0 Has The Increased Influence Of Minor Parties And Independents Enhanced Democracy In Australia?

1.0 INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background

Globally, democracy has been accepted as a useful political system that ensures an open, fair and accountable form of governance (Pybus, 1991). Through democracy, the gap between the government and the populace is breached whereby there is a better representation of the people at the government level. As a matter of fact, democracy even creates the opportunity whereby the government is actually selected by the people. It is for this reason that democracy is said to be governance for the people (Stock, 2006). These positive remarks about democracy do not mean however that the successes associated with democracy come on a silver platter. Democratic successes are actually worked and it only takes a country with very good structures and systems to have a perfect democratic practice that is free from hitches and predicaments. A democratic practicing nation, Australia has held on to the very fundamental provisions of democratic governance for a very long time. Though globally acclaimed as a democratic giant, the country continues to make strives in getting her democratic practice become even better. It is for this reason that the democratic practice of Australia continues to be under scrutiny and research. All these happen in a bid to establish the core place of Australia’s democratic practice in global politics.

1.2 Research Question

The successful completion of this essay would be judged by whether or not the writer has been able to address and sufficiently answered the question: “Has the increased influence of minor parties and independents enhanced democracy in Australia?”

1.3 Rationale for the Study

As pointed out earlier, Australia as a country is never resting on her achievement as a recognized practitioner of fair and transparent democracy. Rather, there continues to be ways of searching for knowledge and ideas to make the democratic practice of the country even better (Warhurst, 2007). The rationale of this essay is firmly rooted in this philosophy to examine the role of minor political parties and independents  in Australia and ways of ensuring that the minor political parities become even more proactive and useful to the democratic dispensation of the country.

1.4 Central Argument

One of the core philosophies of the Australian democratic practice that could be pointed out as a secret to her democracy is the involvement of minor political parties in the country’s democratic dispensations. The writer therefore takes the position that the increased influence of minor political parties and independence in Australia’s political system has enhanced democracy in Australia.

2.0 REVIEW OF INFLUENCE OF MINOR PARTIES TO AUSTRALIA’S DEMOCRACY

The writer shall use the following sections to break his persuasion into three major themes of the role of minor political parties in enhancing the democratic practice of Australia. These themes were first used by Gauja (2010). The themes are electoral influence, organisational influence and parliamentary influence. Each theme shall have two major factors or roles.

2.1 Electoral

2.1.1 Consolidates the basic provisions of the constitution

The first electoral role that the minor political parties play in Australia’s political democratic system is that they help in consolidating the basic provisions of the country’s constitution. This is because in Australian constitution, there is a special provision for proportional representation (Vromen and Gelber, 2005).  Proportional representation method of voting is a special dispensation that demands that minor political parties and independents  should attain a minimum of one quota in all electoral state. Such representation is further manifest in the parliamentary system as the representatives from the minor political parties are represented in a parliamentary chamber. This is a major justification that in the absence of minor political parties, this basic provision of the Australian constitution would not have been met. It is without doubt therefore that the minor political parties have an important role of ensuring the whole constitution is protected and adhered to. It is argued that in any democratic dispensation, the constitution of a country is the highest policy document and the most authoritative document as well (Maddox, 2005).

One cannot imagine how ridiculous it would have been if provision created by such a powerful document were not adhered to because there were minor political parties to implement the provisions. Yet again, the political parties are more important in ensuring that the basic provisions of all democratic practice reach the people of Australia. With this, reference is being made to the fact that in democratic practice, the actual owners of the government is the people. So if there were no minor political parties and their representation in parliament and other agencies of governance, one would have wondered how the people who form the minority (so called people in the minor political parties) would have had their right of claiming owner of the government fulfilled. This is an important point that explains how and why in electoral processes, minor political parties and independents in Australia remain very instrumental and useful.

2.1.2 Policy Alternatives

Still under their electoral influence and role, minor political parties in Australia have always been very useful tools for giving the major parties alternatives to policies and political directions. This argument is made against the backdrop that even though it is an open secret that the minor political parties and independents  hold minimal or no chance of becoming the ruling parties of the day, they still hold on to their basic democratic practices and provisions such as the production of manifestos (Jaensch, 1998). These manifestos are guiding documents of the aims, aspirations and mission of the minor political parties. The manifestos are often full of ideas and policies for effective governance. History has it that most major political parties have fallen on the subject areas and policies in the manifestos of the minor political parties when the going gets tough (Papadakis, 1990). As the African proverb goes, wisdom is not in the head of just one person. For this reason, major political parties have always borrowed alternative policies from minor political parties, especially when their own policies do not proof to be feasible in any given circumstance.  This is indeed another useful role that minor political parties in Australia play in enhancing democratic practice in the country. If for nothing at all, once their policies are adapted by the major ruling parties, the minor political parties become satisfied that if it is physical numeric representation that they do not have in government, they have ideological representations. The presence and activities of minor political parties in Australia would therefore continue to be very important in promoting the democracy in that country as the minor political parties always serves as useful third force furnishing the country with policy alternatives.

