Conference Keynote Speaker

Despite an explosion of democracy around the world since 1989, the end of the Cold War has also removed much of the strident ideological debate that used to characterise democracy in countries such as Australia. People feel disillusioned and increasingly dis-empowered in the face of increasingly complex social and economic issues, even in the “luckiest” of countries. Globalisation is often characterised as an international convergence of power, yet the information revolution and a new focus on communities arguably provides an opportunity for a much richer, more participative democracy than ever before. Tasmania Together was an experiment in engaging as many as possible in a community of half a million people, to develop a community vision and goals for the next twenty years. It reached beyond politics by signing up all political leaders to the process and seeking the involvement of key stakeholder groups in setting benchmarks to measure our progress towards the community’s goals. The process has survived some political and media hype to become embedded in the strategic planning of government. Can it reach beyond bureaucrats and help build partnerships within the community to tackle the complex problems that Tasmanians want addressed over the long term?