A Democracy Or Just Another Ballotocracy?

NATIONAL OBSERVER (Council for the National Interest, Melbourne), No. 76, Autumn 2008, pages 7-32. Web site: www.nationalobserver.net

Australia — a democracy or just another ballotocracy?

Joseph Poprzeczny

Try to imagine Australia if its 1890s Clearly, it would have placed a huge colonial founding fathers had incor- brake upon the growth of central or porated into the federal constitution Canberra power since a third of all the following clause:1 federal members of parliament — not simply a prime minister and/or cabi- No Bill passed by both Houses of the net — could have triggered a nation- Federal Parliament shall be assented wide referendum on any bill enacted to by the Governor-General until after by a majority party in Parliament. a referendum, if a referendum shall be A referendum could also have been duly demanded before assent declared. triggered if any two state parliaments A referendum may be demanded in re- so resolved. And, last but not least, spect of any Bill passed by both Houses 20,000 voters could have brought on of the Federal Parliament at any time a referendum. within three calendar months after the passing thereof. And if any of these triggers were acti- vated, it would stop a bill from becom- A referendum may be demanded by — ing law until the referendum was held and the Australian people made the I. One-third of the total number of final decision democratically. members of either House of the Federal Parliament: or The existence of such a clause would have prevented politicians, or more II. Resolution of both Houses of any two correctly the handful constituting a local [State] Legislatures: or Cabinet, from having monopoly control of the legislative process. That III. Twenty thousand persons entitled control would have been shared with to vote at the election of members to the states and with electors. serve in the National Assembly [Senate and House of Representatives]. Of course, the Australian Constitution

1. John M. Williams, The Australian Constitution: A Documentary History (Melbourne University Press, 2004), pp.126-7. National Observer Autumn

does not include such a clause, and democracy, referred to here as a bal- Cabinet does control the legislative lotocracy — rule by the few, with the process in Canberra, from the draft- many only permitted one vote over ing of bills and arranging debates on the life of any parliament — and a true them, to the final vote that turns bills democracy. into laws which all Australians must This article turns the spotlight back obey. But the Constitution may well onto those two periods in Australia’s have included such a clause because history when the country came so the clause is not a figment of the close to making “the electors them- imagination. It was in an 1891 draft selves … masters of the situation”. It constitution, and a variation was part discusses what happened and why, of Labor’s policy platform almost con- and, in so doing, casts new light on tinuously from 1900 up until 1963. how Australia has ended up with the Both the draft and the policy plank appearance of a democratic system of have effectively disappeared from his- government, but one that has fallen tory: they rarely if ever get any men- well short of the reality. tion in the history books; and most Australians, including academics, teachers and even politicians, honestly True democracy versus believe that the system of representa- ballotocracy tive democracy that we have here is the Both Australia and Switzerland are only form of democracy that exists. bicameral federations, so each has a The Swiss would disagree. Unlike lower and an upper legislative cham- Australians, they are constitutionally ber. In both countries, bills may be empowered to initiate referendums initiated in either chamber. In Aus- at every level of government — mu- tralia, however, once a bill has been nicipal, cantonal and national — and passed by both houses, it goes to the this is in addition to their right to Governor-General for royal assent, elect representatives every five years. after which it becomes law. In Swit- Put otherwise, the Swiss have not be- zerland, a bill that has been passed stowed monopoly power upon their by both houses lies dormant for 100 elected representatives to make laws. days during which time 50,000 voters Unlike Australians, they, the people, can trigger a referendum by signing a are the final arbiters of what shall or petition. shall not be the law of their land. Voters in both countries periodically If, in Australia, the 1891 draft clause elect representatives to parliament, had made it through the convention but the Swiss electorate’s right to process, or if Labor had honoured its call referendums means they have policy plank on those occasions when far more power than Australian vot- it held power, Australian voters might ers. They can continuously exercise a understand the very real difference power of veto over the legislative proc- between the representative form of ess through this rejective or faculta- 2008 Australia — a democracy or just another ballotocracy?

tive referendum process. Put another they work on will not be challenged at way, Swiss voters have at least double referendum. During the long consulta- the power of voters enfranchised in tion periods, those who are likely to be polities that are without citizen-initi- affected are brought into the process of ated referendums. Swiss voters can preparing the relevant bill. Being fully determine what will or will not be the informed means there is less likeli- law. Australian voters must accept hood of a bill being challenged. Even what their politicians decide will be so, 6 per cent must face the ultimate the law. test, that is, the people. But Swiss voters can also initiate By comparison, the Australian repre- changes to their national constitution, sentative, or indirect form of, democ- although this requires a petition with racy constitutionally excludes the peo- 100,000 signatures gathered over a ple from being the final adjudicators of period of not more than 18 months. bills, with one limited exception. And, In ballotocracies such as Australia interestingly, Switzerland was the the politicians’ monopoly power over inspiration for that exception, which the lawmaking process, including the applies to bills that seek to amend the power to trigger amendments to the national constitution. But the Austral- Constitution, operates unfettered by ian version gives politicians the power the people, the demos. to initiate all referendums to amend The Swiss form of democracy has been the constitution and limits the people’s variously described as direct democra- power to merely voting on the politi- cy, true democracy, or simply democ- cians’ proposals, that is the power of racy, since it is the people, the demos, veto, but not the power to initiate, who are the ultimate arbiters of what which the Swiss have. This legislative laws they will live under. Moreover, dominance of elected representatives such direct or true democracy applies over voters is what most people here not only at the national level, but also call democracy but it is more correctly in Switzerland’s 2,740 municipalities described as ballotocracy since voters and 26 cantons (states). — the demos — are excluded entirely from the legislative process. Under In practice, 94 per cent of all bills ballotocracy the people’s power is lim- passed by the Swiss national parlia- ited to only electing representatives. ment end up as laws without under- going the referendum process. Of the Voters in 24 American states also have remaining 6 per cent, about half are the right to initiate referendums. In rejected by the people. A key reason some cases, this includes the right to for those 94 per cent not being chal- initiate changes to the state constitu- lenged — that is, not having to go to tion. The impetus for initiative and referendum — is the fact that Swiss referendum (I&R) in America initially politicians feel compelled to consult came from the predominantly rural voters extensively and over long or farmer-based Populist movement periods so as to ensure that the bills of the early 1890s and its successor, 10 National Observer Autumn the urban-based Progressive Move- Kingston’s 1891 draft ment of the late 1890s to late-1910s. clause Most of the western American states had adopted I&R by 1918. A smaller The draft clause referred to above was number did not for a variety of local the work of South Australian-born reasons, including ongoing resistance Charles Cameron Kingston (1850- by politicians. 1908) who included it as part of a draft constitution for Australia that was In stark contrast, no Australian state printed in February 1891 by South Aus- succeeded in incorporating I&R into tralia’s government printer. Kingston, a its constitution despite several deter- lawyer and colonial politician who was mined efforts in the early 1900s by once described as “a radical democrat state Labor governments. and a man committed to the federation The main reason for the failures was of the colonies”3 , then took it to the first the opposition of virtually all con- constitutional convention in Sydney, servative-oriented Australian national held in March and April 1891, where and state politicians who preferred a he represented South Australia. representative or limited form of de- The Sydney convention’s official record mocracy, something with which the shows that Switzerland was referred Labor Party now concurs. to about a dozen times by various By the early 1920s, the impetus went delegates, as was the question of in- out of this debate as more and more cluding referendums, but there was Labor politicians lost interest in trans- no reference to I&R, and the draft forming their states from ballotocra- constitution that emerged contained cies into direct or true democracies. neither the Kingston clause nor any reference to referendums. This was Californian David Schmidt has de- despite Kingston being one of the three scribed the ongoing impact of I&R, men largely responsible for writing the which, as will be seen below, was the convention’s draft constitution. The major achievement of the early 20th other two were Samuel Griffith from 2 century’s Progressives, as follows: Queensland and Andrew Inglis Clark, a Tasmanian representative who, co- In I&R the Progressives created a per- petual reform machine that not only incidentally, in 1891 had joined the continues to be a vehicle for political American Academy of Political and change, but is increasing in its useful- Social Sciences. Moreover, Clark was ness more than three-quarters of a a member of the American Club in century after it first gained widespread Hobart, and his 1891 draft constitu- acceptance. (My italics) tion borrowed heavily from the United

