Alannah comes up short
Alannah Mactiernan has been a long-time promoter of public engagement processes in Western Australia. When she was state minister for planning and infrastructure, there were more deliberative processes convened in Western Australia than anywhere else in the world. I met her in Perth and found her to be easily approachable and passionate about making government accountable to voters. She was a vital expert contributor to our Citizens’ Parliament.
In this federal election, she ran as an Labor party candidate in her home electorate of Canning, southeast of Perth. The seat was held by Liberals, so it was always going to be an uphill battle. Unfortunately, she just came up just short. So even if Gillard does gain government, Alannah won’t be there to push public engagement from the inside.
Immediately after her loss, she tore shreds off the Labor party election campaign. Perhaps rightly so.
I hope her life after politics includes work in the practice of public participation.
Published under a Creative Commons License
