2014-07-04
Christine Cunningham
The Australian Green's Charter outlines our democratic mission: "to build a society underpinned by values of participatory democracy." Participatory democracy is the key phrase because it means every member pledges to actively participate in the decision making of our party. When we sign up to join as a Greens member, we agree to adhere to a Charter that asks us to "play an active role in building a more cooperative world."
In our Australian Greens Constitution, chapter one, clause 1:3 states that: “All other party documents are subordinate to this constitution with the exception of the Charter of the Greens.” The constitutional review we are currently undergoing is not tasked with changing our Charter at all and so our path forward is clear.
An active role as a member of our political party doesn't go as far as pure democracy — where every member (or citizen) has a direct vote in every single decision made for those whom choose to participate. Yet, our Charter clearly states that at this "crucial time in history" our party is supposed to be aiming for a participatory democracy in Australia as “a new way forward… of mutual interdependence.” It follows then that our internal party democracy should role-model participatory democracy.
Our Charter shows us what participatory democracy can look like — by painting a picture of a society of cooperating equals. In 2014, our society is far from that vision and our party organisational structures are not close enough to it either. Can we rise to the challenge in this constitutional review to get closer to organising ourselves as a political party of cooperating equals? Can we re-shape our party structures in ways that allow as many as possible Green members to actively participate in our political decision-making processes, as often as possible — now while we have 11,000 members and also in a future time when we are a much larger party?
It has been twenty years since our constitution was written and we deliberately made the constitution difficult to change. For twenty years, we have tried to follow the aims of our constitution and keep grassroots participation embedded in our party structures. But the constitution was written before the Internet was widely available and there is unanimity in the party that we have outgrown our 20th century constitutional procedures. Our by-laws have kept stretching the capacity of our growing party to fit the demands of today, but we need our constitution to be fit for our future — we need to imagine using this constitution when our political party governs Australia.
So, as we decide collectively over the next six months exactly what changes we need to make to our current constitution, I urge everyone to consider that the changes we make need to be good enough to last for decades. I really do believe that right now we have the digital tools and membership ingenuity to bring about the necessary changes.
We are like no other party in Australia today and our membership is growing. As we work through changes in the constitution, let's focus on creating incentives for other Australians to join our party as members. We need to remember why we joined the party and what being a member of the Australia Greens means to each of us. I am certain that Australian Greens members are aligned to a common planetary purpose, which our Charter clearly sets out as a philosophy of interrelated ecological, social and economic principles. We want a different society, a changed society, and to get there we need to be governing our nation. If that is to happen we need more members. Today, let us agree to radically re-engage all our current members and encourage exponential growth in new memberships with a new constitution that is capable of better harnessing our collective political will to achieve together the "answers to the problems that have dogged our developing world.”
Christine Cunningham is co-convenor of the Australian Greens.