2. David D. Schmidt, Citizen Lawmakers — The Ballot Initiative Revolution (Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1989), pp.14-15. 3. Ibid., p.113. 2008 Australia — a democracy or just another ballotocracy? 11

States constitution, showing again the bound to change our present constitu- impact of America’s nation-building tions altogether, to adopt the Swiss upon Australian thinkers. They did the system, with its co-ordinate houses, its job over three days beginning on 23 elective ministry, and its referendum, March and handed it to the other mem- by which the electors themselves were made masters of the situation; but bers of the constitutional committee for while we would be prepared to consider their consideration before it went to the a proposal of that kind, the Swiss rela- full convention. Although Clark was a tion of the two chambers has no anal- believer in what he called the “princi- ogy whatever to a constitution such as ples of the Anglo-American Republic”, ours, in which it is proposed to retain he seems to have been unaware of the responsible government, and in which moves beyond Washington DC, specifi- the government must be responsible to cally by America’s Populists and later the people’s chamber. (My italics) even the Progressives, especially across At this time — the 1890s — in the the western states, who would eventu- United States, especially in the west- ally transform most of those states into ern states, two important movements Swiss-style democracies. were beginning to have political Exactly when Kingston’s “Part IX, The impact there and also upon certain Referendum” was dropped is unknown groups and individuals in the Aus- but it was never seen again, which tralian colonies. Both these move- means it is fair to say that the prospect ments contributed to the impetus of of true democracy for Australia was ef- the emerging colonial Labor parties fectively aborted almost immediately which were coming into being at about after conception. The reason it was the time that the first constitutional dropped is also unknown; but one convention got underway. Finally, a possible explanation can be gleaned national Labor Party was created in from comments made on 3 April by 1900 and its first platform, adopted in Victorian delegate, Alfred Deakin:4 January that year, called for a federal constitution that provided for “The … There are many like myself, who Initiative and Referendum for the would be perfectly prepared, if we were alteration of the Constitution”.5

4. Constitutional Convention; Sydney, Debates, 8 April 1891, pp.709-10. [http://parlinfoweb.aph. gov.au/piweb/view_document.aspx?ID=363&TABLE=CONCON]. The author wishes to thank Professor Martyn Webb for drawing attention to the following crucial quote from Jean Jacques Rousseau — “The English believe themselves to be free; they are seriously mistaken, for they are free only during elections of Members of Parliament, and in the time between those elections the people are in slavery…. In the brief moments of their freedom, the English use it in such a way that they deserve to lose it.” Jean-Jacques Rousseau, The Social Contract or Principles of Political Right, Book III, chapter XV (Trans. Lowell Blair), The Essential Rousseau (New York: Mentor Book, 1974), p.79. 5. All Labor Party pre-federation or colonial platforms are found in W.G. Spence, Australia’s Awakening — Thirty Years in the Life of an Australian Agitator (Sydney: The Workers Trustee, 1909), pp.597-628. 12 National Observer Autumn

In the early years of federation, the La- tralian colonial governments from bor Party operated as a minor political 1885 to 1893, and his subsequent term force. But in 1909 it gained majority as premier which lasted until 1899. status in the national parliament. The Crisp writes:6 I&R policy remained in the platform for another five-and-a-half decades, Though he became the Liberal Party but Australia’s Constitution did not leader, Kingston personally sustained change to accommodate this plank. uninterrupted his life-long intimacy and rapport with the working-class Nonetheless, Kingston deserves to be families of inner Adelaide despite the acknowledged as a unique federalist emergence of a Labor Party in the since he sought to ensure that future 1890s.... As early as 1891, on his arrival generations of Australian voters in Sydney to attend the Constitutional would be armed with a constitutional Convention, he was immediately in- procedure to thwart the tyranny of vited to address a weekly meeting of representative government that limits the Trades and Labor Council. voters’ rights to periodically electing However, Crisp, not a backer of I&R, representatives who thereafter have makes no reference to the American a monopoly over the legislative proc- Progressive movement, nor does he ess. consider the possibility that King- Kingston’s life was the subject of a ston’s popularity with Labor rank biography by the late Professor L.F. and file had anything to do with his Crisp, an influential Canberra-based attachment to I&R, or what role if any political scientist who had headed the Kingston played in the development Curtin Government’s Department of of the Labor’s Party’s first national Post-War-Reconstruction from 1942 platform. There is also silence on to 1945 and was subsequently an Kingston’s 1891 I&R Clause. academic at the Australian National University. Labor Party’s early In his book Charles Cameron King- commitment to Swiss-style ston, Radical Federalist, Crisp rightly direct democracy portrays Kingston as a democratically- inclined individual. He quotes King- As mentioned, the Australian Labor ston’s father, George: “[Charles was] movement had a long-standing policy by instinct an aristocrat, but by con- commitment to initiative and referen- viction a democrat.” Crisp also credits dum (I&R) that pre-dated Federation Kingston with making a “positive and and survived for many decades at both essentially democratic contribution” national and state level. This is, of during his years as attorney-general course, not surprising since it was from and chief secretary in two South Aus- the left-of-centre political quarter that

6. L.F. Crisp, Charles Cameron Kingston, Radical Federalist (Canberra: self-published, ANU Printing Services, 1984), pp.5, 8 & 9. 2008 Australia — a democracy or just another ballotocracy? 13

much of the effort for the adoption of By itself, this clause appeared to re- I&R in the US originated. Further- move the NSW Labor Party from the more, one of the main driving forces direct democratic tradition and placed for Swiss adoption of direct democracy it within the representative one. came from Karl Bürkli (1823–1901), However, the very next clause, titled a follower of French socialist, Charles “Details of Fighting Platform”, under Fourier. Bürkli was to become a Zu- the heading “Constitutional Reform”, rich cantonal representative and was stated: “Abolition of the Legislative a key figure in that canton’s workers’ Council and the substitution therefore movement after returning from Texas (sic) of the I&R.” where he was involved in attempting The precursor of Victoria’s Labor to create a perfect rural community, a Party in 1891 was known, significantly, longstanding leftist yearning. as the Progressive Political League In 1891, the year Kingston sought of Victoria and its platform that year to ensure that a federated Australia included a somewhat ambiguous adopted I&R, Labor in New South commitment to “Federation of the Wales showed the first sign of mov- Colonies on a Democratic Basis”, ing in the direction of ensuring voters perhaps suggesting that something had a greater say in governance. Item other than representative governance 10 of its 1891 platform called for the was envisaged. However, there was no “election of magistrates” and also ambiguity in the 1908 Victorian Labor envisaged the election of local mem- platform which carried an item in its bers of land boards. Although both “Constitutional Reform” section that are in fact examples of representative simply read “Initiative and Referen- democracy, the former certainly goes dum”. markedly beyond the bounds of this Although the colonial platform adopt- practice in Australia.7 ed in 1890 by the delegates to Queens- Six years later, in 1897, a federal La- land’s Australian Labor Federation bor convention that compiled a joint did not include an I&R clause, the platform for NSW and Tasmania 1892 Queensland Labor platform did. included the plank, “Direct initiation In a section headed “Referendum” it of legislation by the people, and the proposed “The submission of meas- referendum.” ures for the approval or rejection by the people.” Moreover, Queensland’s Twelve years later, in 1909, NSW La- 1907 Labor platform carried the words bor incorporated a clause within its “Initiative and Referendum”, under “fighting platform” which advocated: the section titled “General Programme “Electoral reform to provide proper — Constitutional Reforms.” machinery for the true representation of the people in Parliament.” Despite Kingston hailing from South

