The Australia Together Podcast

In Episode 17 Bronwyn Kelly reads Chapter 6 Part 1 of her book, The People's Constitution: the path to empowerment of Australians in a 21st century democracy. She explains how Australia is the only democratic country in the world without a national charter of human rights and how dangerous this is. Australian parliaments have ratified most the the key human rights treaties we have signed in international law, but because these rights have, in the main, not been put into domestic law and because the Constitution contains nothing to protect our human rights, executive governments have free rein to abuse human rights in Australia. This has resulted in a dreadful record of human rights abuse by Australian governments in the 21st century.

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In Episode 16 Bronwyn Kelly reads Chapter 5 Parts 10, 11 and 12 of her book, The People's Constitution: the path to empowerment of Australians in a 21st century democracy. She begins by setting out why recognition of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples in the Constitution is necessary in the preambular Statement of Australian Values. It is necessary because the wording of proposed amendments to enshrine an Indigenous Voice in the Constitution is still too scant to enable implementation of the Uluru Statement from the Heart in full.

Bronwyn then discusses how Australian values have changed since the last occasion on which Australians were asked to consider a new preamble in the Constitution (1999) and suggests it will be helpful to consider these differences in any new constitutional amendments. She finalises Chapter 5 with a discussion about how Australians must be free to determine their national values unobstructed by politics and ideology.

"The fact is that the true will of the people cannot be handed down by a government from above. A sovereign people’s will cannot be narrowed down to the will a government is prepared to let them have. It has to be the other way around. A sovereign people’s will, expressed in their statement of what they value, has to be the one that the people are prepared to let governments swear allegiance to and swear it in accordance with the terms of trust on which the people hand over power. … In short, if the people are sovereign then the will of the nation must be theirs to determine in its entirety – unobstructed by politics and ideology."

This implies the need for a type of citizens’ assembly and decision process on Australian values that has not been attempted to date. Once an inclusive process for development of a Statement of Australian Values has been conducted, the Statement (alongside two other essential additions to the Constitution discussed in Chapters 6 and 7) will form the core of the terms of trust on which power can be safely handed over in elections.

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In Episode 15 Bronwyn Kelly reads Chapter 5 Parts 7, 8 and 9 of her book, The People's Constitution: the path to empowerment of Australians in a 21st century democracy. Bronwyn begins by explaining that a Statement of Australian Values is not the only thing we need to add into our Constitution to ensure our wellbeing and security as a nation. We will also need a statement on human rights and obligations and a process the people can use for deeper and more detailed expression of the people’s will for the future. Until all this is enshrined in the Constitution, Australia will not be a democracy.

In Part 8 of the Chapter Bronwyn explains how a Statement of Australian Values in the Constitution should be the sole decision of the people and should not be interfered with by the parliament or government. It should be accorded respect as an essential element of their sovereign people’s will and as a such must be justiciable. Bronwyn then explains why the Statement should be specific rather than tokenistic. She asserts that a specific values statement authorised by the people will change the parameters of power for the elected. It will set out key terms of trust between electors and the elected. Once these terms are in place, the electors are entitled to expect that laws will accord with their values, not undermine them.

This is a whole new way of authorising power, one which places the public interests and purpose of the nation at the heart of the Constitution. No longer will the Constitution focus solely on the process for who might be elected; it will also describe what they are elected for – the overarching purpose of the nation, the reason why we wish in the 21st century to persist with the agreement we made 120 years earlier to “unite in one indissoluble Federal Commonwealth”.  

Bronwyn then reads a starting draft of a Statement of Australian Values, based on the views of Australians as they have expressed them in surveys and commentary in the 21st century. She suggests that: "Should readers determine that I have misread these preferences or neglected something that is important, they should clamour for the opportunity of a constitutional convention to correct the picture painted here, or endorse it if they choose."   

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In Episode 14 Bronwyn Kelly reads Chapter 5 Part 6 of her book, The People's Constitution: the path to empowerment of Australians in a 21st century democracy. She discusses two values which have not been front and centre in our political debates but which are likely to be very important to our ability to live all the other values we have espoused in surveys and community engagement. Those two values are for independence in national sovereignty and self-determination through a voice in our own governance.

Bronwyn concludes by saying that Australia’s First Nations, in their call for an Indigenous Voice in the Constitution along with Treaty and Truth, are leading the way for all Australians on how to secure the future. Their call for justice and self-determination is inspirational but it will need to be reciprocated by a synchronous call from all Australians for Values, Rights and a Voice for all Australians in the Constitution. This sort of reform starts with a Statement of Australian Values.

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In Episode 13 Bronwyn Kelly reads Chapter 5 Parts 4 and 5 of her book, The People's Constitution: the path to empowerment of Australians in a 21st century democracy.

In Part 4 Bronwyn begins with a suggestion that if a nation were to succeed in enshrining the values listed in Part 3 of this Chapter (see Episode 12), but also succeeded in creating a governance system conducive to living those values, then that country would be an amazing place to live. It would be a place full of positive hope for everyone. But she then suggests that it would be wise to check if this is the sort of national character – the societal value set – that will best serve our shared purpose of building the future we might really want for all Australians. To do that, Bronwyn undertakes an exercise of imagining this national character and value set in reverse. She sets out an image of what our future would look like if we don’t select the values listed in Part 3. This reverse imagining is always a useful exercise in helping people select preferred values because it so quickly reveals the direction in which nations will travel if they fail to commit to these values or adopt an opposite value set and character.

