.
Obviously this is all blue sky stuff…but its also all possible right now. What do YOU think? Which bits do you agree or disagree with? And which bits are most important?