7. All Labor Party platforms after 1900 are in the possession of the author. These were obtained from the Commonwealth Parliamentary Library in 1976. 14 National Observer Autumn

Australia, Labor in that state was a due to the fact that non-Labor parties late convert to direct democracy as it dominated state upper houses. did not embrace it until 1908, the year Professor Crisp put forward a number of his death. The United Labor Party of reasons for I&R’s initial appeal:8 of South Australia’s general platform that year carried the words “Initiative In the first place, [Initiative and Ref- and Referendum”. erendum] appeared to be the very last The fourth plank of the Western Aus- word in democracy — and Labor had proclaimed itself the champion of de- tralian Labor Party’s 1908 platform mocracy.… included the same words, as did Tas- mania’s platform of 1909 which read: But Labor’s interest in the Initiative and “Abolition of the Upper House; provi- Referendum was by no means entirely sion of initiative and referendum.” theoretical. In every colony, Labor was At the national level, I&R featured a third party without immediate prospect of a majority; if the Initiative and prominently in the first Federal Labor Referendum were in operation, Labor platform adopted at the Labor Party’s might be able to by-pass the legislature interstate conference held on 24Janu- and put its main plans to the people ary 1900. In the second section, under direct. the heading “Constitutional Reform”, the platform stated: Moreover, not only Labor, but the Liberals and Radicals were constantly The Federal Constitution to be amend- being thwarted by legislative councils ed to provide for (appointed in NSW and Queensland; elected elsewhere on narrow property (a) The Initiative and Referendum for franchises); these groups might be en- the alteration of the Constitution, and listed as allies for somehow introducing I&R as a means of by-passing the reac- (b) Substitution of the National Refer- tionary opposition of upper houses. endum for the double dissolution for the settlement of deadlocks between the When Federation was decided on, La- two Houses [House of Representatives bor still saw itself as a third (minority) and Senate]. party — which in fact it was until 1909. (My italics) Subsequent Labor Party platforms in the early years after Federation refer However, the Labor Party wasn’t the just to “Initiative and Referendum” only practitioner of this form of op- without any suggestion the policy was portunism — of backing I&R while limited to the federal Constitution, and in opposition and believing executive the policy remained in the platform power was out of reach in the fore- until 1963. But the policy was never seeable future, and then reneging on implemented at either state or federal enacting I&R legislation once gaining level. The reason for this failure was government or even on the prospect of

8. L.F. Crisp, The Australian Federal Labour Party, 1901-51 (Melbourne: Longmans, 1955). 2008 Australia — a democracy or just another ballotocracy? 15

doing so. Such double standards are which also enabled repeal of constitu- a recurring feature of non-Labor par- tional changes. Further amendments ties. This duplicity is well-documented to the bill proposed by the Greens were in George Williams’s and Geraldine incorporated into the Citizen-Initiated Chin’s assessment of the 35 failed Referendums (Elector-Initiated Re- attempts to have I&R enacted by an peals) Bill 1991, which restricted the ability of citizens to publish or circulate Australian Parliament.9 Undoubtedly, arguments for or against the proposal the most blatant case of such political once the date of the referendum was double-dealing as Williams and Chin advertised. However, the Green Inde- describe involved the Tasmanian pendents failed to support the bill when Liberals, and occurred relatively re- it was voted on in 1991 and the bill was cently:10 defeated at the second reading stage (Tasmania Hansard, 20 June 1991, Early in the 1990s, Tasmania appeared 2025–42). the state most likely to introduce I&R. In 1989, Neil Robson of the Liberal Op- At the next election, shortly after Rob- position introduced the Referendums son’s bill had been defeated by the lower (Elector-Initiated Repeals) Bill 1989, house, the Liberal Party won majority which provided for voters’ veto of leg- government. Robson had retired from islation other than budget bills or the Parliament, but Ron Cornish, who was constitution. The same bill in the form appointed attorney-general, pursued of the Referendums (Elector-Initiated Robson’s I&R proposal. Robson was Repeals) Bill 1990 was reintroduced invited back to help redraft the bill and in 1990. Robson had the support of his remove some of the concessions made colleagues in the Liberal Opposition, to the Green Independents. However, meaning that the bill needed only one when the revised I&R proposal was more vote to pass through the lower put to the Liberal Party at a meeting house after which upper house approval in Port Arthur, only four members of would have followed as a matter of the Liberal Government supported the course (Walker 1993, 25). bill, compared with the 17 members who had supported it in Opposition. The Labor Government was opposed to (My italics) the bill, but the Green Independents indicated that they would support the bill However, Crisp also refers to the early with a number of amendments. Robson “active champions” within the party’s agreed to incorporate these changes ranks who sought its immediate adop- and introduced a revised bill in the form tion. He wrote:11 of the Citizen-Initiated Referendums (Elector-Initiated Repeals) Bill 1990, At their head was Dr W.R.N. Maloney.

9. George Williams and Geraldine Chin, “The Failure of Citizens’ Initiated Referenda Proposals in Australia: New Directions for Popular Participation?”, Australian Journal of Political Science, Vol.35, No.1. 10. Ibid., p.35. 11. Crisp, The Australian Federal Labour Party, 1901-51, op. cit., p.209. 16 National Observer Autumn

Not a parliament went by, and usu- government. Even less were the rank ally not a session, without the ‘Little and file outside Parliament, and the Doctor’ obtaining leave of the federal state Labor leaders beset by legislative parliamentary Labor Party to introduce councils, able or willing to recognise a motion, a bill or an amendment pro- the fundamental nature of these in- viding for the Initiative, Referendum or compatibilities or acknowledge their Recall (or all three). In his own party, gravity. (My italics) and in the parliament as a whole, his unflagging zeal for the cause of direct Just what these “incompatibilities” democracy was met with increasing were, however, Crisp fails to say, as indifference. This intensified and did Deakin when he put forward a extended rapidly after World War I, similar assertion at the 1891 constitu- though outside parliament many Labor tional convention that had buried the adherents to this cause remained. Kingston democratic constitutional But there was also Labor opposition clause. Crisp also fails to acknowledge to the policy. Some party members that the failure to implement I&R set were concerned that I&R was “a the scene for more and more power conservative weapon” that could be to be ceded to politicians — especially used against a Labor government’s ministers or cabinets — and thus for legislative program. (Ironically, one of the loss of power by the people — the I&R’s opponents was Ernest Roberts, a demos. With both sides — Labor and Labor Party man who succeeded King- non-Labor — seeing I&R as a weapon ston as federal member for Adelaide in that could be used by the other, clearly 1908.) Interestingly, at the same time, Australian voters were assured of non-Labor politicians saw I&R as a forever being, and have been, conse- likely “Labor weapon”, which is why quently denied true democracy. they so regularly blocked it in upper Despite I&R being a regular feature houses that they dominated numeri- of the Labor Party’s policy platforms, cally. In Crisp’s view, the opponents it was never implemented at either were right, but for the wrong reason. state or federal level, though it must He said:12 be stressed that several state Labor governments after Federation at- The first Commonwealth Labor par- tempted to do so but were blocked by liamentarians were generally well conservative majorities in the various disposed toward these devices of direct democracy. They had not yet experi- upper houses. Finally, in 1963, at La- enced office and were consequently bor’s 25th national conference, held ill-equipped to appreciate the essen- in Perth, the opponents won the fight: tial incompatibilities between such I&R was dropped from its platform by procedures and British parliamentary a vote of 36 to nil.13