Bronwyn and her editor, David Kelly, then read out two versions of the future that may arise, depending on whether Australians confirm the values they have supported in surveys or select values that are antithetical to their probable preferences. The two versions of our future are starkly contrasted. One is life-oriented. The other is not.

In Part 5 of the chapter Bronwyn expands on how the comparison of opposites in Part 4 makes the decisions about a national value set much easier.

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In Episode 12 Bronwyn Kelly reads Chapter 5 Part 3 of her book, The People's Constitution: the path to empowerment of Australians in a 21st century democracy.

She begins by asking that if we are to build a new preamble to Australia’s Constitution containing a Statement of Australian Values, what values might be selected that will actually reflect those of a 21st century Australian society? In answer, she suggests that if we attend to the wishes of Australians as they have been expressed in responses to surveys and community engagement, then we will be unlikely to confine ourselves to the values espoused on our behalf by the government’s Department of Home Affairs. Instead we will be likely to build a Statement of Australian Values that displays a much wider character for the nation - one in which peace, honesty, safety, stability, good health, equal opportunity, fairness, benevolence, compassion, inclusion, egalitarianism, social justice, appreciation of diversity, freedom and environmental protection feature prominently.

Bronwyn then suggests that because Australians have been so forthcoming about their preferred values we can now assemble a draft list for their consideration. She then outlines a list of 29 values as a starting point for a national conversation.

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In Episode 11 Bronwyn Kelly reads Chapter 5 Part 2 of her book, The People's Constitution: the path to empowerment of Australians in a 21st century democracy. She lays out the history of attempts to define and shape Australian values since 2000. The results paint a picture of Australians as compassionate, fair, socially oriented (as opposed to individually self-centred) and concerned for the welfare of all. In particular, they show we value peace in the world. For Australians, it seems that harmonious relationships (in the family, nationally and internationally), and the personal safety such relationships make possible, matter more than straight down the line individualism, sectarianism, isolationism, and assertion of nationalist virtue or supremacy. 

Despite this, governments have attempted to shape Australian values so that Australians will be more inclined to support entry into wars. But research shows that Australians feel negative about this. They are unified in having “a new hope for a more compassionate, sustainable and tolerant future with a fair go at its heart.”

Bronwyn concludes with evidence that Australians value an inclusive democracy but to secure this we will need to insert a Statement of Australian Values into the Constitution. Otherwise laws cannot be rightly made in accordance with those values.

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In Episode 10 Bronwyn Kelly reads Chapter 4 and Chapter 5 Part 1 of her book, The People's Constitution: the path to empowerment of Australians in a 21st century democracy.

Chapter 4 sets out the scope of the task of establishing the Australian people’s constitution. It discusses how difficult or easy this transformation of our power arrangements may be for both the electors and the elected and whether, if it is to be successful in providing the nation with a new start, the Constitution will require minor alteration or more extensive additions and alterations. The chapter works on the assumption that it is necessary to inject the people of Australia into their own Constitution so that they can establish fairer shares of power. In this new arrangement, the people will still have the final say, as they do now on, who ought to govern, but they will also have the first say on what those they elect may and may not do with the power they are being given.

The chapter introduces the essential elements of this new type of constitution. As a minimum these include mechanisms and processes that will enable and indeed require Australians to: build a statement of their values as a society; enshrine human rights and obligations in law along with a process for conferring and protecting rights; enshrine a system or process which will lift the voice of Australians to a level of coherence at which their will can be understood and actively fulfilled by the elected; and freshly describe some mechanisms for reduction of abuse of power. These are the essential elements of the guidance that elected parliamentarians need and that the electors need if they are to start again as a nation.

In Part 1 of Chapter 5 Bronwyn begins discussion of Australia’s readiness for a Statement of Australian Values in the Constitution.

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In Episode 9 Bronwyn Kelly reads Chapter 3 of her book, The People's Constitution: the path to empowerment of Australians in a 21st century democracy. She begins by examining where best to start if we are to create an inclusive democracy – one in which diverse people and cultures can efficiently and meaningfully participate and hold those they elect to account. The discussion suggests that because so much has changed in our nation’s attitudes and circumstances since the Constitution was framed in 1901, that document is now largely discordant with the values that might be expected in a multicultural, gender equal, universally enfranchised, class conscious but relatively wealthy society.

Chapter 3 also sets out how the current Australian Constitution is geared to override the people’s will. It concludes by suggesting that if Australia is to escape its ineffective power system and start again as a strong nation ready for 21st century challenges, it will need to do more than apply piecemeal amendments to the Constitution.

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In Episode 8 Bronwyn Kelly reads Chapter 2 – Parts 4 & 5 of her book, The People's Constitution: the path to empowerment of Australians in a 21st century democracy. She suggests that Australians need to be able to tell elected leaders what is desirable in their laws, and what is essential for their wellbeing, security, and future. They need two things to do that: an open but well organised public square and a people’s constitution which gives them at least equal power with those they elect and much more than the corporations they do not. She states that with the advent of the internet it is now possible to establish an open public square with sufficient capacity to allow the people of Australia to build a coherent national voice and plan for their future using an orderly democratic process. If that space is well organised and inclusive it can be a place where the many can speak as one but still retain a space for diversity. Bronwyn concludes by showing how this can enable Australians to make a fresh start as a cohesive nation capitalising on diversity.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit bronwynkelly.substack.com