Would a standing citizens' assembly help the ACT?

Hosted in partnership with the Canberra Alliance for Participatory Democracy and Citizens' Assembly for the ACT as the final event in the Reimagining Governance for the ACT public event series

In East Belgium, a permanent citizens' assembly sits alongside the elected parliament. Randomly selected residents work through hard problems and make recommendations for parliament to consider.

Many countries around the world are turning to citizens' assemblies to address the growing dissatisfaction with how the current political system is delivering for people and planet.

Could something like that work here?

Come and hear Professor Yves Dejaeghere, Executive Director of the Federation for Innovation in Democracy (FIDE) and one of the architects of the East Belgian model, on how it works, what it's delivered, and what it took to set up. Yves also coordinated the design of the Permanent Citizen Assembly for the City of Paris. He will be joining us live from Europe.

We'll then turn to a panel of ACT politicians to talk about whether a standing citizens’ assembly could work in Canberra.

Panelists:

• Chiaka Barry (Liberals)

• Andrew Braddock (Greens)

• Taimus Werner-Gibbings (Labor)

• Fiona Carrick (Independent)

MC: Genevieve Jacobs

Free to attend, and everyone's welcome.

Come along and join us to shape the future of democracy in the ACT.

A small donation would be appreciated to cover printing, stationery and the occasional room hire as we are a small unfunded community group.