12. Ibid., p.209. 13. Official Report of the Proceedings of the 25th National Conference of the ALP, July 1963, Perth, p.58. 2008 Australia — a democracy or just another ballotocracy? 17

The case for Australia a new constitution for Western Aus- and/or its states adopting tralia and later a book on republican- direct democracy ism in which he opposed the idea that removing the Queen would transform Since Kingston, only a handful of Australia into a republic. During the Australian politicians have spoken out 1990s, he intermittently worked at publicly about the democratic nature the Institute of Government Studies at and benefits of I&R, and not a single Berkeley. His 1990 draft constitution state or federal Labor politician has for Western Australia was presented to done so since at least 1963 when the a state parliamentary select commit- party removed it from its platform. tee. This was done because the state’s Even fewer academics have supported existing constitution was in fact two I&R. In this group, the three most im- acts of the British Parliament. (See portant who have publicly backed I&R Appendix I below). However, it can be are emeritus professor of law at the applied to all Australian states. University of Queensland, Geoffrey Webb also believed that all local gov- de Q. Walker, and Emeritus Professor ernment electors should enjoy the Martyn Webb, and his colleague and same rights of I&R. In this case, he be- co-author, the late Professor Patrick lieved parliament could be trusted to O’Brien, both formerly of the Univer- determine the procedures that would sity of Western Australia. apply. His proposal was also included The deafening silence may reflect the in his draft constitution. more generally held view that direct Swiss and American legislators, be- democracy is somehow a “right-wing cause they are separated from their idea”. Yet, as indicated above, this executives, are able to retain their was not the view of Labor parties at sovereignty in more than a theoreti- the beginning of the 20th century cal sense. Even so, the Swiss and the across Australia, which by no stretch Americans in those states that have of the imagination could be dubbed adopted I&R have ensured that the “right-wing”. It was also not the view voters themselves can oversee their of America’s Populist and Progressive legislators. Australia’s founding fa- movements. Furthermore, none of thers of Federation knew of this but the three major 20th-century “right- ensured that referendums could only wing” movements, German National be held on constitutional issues, and Socialism, Italian Fascism and Hideki even then only politicians could call Tojo’s Japan, had I&R in any of their them. platforms. The late Patrick O’Brien was a politi- Martyn Webb made two fact-find- cal scientist specialising in Soviet and ing visits to the United States in the American political traditions and 1980s to investigate principles behind history. In his view, direct democracy American local government and state provided the institutional means for constitutions. This led to his drafting its practical expression where written 18 National Observer Autumn

into a jurisdiction’s constitution, and ted to constitutional democracy and, ensured that “the man and woman in thereby, transforming ourselves from the street” became sovereign citizens, subjects into sovereign citizens, we not merely subjects. He wrote:14 must make it: people first; Parliament second; Executive third. This, of course, is the reason why there is so much resistance to such doctrines That is, we must democratise our overly and practices from those who cher- hierarchical constitutional arrange- ish the absolute powers mandated to ments, which now make accountability the political executive by virtue of a of government to the people and Parlia- Westminster-type system, no longer ment nigh on impossible. constrained by respect for those tradi- Significantly, it was only about a dec- tional conventions which, in the past, ade after the Labor Party effectively did at least provide some checks on mothballed its I&R policy plank that gross abuses of the constitutionally un- it adopted its socialisation plank. defined and unlimited executive powers of Prime Minister and Cabinet. This was in 1921 which was also the last year that a state Labor govern- O’Brien attributed the elites’ strong ment sought to have I&R adopted at distrust of the people to Australia’s the state level. This makes it all the colonial past and also to the political more remarkable that the I&R plank correctness that is both promoted and survived even on paper in the national reinforced in the nation’s universities. platform between 1910 and 1963. He said: “These traditions have been homogenised in Australia mainly O’Brien put forward 20 recommenda- through higher educational institutions to reverse the embedded power tions. This explains further why our of national and state executives (cabi- elites distrust constitutional arrange- nets), unrepresentative parliaments, ments that empower the people.” He and the now compulsorily taxpayer-fi- asked:15 nanced parties in the Australian political system. One of these was adoption What, though, is our present consti- of the principle and practice of direct tutional reality? Does it, on balance, democracy:16 favour the people? [A]s sovereigns, it is vital that the In theory, our present order of consti- people have the constitutional right tutional priorities is: Parliament first; to initiate legislation through referen- Executive second; people third. In dums. The sovereign citizens may also reality, it is Executive first; Parliament allow the Parliament to put legislation second; people third. If we are commit- to the people for popular vote. Where

14. Patrick O’Brien, “Sovereigns not subjects: the need for more direct democracy”, Proceedings of the Samuel Griffith Society (Melbourne), Vol.6, 1995, Chapter 10, p.198. 15. Ibid., p.204. 16. Ibid., p.207. 2008 Australia — a democracy or just another ballotocracy? 19

this does occur — particularly in Swit- policies, thereby increasing politi- zerland and a majority of US states cians’ security of tenure. — consensus tends to outweigh conflict, • Conversely, politicians can say “no” and governments become more cau- to minority pressure groups agitat- tious about legislative impositions and more prone to consult, in the knowl- ing for extreme legislation, while edge that the people effectively wield advising that if they really believe the ultimate legislative weapon through they have popular backing, they can Citizen-Initiated Referendums, whose launch a petition. strength, like that of most reserve pow- • Direct legislation gives the people ers of sovereigns, lies not so much in an incentive to take an interest in the scorecards of success and failure public issues and so make the best on particular measures, but in its very use of their talents and experience. existence as the ultimate symbol and It is sometimes said that Austral- embodiment of citizens’ sovereignty. ians are politically apathetic and The third academic advocate of direct ignorant. democracy is Geoffrey de Q. Walker. • On particular issues people may As well as regularly speaking on I&R, well be ill-informed and many are Walker is author of Australia’s most certainly apathetic. But that is itself popular book on the subject; Initiative a result of the present anti-demo- and Referendum: The People’s Law cratic system which has deliberately 17 (1987). The following summary of his excluded direct voter participation. views on the policy is taken from his To become well informed or active 1994 Brisbane address to the Samuel 18 on a particular issue takes time and Griffith Society: effort. • I&R checks tendencies of political • At present, citizens have no incen- parties to make laws that are con- tive to seek full information on trary to the wishes or beliefs of the any particular issue because they voters. know that when the next election • I&R does not, however, eliminate comes they’ll be confronted with political parties or lobby groups the same political cartel offering a since these have a part to play. choice between two, or at the most • I&R allows people to distinguish three, personalities and policies between politics and personalities packages. — so they no longer need to turn • The system of direct legislation, on out of office a government they the other hand, calls on voters to basically approve, simply because express considered opinions that they object to one of its legislative will automatically count in the law-

