Another good op-ed supporting Citizens' Assembly about climate policy
My friend Carolyn Hendriks’ op-ed in the The Age newspaper was accepted before I submitted mine. I don’t mind, as it makes excellent points!
Suspend your cynicism for one moment and consider what this citizens’ assembly might potentially offer.
Citizens’ assemblies are tools for eliciting considered policy advice from informed citizens. They are not about building “ommunity consensus”, educating “the people” or even about gauging opinions. For these we have elections, information campaigns, and opinion polls.
What citizens’ assemblies bring to democracy is deliberation. Issues are placed under scrutiny not by experts and politicians but by ordinary citizens.
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