MEASURING A
HEALTHY PARLIAMENT
MEASURES OF A HEALTHY PARLIAMENT
The 10 point plan utilized by many political parties is still a popular method when it comes to measuring a healthy Parliament. Using this approach as well as other avenues of the media can help in promoting the important work of the Parliament, writes the Clerk of the Australia Capital Territory (ACT).
Mr Tom Duncan in Canberra Mr Duncan is the Clerk of the Legislative Assembly for the Australian Capital Territory, and is the current Acting Honorary Regional Secretary for the Australia region.
Mr Tom Duncan
“Let’s be clear from the beginning: democracy is humanity’s finest achievement. Championed, idealised, misused, distorted, parodied and ridiculed it might be; courted by unfaithful lovers, glad-handed by false friends and skinned by unscrupulous allies it undoubtedly has been; but democracy as a way of living and a system of government is the avenue by which modern humans can fulfil their need to construct lives of real meaning. More than all the paintings and sculptures on earth, more than the poems, plays and novels, and more than every scientific and technological invention put together, democracy shows humanity at its most creative and innovative; democracy is a continual, collective enterprise that binds us together
186 | The Parliamentarian | 2013: Issue Three
while allowing us to live individually. While it endures there is hope, without democracy the world is bereft.”
“
...Parliament is in eclipse, a pale, even sickly pale moon reflecting but a little of the shining sunlight of executive power.’
“
...It is hard to escape the conclusion that in Australia Parliaments are now mainly of ritualistic significance.”
Introduction
The opening quotes paint starkly contrasting conceptions about the role and status of Parliament (of which democracy is surely its best representative). The first quote was penned in 2012, while the latter two hark back some 30 years.
Background
One of our roles as custodians of the parliamentary process is to record and highlight the important work of the institutions we each serve. Almost all of us have websites and annual reports, as well as weekly and daily summaries of what our Legislatures have done during the sitting day, week or year. For example, at the end of each calendar year the Office of the Legislative Assembly publishes a document entitled Business of the
Assembly which details progress of bills, the work of committees, the progress of motions dealt with, Speakers rulings and statements, ministerial statements made, petitions presented and so on. All of this is very important work by the Legislature, and yet I suspect the only readers of such documents are parliamentary tragics, people applying for jobs or those writing papers for parliamentary conferences or for academic research. I don’t mean to suggest that such detail should not be chronicled (and not discounting their importance as reference tools), but perhaps there are other ways to promote to a broader audience the valuable role that Parliament plays.
A new measurement methodology
If you search in your preferred internet search engine for the words “10 measures” you will come across such articles as:
• 10 measures to reduce corruption; • 10 new measures to curb air pollution; and
• 10 tips to tame your temper.
Top ten lists have been around for a millennia going back to the Ten Commandments. Political parties now frequently use a 10 point plan to
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