17. Geoffrey de Q. Walker, Initiative and Referendum: The People’s Law (Sydney: Centre for Independent Studies, 1987). 18. Geoffrey de Q. Walker, “Direct democracy and citizen law-making”, Proceedings of the Samuel Griffith Society (Brisbane), vol.4, 1994, ch.9, pp. 281-304. 20 National Observer Autumn

making process. This gives voters In Switzerland, the [citizen-initiated] an incentive for independent and referendum in fact accomplished a considered thought. political revolution. This single in- stitution led to the development of • Most people behave responsibly what has come to be called ‘consensus when responsibility is placed upon democracy’, in which the ranks of the them. As Thomas Jefferson said, government are opened to members of men in whom others believe come the opposition parties by a proportional at length to believe in themselves; allocation of Cabinet positions. men on whom others depend are in the main dependable. This is the basis for the extraordinary • Under Australia’s present anti- stability of Swiss governments and the democratic constitutional arrange- long tenure of elected representatives ments and doctrines, governments in that country. that win elections are virtually But even apart from that, direct legis- handed dictatorial power for the lation takes some of the life-or-death next three or four years. In that character out of parliamentary elec- time, there is little or nothing to tions, because the winning party no stop them from using their par- longer gains near-absolute power. It liamentary majority to destroy dispels the climate of fear that sur- society’s most precious institutions rounds party rivalry and reduces the or trample on its most cherished incentive or pressure to engage in un- values. scrupulous or arbitrary behaviour. • Politicians in countries where I&R exists have become more respectful Impact of America’s towards public opinion. They have learned to give more thought and Populist-Progressive care to legislative proposals, and movements on western to avoid passing bills vehemently USA, 1898-1918 opposed by a substantial portion America’s rural-based Populists and of the population. their successor, the predominantly Walker concluded by outlining how urban-based Progressive movement, the direct involvement by Swiss vot- both of which inspired campaigning, ers as citizen law-makers had trans- the drawing up of platforms, and sup- formed their nation into a unique real port for candidates contesting munici- democracy. pal and state legislature seats as well In just three paragraphs he puts paid as the presidency, emerged largely to all those who argue for voters to be because increasing numbers of voters subservient to politician hierarchs, recognised that what they may desire party machines and their power-bro- didn’t necessarily coincide with what kers:19 elected politicians — forever under the

19. Ibid., pp.281-304. 2008 Australia — a democracy or just another ballotocracy? 21

influence of powerful and moneyed tion impacting upon him became law, interests — may enact. This over-arch- that is, direct democracy. It is because ing sentiment was most sharply felt of this rarely commented upon close across the western USA — the states association with a democratic ideal west of the Mississippi River — during between Australian colonial branches the three decades from 1890 to the of the Labor Party, and later the Fed- conclusion of the Great War. erated Labor Party, that I&R, for a time, came close to being adopted Not generally emphasised in Australia across Australia. Unfortunately, the is that the various groups that were exact path that the I&R ideal took has active in late 19th-century Australian never been researched in Australia’s colonies, and which coalesced during academies. the 1890s to form the Australian Labor Party, were influenced by many of the Notwithstanding this regrettable ideas that emanated from both these negligence on the part of Australian American movements and that such historians, we can know that path be- ideas inspired agitation, reformist cause Australian colonial newspapers proposals, platforms, pamphleteering reported American affairs. The exist- and electoral campaigning across the ence of the telegraph and submarine colonies. And this was a two-way af- cable links between the two continents fair since both American movements were also crucial factors. promoted adoption of secret balloting Also not to be ignored was the fact — known then as the Australian Bal- that ideological and political activists, lot — which had been taken up across promoters, pamphleteers, and other eastern Australia prior to the 1861-65 secular missionaries, including those American Civil War. associated with fraternities like the Many Australian unionists and Labor Knights of Labor and later even the activists, especially, were constantly anti-democratic International Work- in search of ways and means of ensur- ers of the World, to name two, had ing that their burning commitment quite well-established links across the to programs designed to build what Pacific Ocean. they saw as a “better nation” would It is therefore not surprising that by become acceptable to society at large. 1897 three Australian colonial branch- However, the stand-out democratic es of the Labor Party — Queensland idea common to American Populists (1892), NSW and Tasmania (1897) and Progressives and many Austral- — had included I&R in their platforms. ian unionist and Labor activists was And by 1908 (at the height of Ameri- I&R. ca’s Progressive era) Victoria, South The early antipodean disciples of Australia and Western Australia had I&R even shared the same terminol- followed. Federal Labor had adopted ogy when describing this method of this plank in 1900. ensuring “the man in the street” had Leading Australian Laborite identities the final say on whether or not legisla- like William and Ernie Lane, W.G. 22 National Observer Autumn

Spence, Arthur Rae and George Black, across states beyond New England to name five, were associated with were able to stress that what they were the Knights of Labor via the Freedom doing was indigenous to America, not Assembly where ideas and programs a purely foreign notion. were discussed and debated. Both these turn-of-the-century Ameri- What this meant was that many ideas can movements are rightly described that appealed to millions of American as amongst “the greatest democracy voters, especially across America’s movements in history”. They therefore western states, were likely to be if not stand alongside the United Kingdom’s embraced by all within Labor ranks democratic Chartist movement that then at least known of and likely to emerged earlier in the 19th century have some enthusiastic backers, espe- which so dramatically affected colonial cially in Sydney and Melbourne. Australia through the work, especially, of Henry Chapman, with his success- The Labor Party’s website history page ful introduction of the secret ballot in recognises the influence of American Victoria, something northern hemi- political ideas and thinking during the sphere ballotocracies, most especially party’s formative years. According to in the United States, were to adopt due that site, the spelling “Labor” (rather to the efforts of their Populists and than “Labour”) “was adopted from Progressives. 1912 onwards, due to the influence of the American labor movement”.20 The secret ballot, or what continues (My italics) to be known across America as the Australian Ballot, was most strongly Although America’s halcyon days of and successfully promoted by the adoption of direct democracy came as Progressives since it was crucial to this a result of the Populist and Progressive movement’s major democratic ideal, movements, especially the latter, one namely Initiative and Referendum.21 must not forget that the pioneering Atlantic coast English communities That said, it must be stressed that — those established during the 17th Populists and Progressive reformers century across New England — uti- never set out to displace representa- lised town meetings and so-called tion but only to augment it by adoption of people’s direct legislation — the home rule, to ratify laws and enshrine I&R — as well as the recall of elected amendments proposed by their legis- officials deemed to have failed (i.e., lators. neglected or ignored) the voters who This meant that those Americans pro- had elevated them to a representative moting Swiss-style direct democracy status.

