Deliberative

is improving democracy!

Deliberative processes are improving democracy … in ways we are only beginning to understand…

Deliberative democracy is renowned for empowering people to achieve policy change. It’s why we do this work! We want to help people to have their voices heard and enable them to influence the things that impact on their lives.

However, over our 10 years+ using deliberative processes we have come to realise that the impacts of deliberative go well beyond impacting public policy.

The approach can have significant impacts on the people involved; helping to improve wellbeing and strengthen their ability to improve our democracy.

A functioning, robust democracy requires a healthy, educated, participatory followership, and an educated, morally grounded leadership.”

Chinua Achebe, Nigerian Novelist

Participation in democracy looks like...

Successful democracies require us as citizens to not only vote – but to be actively participating every day. We need to learn how to:

Confidently share our views,
Talk and work with people who have different views or values,
Have respectful conversations, actively listen,
Be empathetic,
Critically think and learn… amongst many other things!

Two projects that we recently concluded in northeastern Melbourne (the electorate of Menzies) and northwestern Sydney (the electorate of Bennelong)– have enabled us to undertake a detailed survey of participants and the impact of the process on these democratic skills.

Confidence Sharing Personal Views - participation

84% of participants in the Menzies and Bennelong Forums agreed that they feel more confident about their ability to participate in our democracy.

81% have an improved understanding of how to use their voice to achieve change.

An amazing 95% of participants would participate in a Forum like this again (47% depending on the topic and 48% regardless of the topic.).

“I felt much more empowered in the community than I have in a long time. It was also great to see other people from the community and hear different view points - as it seems easy to get into an echo chamber”

Participant

Talking and working with people who have different views/ values

95% of participants said that they interacted with a greater diversity of their community than they would have without the Forum.

One of the most important aspects of deliberative processes is the use of random, stratified sampling to bring together a diverse group of people who are largely representative of the whole population of the relevant region. This ensures that vested interests and loud voices cannot dominate the room. Some may still be present in the room, but they are moderated by the presence of other voices and the techniques we use allow quieter voices to have their fair say.

97% of our Forum participants agreed that the process enabled people who might not normally have their voices heard to have a say.

“The way ideas were distilled, everyone participated in all ideas, we selected our topics and experts and ideas. And it was engaging using different methods. Also amazing to do via lottery, and by matching to census statistics to ensure its actually representative.”

Participant

Respectful conversations and empathy

99% of participants agreed that participants were respectful and civil to each other during the Forums.

By way of comparison only 38% of participants thought that people in their community were respectful and civil to each other when talking about energy online and 78% indicated that they though that people were respectful and civil when talking in-person. Something we really focus on in deliberative processes is normalising disagreement and building skills and comfort to do so in a respectful way. After both forums:

84% of participants agreed that they now have a better understanding of the views of people who have a different point of view to them.

95% agreed they had interacted with a greater diversity of their community than they would have without the Forum.

“Made me more aware of people that are currently doing it tough.”

Participant

Critical thinking and learning

The 2025 Edelmann Trust Barometer highlighted that 69% of Australians agree that it is becoming harder to tell if news is from respected media or an individual trying to deceive people. Perhaps unsurprisingly in both Menzies and Bennelong, an outlet for sourcing trusted information was identified among their top or strongly supported ideas. In our forums:

87% of participants in the Menzies and Bennelong projects agreed that the information they heard during the Forum was reliable and trustworthy.

80% felt that the information was balanced.

84% of participants told us that they had improved their knowledge about the options for moving energy away from fossil fuels.

“A good structure that allowed for respectful and constructive conversations. Time and information provided to participants so that we could be confident in the issues and what was being asked of us. The opportunity to hear from a range of experts.”

Participant

At a time when our communities are struggling from increased division and contempt for people with different views from our own is becoming a more common problem – deliberative seems like the perfect antidote! These forums represent just the start of our work in this area, so watch this space! We will be sharing more over the coming and offering opportunities for you to get involved!

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Alternatively, if you want to learn more about the Menzies and Bennelong projects, click here.