Episode 10: The People's Constitution by Bronwyn Kelly (Chapter 4 & Chapter 5 - Part 1)

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. 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