20. “History of the Australian Labor Party: Origins of Labor in Parliament”, from official website of the Australian Labor Party. URL: www.alp.org.au/about/history.php 21. “Henry Chapman”, Australian Dictionary of Biography, edited by Douglas Pike (Melbourne University Press), Vol.3, p.381. 2008 Australia — a democracy or just another ballotocracy? 23

The Populists Item 7. RESOLVED, That we commend to the favorable consideration of the Within a decade of the end of the people and the reform press the legisla- Civil War, American farmers began to tive system known as the initiative and experience ongoing depressed condi- referendum. tions. One outcome was creation of the Farmers’ Alliance which blossomed in Item 8. RESOLVED, That we favor a both the southern and western states constitutional provision limiting the and was to be transformed into what office of President and Vice-President historians refer to as the Populist to one term, and providing for the elec- movement. A significant aspect of this tion of senators of the United States by transformation was that this move- a direct vote of the people. (My italics) ment became allied with the Knights The existence of Item 1 certainly shows of Labor by the 1890s. And, two years that the flow of ideas and attraction to later at its party convention in Omaha, political practices across the Pacific Nebraska, delegates moved to field — east-to-west — was a reality. De- a presidential candidate, James B. spite this, Weaver carried only four Weaver, under the so-called Omaha states, attracting 5 per cent of the vote, Platform. against Republican and Democratic Key features of this platform included candidates. The states were Idaho, opposition to the gold standard and Nevada, Kansas and Colorado, and a hostility to eastern banks, in other representative each from North Da- words, sentiments that were often kota and Oregon. voiced in Australian union and Labor circles. But this farmer-labor alliance Although the Populists contested the also included, in its expression of sen- 1896 presidential election, they had timents statement, firstly:22 already begun declining as a national force. But this did not mean that those Item 1. RESOLVED, That we demand in America’s western states who were a free ballot and a fair count in all elec- attracted to an Australian democratic tions and pledge ourselves to secure it procedure — the secret ballot — and to every legal voter without federal in- Swiss-style direct democracy, I&R, tervention, through the adoption by the were to become a spent force. On the states of the unperverted Australian or contrary, a new movement was already secret ballot system. (My italics) in the making, one that borrowed Secondly, and crucially, two addi- much from the seemingly failed Popu- tional items were designed to greatly lists. And its impact would be felt in enhance voter control of elected rep- late colonial and early federated Aus- resentatives. These were:23 tralia, but more so across the western

22. See: http://historymatters.gmu.edu/d/5361/, for The Omaha Platform: Launching the Populist Party. 23. Ibid. 24 National Observer Autumn

states of the US. It came to be known across the ranks of the Australian as the Progressive movement. Labor Party. Over and above this, the major catch-cry of Progressivism was The Progressives “take the misrepresentation out of representative government”. America’s Progressive movement Progressives consequently pushed was a diverse intellectual, political for secret ballots — the Australian and managerialist phenomenon, one Ballot — and direct election of sena- that impacted upon labour relations; tors; direct primaries; recall of elected urban and municipal planning and officials by a vote of electors between administration; the role of women, elections; and Initiative and Referen- especially women’s suffrage, which dum; that is, the blocking of legislation it ardently backed; and corporate, and its initiation by voters. The direct urban, national and state governance. election of US senators was instituted Underpinning all this was a body through the 17th amendment of 1913, of ideas that inspired empirical and and women’s suffrage was attained statistical research within the grow- with the 19th amendment in 192o. ing number of universities across the United States, including especially Unlike the Populists, the Progressives those of the Western states. were to be largely victorious with the adoption of I&R across most of Here, however, it is only the question America’s western states. One reason of state governance that is pertinent for this was that the Populists, who, since the movement embraced the amongst other things, had also fielded overriding commitment that Ameri- presidential candidates, laid the basis, cans should be governed by elected during the 1890s, for the Progressives representatives who are responsive by popularising I&R across those to voters rather than exclusively to states. special financial and party-machine interests. Another reason for the Progressives’ success was that several outstanding It was, in many ways, a left-of-centre campaigners emerged who doggedly movement; but it did not share with pressed for the limiting of power of subsequent 20th-century leftist move- politicians and party machines and ments a desire for violent revolution. power-brokers within those machines However, some Progressives believed through the adoption of the secret that privately-owned companies were ballot and I&R. These included Cali- incapable of serving the public or fornians Hiram Johnson (1866-1945) national interest and consequently and John Randolph Haynes (1853- wished to see the federal government 1937). of the US acquiring ownership of big business. Banks, railroad and logging Johnson was California’s governor companies were particularly prone from 1911 to 1917, after which he was to being targeted in this regard. Sig- a senator until his death. He removed nificantly, similar views were shared the power of California’s state legis- 2008 Australia — a democracy or just another ballotocracy? 25

lature to elect federal senators and In 1895, just four years after King- backed women’s suffrage. In 1911 he ston had written his draft Australian and his Progressive backers adopted constitution that incorporated I&R, I&R and Recall which became an Batchelor introduced the Referendum integral part of California’s system of Bill that allowed for indirect initiative governance. Haynes, via the Union and voters’ veto and also the ability of Reform League in Los Angeles, fought electors to approve or disapprove at a for women’s suffrage, direct legisla- referendum any bill which was twice tion, public ownership of utilities, and rejected by the upper house. graduated taxation, policies that Aus- The Batchelor Bill lapsed at the end of tralian Labor shared at that time. the session due to lack of support from In Australia, direct popular legisla- the Government. In 1916, the then in- tion was backed by many prominent dustry minister, Blundell, introduced men besides Kingston and Maloney. the Initiative & Referendum Bill which Four stand-out notables were South provided for direct initiative and Australians Egerton Batchelor (1865- voter veto. However, it also lapsed. 1911) and Reginald Blundell (1871- Although re-introduced in 1917, it was 1945), and Western Australians John never debated.26 Scaddan (1876-1934) and Thomas Scaddan became Western Australia’s Walker (1858-1932). premier in 1911 and, two years later, Batchelor has been described as “a his government introduced an I&R central figure in the South Austral- Bill that the WA upper house rejected ian Labour movement as early as his despite the enthusiasm shown by twenties. … First elected to the Trades Scaddan’s attorney-general, Thomas and Labour Council in 1889, he was its Walker, who stressed that what he treasurer in 1892 and secretary next was seeking for Western Australia year … he was one of the leading foun- was a tried and tested approach to dation members and a driving force governance. in the formation of the United Labor Walker said: “It is not introduced for Party in 1891”.24 Blundell, on the other the first time in the world and, in fact, hand, “was involved with the Labour I may say there is a long series of ex- movement as a young and active mem- periments and experience. It has been ber of the Tobacco Twisters’ Union of found to work well wherever it has which he was secretary for eight years. been tried. It has been introduced not … He was always well prepared with only in Switzerland but in America and facts, figuresand the views of overseas has worked well.” Walker was asked authorities.” (My italics)25 while delivering his second reading

24. “Egerton Lee Batchelor”, Australian Dictionary of Biography, op. cit., Vol.7, pp.206-208. 25. “Reginald Blundell”, Australian Dictionary of Biography, op. cit., Vol.7, p.326. 26. Williams and Chin, op. cit., pp.34-5. 26 National Observer Autumn

