Lees-- "Participatory democracy
went out with the ancient Greeks"
(The following reports appeared in the Australian Democrats
WA Division Newsletter, August 1993)
WA BALLOT ABORTED
Members are in turmoil following National Executive intervention to limit WA members' choice of candidates for divisional leadership. Petitions are in various stages of contemplation or preparation. One being suggested seeks a spill of National Executive!. One in preparation calls for all National Management Committee positions to be subject to membership ballot and right of individual recall, and for the committee's deliberations to be subject to freedom of information provisions. At least one appeal has been lodged and at least one more is pending. There are moves to tighten co-option provisions at all levels.
Several members have said they will resign. The first resignation came from Brian Jenkins - one of those targetted - who submitted his resignation to the Divisional President on July 30, signalling that he would continue active support of the Democrats and would rejoin when democratic changes took place at the national level.
An immediate consequence is that we do not have a secretary. The secretary's role in seeing that the Newsletter is supplied with important material has been pivotal. This Newsletter is therefore late, and lacks information about organisational matters and coming events. Even the AGM date is no longer certain.
The relevant provision, moved by National Campaign Manager Stephen Swift (08-237-7150) and National Administrator Brian Austen (002-31-3855, fax 002-31-3922), states:
6.7.1: If the National Executive believes that it would be of significant benefit to the Party to do so it may, without prejudice:
(i) Prohibit a particular member from nominating for, or gaining election to, a Party office for a period not exceeding two years
(ii) Re-open nominations for a ballot which is under way
(iii) Take control of such a ballot.
This was passed by National Executive on Sunday morning July 25, after being introduced ostensibly as part of a continuing constitutional review programme. Some spoke against it but abstained from voting. Only WA delegate Brian Jenkins voted against it, warning: "we must assume that this rule will be used to bring about the wishes of some group or other at some future time - and I believe this will happen sooner rather than later."
A few hours later, near the end of the afternoon session National Executive delegates were told there was a crisis in WA, and adopted the following resolution the substance of which had been prepared for them:
"That the National Executive requests David Churches, John Samuel, Huw Grossmith, Brian Jenkins and Jean Jenkins to withdraw any nomination they may have made for positions in the WA Division current ballot, and asks that they refrain from nominating for or gaining party office for a period of two years, and that this undertaking be given within four days.
"That in the absence of their compliance the National Executive take action as specified under Regulation 6.7.1 to implement this request.
"That the National Executive directs the National Ballots Administrator and National Returning Officer to re-open nominations for and conduct the current WA Divisional ballot, with a result declared by the AGM on September 19.
These events took place as the August Newsletter was being prepared, and all members in WA have had a letter from the National President.
This Newsletter is therefore devoted mainly to presenting highlights of the emergency Divisional Council meeting of July 29, and contributed statements from Deputy National President Keith Lees who participated in the Divisional Council meeting, from all five banned members (who also made oral statements to Divisional Council) and from Gordon Edwards who told Divisional Council why he was withdrawing from the ballot.
There is also an article taken from the Queensland Newsletter in which Parliamentary Leader Cheryl Kernot sets out her views on leadership (prepared before July 24-25 for publication in WA) and a contributed article by Jean Jenkins giving details of the composition and operation of National Executive and the National Management Committee.
KEITH LEES CONFRONTS WA DIVISIONAL COUNCIL
Report by DION GILES
Keith was subjected to sharp questioning after he had made his report to the Divisional Council on July 29.
On the question of where the National Executive obtained the "perceptions" on which it based its choice of people to ban, he referred to general gossip (described as communications among people), a poor media coverage and a low electoral vote. He did not refer to any formal reports and could not explain why no questions had been asked of Divisional Council or its officers before the relevant decisions were made.
One factor in the decision was the lodgement of an appeal by a WA member which was not proceeded with as its wording was incorrect. Keith did not explain how this related to the ban or to the choice of targets.
Asked why the membership could not decide by national ballot on such far-reaching powers as in Regulation 6.7.1 or decide by the normal divisional ballot process (which was already under way) who to exclude and who not to exclude from party office, Keith said that this was a participatory democracy model, and participatory democracy went out with the ancient Greeks.
When he was pressed to name Jean Jenkins' offence he replied that she was a prominent member of the WA Division. He stressed that the ban was merely a "circuit-breaker" and was not intended as a sanction against any of the five banned members or as indicating that they had done anything wrong.
The Divisional Council later went into closed session and decided after some discussion that at this stage it had no realistic alternative but to abandon the WA balloting process. It also decided that only the President, Peter Nettleton, be authorised to speak to the news media about the issue.
EDITORIAL
SUITED TO "OUR REGION"?One should not be too hasty in criticising the current amended balloting process. It is by no means unique. Many regimes do not risk giving electors unbridled liberty to elect just anybody - indeed in the Asia-Pacific region most countries run on a system not unlike the process adopted by our National Management Committee. Our revered near neighbour, Indonesia, even coined a term for it: Guided Democracy.
NEXT: Members act to reassert their constitutional rights in the party ADVICE Condemnation by Party's legal adviser--ignored by Executive!
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