speech: “What parts of America?” He law. Consequently, only 16 of Ameri- immediately named the 16 American ca’s 50 states do not have at least one states that had I&R by 15 December direct democratic procedure or com- 1913, the day he was introducing the ponent. However, seven — California, bill, and added: “It is also in vogue in Colorado, Arizona, Montana, Michigan, Saskatchewan, one of the provinces of Nevada and Oregon — have all four di- Canada…”27 rect democratic components: referral, Finally, it is noteworthy that, between initiative, referendum and recall. 1898 and 1918, 19 American states Australia and its six states and two adopted I&R following state-wide territories, although often on the brink referendums. This began in 1897 with of seeing I&R adopted, fall in with cities in Nebraska opting for the initia- the latter 16 states which means that tive. A year later, South Dakota copied America’s Progressive era did not leave the 1848 Swiss I&R provision by a a lasting mark on Australian political three-to-two margin. Utah followed in life. On the contrary, I&R’s most vocal 1900, in the year Australia federated opponents were eventually to be found and the year the Federal Labor Party at the senior levels of the Australian included I&R in its national platform. Labor Party, the party that once pro- Utah’s vote was five-to-two. Two years moted it. Today, only the Australian later, Oregon followed with an 11-1 Democrats, a minority party since its (62,024 to 5,699 votes) majority. And foundation in 1976, have incorporated so the movement proceeded across the I&R into their national platform. western United States with most of these states opting for adoption. ALP discards I&R However, the years 1918 to 1956 — a 38-year gap — saw no further state Sixty-three years after Labor’s 1900 opting for I&R. The Progressive move- adoption of I&R, it held its 25th na- ment had simply petered out during tional conference in Perth. On the the Prohibition Era, the Great Depres- agenda was a motion to drop the policy sion, World War II, and the beginning from its platform with little explana- of the Cold War. But, with the conclu- tion. According to the party’s Official sion of the Korean War, demands re- Report of the Proceedings of the 25th emerged with five more states adopt- National Conference of the ALP, July ing I&R. Today, the number stands at 1963, the motion was moved by Don 34 states having some component of Dunstan, a future South Australian I&R, Recall, or Referral by legislatures premier. then an Adelaide lawyer. He on their own volition, so that voters won unanimous support. The motion could confirm or reject an adopted was carried 36 votes to none.28

27. Western Australian Hansard, Legislative Assembly, 5 December 1913, p.3415. 28. Official Report of the Proceedings of the 25th National Conference of the ALP, Perth, July 1963, p.58. 2008 Australia — a democracy or just another ballotocracy? 27

Dunstan was also one of the drafts- in the Commonwealth Parliament, men of the conference’s official report. with the devolution of adequate pow- Thankfully, for history’s sake, the re- ers upon subordinate legislatures port included a three-and-a-half page and municipalities elected by adult statement in support of the motion. suffrage.” The statement focused on the federal The 1963 statement continued:30 parliament’s 1959 bi-partisan Consti- tutional Review Committee [CRC]. The chances of carrying a referendum The CRC made several recommenda- to give effect to the CRC’s proposals tions that would, if implemented, have do not seem bright, except perhaps in further centralised power in Canberra. times of grave economic stress. Many Not surprisingly, I&R was not part of people in Australia, however, are thor- the package. Labor’s conference report oughly sick of the waste of having seven quite rightly stated that the Robert different parliaments to govern a nation Menzies-led Liberal Party would not of this size. Therefore, if we fail to get implement the package. The state- the CRC’s proposals carried at a refer- ment said:29 endum, it might be more likely that we could carry a referendum which posited Labor would therefore have to put the the single question, easily understood, proposals to a referendum which would of replacing the present system by be complicated and not easy to explain one sovereign national parliament to the man in the street. with the power and duty of creating county governments which would be The history of referenda in Australia subordinate local governing bodies. If shows clearly that, where the people carried, it could give effect to the whole do not understand either the proposals of Labor’s constitutional proposals in or the implications, they seek safety by one fell swoop. voting ‘no’. In short, the 1963 or Dunstan explana- At this point, a comment is made tion for dropping I&R boils down to that consideration of I&R was really saying the party’s over-riding intent tangential to the ALP national con- was to centralise legislative power in ference’s main interest which was the national parliament in Canberra, the centralisation of Australia via the and I&R would have hindered that eventual abolition of state govern- objective. ments, a Labor commitment since 1918. In that year, the following plank The next four paragraphs of the 1963 was inserted into the party’s fighting statement make Labor’s aversion to platform: “Unlimited legislative pow- sharing power with the people all too ers in Australian affairs to be vested clear:31

29. Ibid., p.90. 30. Ibid., p.90. 31. Ibid., p.92. 28 National Observer Autumn

In the original fight over the federal Recall was another device championed Constitution, Labor feared that the by American Progressives. They saw new Constitution [of 1901] would be it as a way of ensuring that corrupt so written as to entrench the forces and/or electorally unresponsive politi- of conservatism and set at nought the cians could be prompted and consti- gains Labor was already making for the tutionally removed from office ahead workers through state parliaments. of scheduled elections. Not surprisingly, the device is not popular with Labor men urged the incorporation politicians anywhere, and Labor Party in the Constitution of provisions for direct legislation by the people, as a politicians were no exception judging safeguard against what they feared from their comments at various party would happen. conferences when the matter came up for discussion. In fact, Labor has made great gains To strengthen its argument against through the federal parliament and, I&R, the 1963 statement quoted from in the [Dunstan] committee’s view, if Dr Herman Finer’s The Theory and Labor had been successful and written Practice of Modern Government,32 the initiative, referendum and recall but did so somewhat selectively. Fin- into the federal Constitution, those er’s two-volume work, first published devices would have hindered Labor in 1932, was probably his most influ- governments far more than conservative ones. ential and became a standard textbook in Australian undergraduate courses. The statement provides the following definition of what the Labor Party’s The statement said that Finer carried out “an exhaustive survey” of direct commitment to I&R meant. It said: legislation:33 The initiative is a device by which leg- He makes it clear that through these islation can be introduced to the house devices it is easy for conservatism to put by a petition and subsequent vote of brakes upon reform parties — that it is the people. generally impossible to expect people to appreciate or understand the details of The referendum is a device by which the issues which are complicated, and that parliament can be compelled to submit to be safe they will always vote against bills in the house to a vote of the whole what they do not fully understand. people, and Rarely have these devices worked to introduce reforms, but they have very The recall is a device for ousting mem- often worked to prevent desirable social bers of parliament before their term reforms. They have been the effective has expired. weapons of the reactionaries and the

32. Herman Finer, The Theory and Practice of Modern Government, [1932] (London: Methuen, 1946). 33. Official Report of the Proceedings of the 25th National Conference of the ALP, Perth, July, 1963, p.92. 2008 Australia — a democracy or just another ballotocracy? 29

irresponsibles, and in the committee’s The second endorsed direct democ- view we would be giving a danger- racy because it “compels the legislator ous weapon to our enemies were we to conform with the aspirations of the to provide for direct legislation in the people, if he does not wish the fruit of Commonwealth Constitution. There his labours to perish”. Finer’s remark, has been no significant interest in or “But the legislator’s fruits may be so agitation for this part of the [Labor Party’s] platform for the past 50 years, good that they ought not to perish, and and the proposal runs counter to the the aspirations of the people may be development of the party system and uninformed, unintelligent and vindic- the established traditions of Australian tive”, amounts to turning democracy politics. (My italics) on its head by arguing for rule by a meritocracy. Finer himself wrote: “The Swiss ideal- ise their system more than the Ameri- The third extract said: “It [direct de- cans, but when one examines their mocracy] puts an end to acute conflict opinions they are seen to be of small between people and governments, and substance.”34 (My italics) He then provides one of the safest barriers commented on three extracts from the there can be against revolutionary agi- writings of the eminent Swiss historian tation.” What Bonjour was saying was Felix Bonjour’s post-World War I book, that a system that puts the interests Real Democracy in Operation.35 and opinions of a minority ahead of those of a majority is inherently unsta- The first endorsed direct democracy as ble and could well lead the majority to “the surest method of discovering the take extra-parliamentary measures to wishes of the people — an excellent ba- reassert their sovereign rights. Finer, rometer of the political atmosphere”. however, took the view that the “evil” To this, Finer retorted: “But we have was not supplanting the majority’s seen that people’s wishes can be de- will with a minority, however more structive, when they have not met to- intelligent it might be. The evil, in his gether to discuss the consequences of opinion, was the “brute force” of a their activity and are not enlightened referendum which might produce “a by those who are wise and informed.” majority decision which has in some Finer’s decision to describe the out- cases been an exceedingly small ma- come of a referendum — a majority jority, and sometimes a minority of the vote by the people — as an exercise whole electorate”. in destruction, as well as being an extreme anti-democratic statement, Labor’s 1963 national conference also further evidences his belief that decision to repudiate I&R was there- a minority should rule irrespective of fore fundamentally flawed since it the wishes of the majority. amounted to:

34. Finer, op. cit., pp.931-32. 35. Felix Bonjour, Real Democracy in Operation: The Example of Switzerland, English trans. (London: Allen & Unwin, 1920). 30 National Observer Autumn

• Rejecting the best possible option In that year, the party’s 25th national for “discovering the wishes of the conference unanimously dropped the people”; plank on the grounds I&R could be • Dismissing voters as uninformed, used by its “enemies” to thwart La- unintelligent and vindictive while bor’s 1918 centralist plank, that part lauding legislators as the “wise and of Labor’s platform most cherished by informed” ones. senior ranks. Seen in this light, it is a wonder the That the Labor Party’s upper echelons ALP conference did not go on to reject should so fear the people — the demos the idea of universal suffrage. Why not — is a truly amazing feature of that or- simply have what Finer calls the “wise ganisation. This appears never to have and informed” governing the many at been brought to light before but it cer- all times and without elections? tainly provides support for O’Brien’s contention that “in every social democratic party there is a Leninist Party in Conclusion potentia”. In the 1960s, Labor once I&R in Australia has had few cham- again set its sights on refashioning pions, but the list once upon a time Australia into a unitary state rather included the Labor Pa rty, or rather than allowing it to remain a federated the Labor Party in its formative or nation. Labor wished to see Australia pre- and immediate post-federation more closely resemble the United years and a tiny handful of non-La- Kingdom, New Zealand and South bor politicians, including especially Africa, rather than permit it to evolve former NSW independent federal along the lines of the United States of MP, Ted Mack, and onetime Howard America and Switzerland. Government minister, Peter Reith. In In so doing, it sought to further en- the Western Australian parliament in shrine Westminster-style representa- 2008, only one MP, Dan Sullivan, a tive or limited democracy — all power Liberal, actively backed adoption of to the elected few, not to the electing direct democracy. Labor’s early aware- many. Labor’s fear was that if voters ness of and attraction to I&R was due ever received a clear-cut ability to primarily to the influence of American launch non-parliamentary choices via Populist/Progressive thinking as dis- I&R, then most Australians would be seminated within the Labor movement able to reject centralisation at refer- via the American Federation of Labor endums. Creeping transformation to- as well as ongoing informal contacts wards a rigidly controlled unitary state by certain early Labor activists. through a process that would be slowly But this influence was short-lived, and methodically implemented from effectively lasting less than 20 years, the top was consequently seen as the even though the Labor Party retained way to go. And that meant, first and the I&R plank in its official platforms foremost, denying Australians a way of for another half century, until 1963. electorally blocking such a move. 2008 Australia — a democracy or just another ballotocracy? 31

The fact that Labor went cool on I&R and amendments to the Constitution well before the outbreak of the Great and to adopt or reject them, or by ex- War, when it was no longer “a third ercising their powers of Referendum, (minority) party”, means it is difficult to approve or reject statutes or parts not to suspect that most within its of statutes except urgency statutes, senior ranks had backed this plank statutes calling for elections, and for reasons other than a sincere com- statutes providing for taxation or ap- mitment to democratic principles and propriations for usual and concurrent practices. Such individuals saw I&R as expenses of state. a way of overcoming the blocking of a. An initiative measure may be Labor government-initiated legislation proposed by presenting to the At- by non-Labor dominated state upper torney-General a petition which houses and even the Senate, an outlook sets forth the text of the proposed and practice that was subsequently statute or amendment to the Con- emulated by non-Labor parties which stitution and is certified to have came to view I&R as something that been signed by electors in the case would strip them of power. of a statute equal to three percent Opposition to broader voter involve- of those eligible to vote where vot- ment in the legislative process is the ing is compulsory, or five percent of antithesis of democracy because it those voting at the previous election ensures that power permanently rests where voting was not compulsory; with the few, rather than the many. De- and in the case of an amendment mocracy envisages the very opposite, to the Constitution, five percent of and to this day I&R is the most suc- the electorate where voting is com- cessful and best tested procedure for pulsory, and eight percent of those democracy to be fully realised. Despite who voted at the previous election this, both sides of Australia’s political where voting was not compulsory. divide have come deeply to despise b. The Attorney-General shall then I&R because they do not wish to share submit the measure at the next legislative power with all Australians. general election held, or at any state-wide election held prior to Appendix I that, or at a special election called solely for the purpose of approv- ing or disapproving of that or any Initiative and referendum36 other measures submitted by the SECTION 6. The People, at any time, People at that time and in each case are entitled to exercise their powers at least 90 days after the initiative of Initiative by proposing statutes qualifies.

36. Martyn Webb, Sovereigns not Subjects — A New Constitution for The People of Western Aus- tralia (Perth, self-published, 1990), pp.5-9. Webb states at the end of his proposed Constitu- tion — “Freely adapted and appropriately amended from the State Constitutions of California, Massachusetts, Nebraska, Alaska and Hawaii.” 32 National Observer Autumn

c. No initiative measure embracing election. The Governor may call a more than one subject or more than special state-wide election for the one question may be submitted measure. to the electors or have any effect. In case of doubt the matter shall Vote and effective date, be adjudicated upon by the Chief ammendment, titling Justice of the Supreme Court of SECTION 7. An initiative statute or Western Australia. referendum approved by the majority d. The powers of the People to pro- of votes thereon takes effect the day af- pose the rejection by referendum ter the election results are announced of a statute other than a statute unless the measure provides otherwise concerning supply, or the levying and where the referendum is against of taxes or the making of appro- only part of a statute. The effect of the priations, may be exercised within remainder shall not be delayed from 120 days after the enactment of the going into effect. statute by the parliament by the presentation of a petition to the a. Where provisions of two or more Secretary of State certified to have measures adopted at the same time been signed by electors equal in conflict, those of the measure re- number to three percent of the elec- ceiving the highest number of YES torate where voting is compulsory votes shall prevail. or five percent of those who voted at b. Prior to circulation of an initiative the previous election where voting or referendum petition for signa- was not compulsory. ture, a copy shall be submitted to e. No amendment to the Constitution the Attorney-General who shall and rejection of a statute proposed prepare a title and a summary of to the electors by the Parliament the measure as provided by law or by Initiative or by Referendum within fourteen days. that names any individual to hold c. An initiated law is not subject to office or identifies any private cor- veto, nor may it be repealed by poration to perform any function or to have any power or duty may Parliament within two years of its be submitted to the electors or have enactment. It may be amended at any effect. any time. f. The People have the right to pro- d. Parliament shall provide the man- pose the rejection or amendment ner in which petitions shall be of any statute passed prior to the circulated, presented and certified, passing of this Constitution. and measures submitted to the electors. g. The Governor shall then submit the measure at the next general election at least 90 days after it Joseph Poprzeczny is a Perth- qualifies or at a special state-wide based freelance journalist and election held prior to that general historical researcher.