2.2 Organizational

2.2.1 Avocation of intra party democracy

Touting the freedom of participation as an instrumental provision of all democratic practices, it would be said that minor political parties in Australia have always led the path of ensuring that this basic provision reaches the ordinary person. Indeed, grass-root participation in politics is the pivot of democratic practice (Macklin, 1996). However, the major political parties in Australia have not always been proactive in promoting this. The simple reason is that they seem to have an excessively large population – too large to be monitored at the grass-root. For this reason, grass-root participation in democratic practice is often absent among major political parties in Australia. However, minor political parties and independents  have always taken up the challenge of making the voices of the grass-root participants heard. A typical example can be given of the Australian Democrats who have for long promoted grass-root participation in democracy.

A simple strategy that is used by Australian Democrats and other minor political parties in Australia is the promotion of intra-party democracy. This is done by giving the party members the freedom to be highly neutral with their views and opinions. This way, it becomes easier for the members of the minor political parties to have voices and participatory roles in other minor political parties. If for nothing at all, it is known among the minor political parties that the practices of members of colleague minor political parties would be done not on any political lines. Indeed Gauja (2010) argues that the practice of being more subjective and taking neutral political lines in the conduct of political duties in major parties in Australia is strictly bound by party discipline. This means that where major political parties try to subject the involvement of party activists on the grounds of objectivity rather than subjectivity to ridicule; minor political parties embrace it, thereby promoting the freedom of participation in democratic practice, even on intra-party basis.

2.2.2 Improving democratic accountability

Again, as a form of ensuring that there is appropriate and adequate democratic organisation in the disbursement of political rights, minor political parties and independents  in Australia have their own takes in ensuring that the government in power becomes accountable to the people. In the absence of accountability, democracy is reduced to nothing but autocracy (Maddox, 2005). Not much can therefore be argued of how important minor political parties are in upholding the basic provisions of democracy in Australia, one of which includes accountability to the people. There is yet an African proverb that says that the person who is making a path cannot tell if the path is getting crooked. This means that there is always the need for there to be checks and balances by third party and neutral personalities in any given political dispensation.  In any democratic practice, there exists a great difference between political parties and governments though governments are formed by political parties. As soon as political parties win power and take up offices, they are seen as the government for the people and not government for their parties. This means that the governments must be accountable to the entire populace and not just their political followers. However, there have been instances where governments have attempted to satisfy the needs of their followers before thinking about the broader needs of the populace. In such situations, minor political parties have always proven useful in putting the government to check. A typical scenario can be given in 1992 when the Democratic Labor Party (DLP) strongly opposed the government’s trend of assigning contracts to members of its political party alone. Through public demonstrations and advocacy programs, the entire country experienced an equal share of the cake when the trend was changed.

2.3 Parliamentary

2.3.1 Balance of Power

The parliamentary practice has been an integral part of Australia’s democratic practice. Without any doubt, the parliamentary system is a very useful platform for achieving the trumpeted all-inclusive democratic governance that Australia practices. It would therefore just be out of place and against the democratic provisions that the Australian parliament was always dominated by major political parties with little or no inclusion by the minor political parties. Again, the point would be reiterated that this would have constituted an attempt to undermine the freedom of the few populaces who make up the membership of minor political parties. Happily, the various minor political parties in Australia have always put themselves up in ensuring that they are represented in parliament not just because the constitution makes provision for proportional representation but because they have what it takes partake in constructive debates in the parliament house. Happily, the country has a tall history of minor political parties and independents who took active places in parliament and justified the reason for their being there (Stock, 2006). Specific examples could be given as the Democratic Labour Party (DLP), which in most parts of 1960 and 1970 had a massive representation in Australian Senate to allow for a balance of power to take place. Another specific example is that of the Australian Democrats who in the later parts of 1970 and in the 1680s repeated a dose of what the Democratic Labour Party (DLP) had started.

2.3.2 Ideological diversity

Whiles in parliament, the minor political parties have always justified their capability with very useful political inputs in governmental discussions. Apart from this, members of parliament from minority political parties have time and over again being a representation of Australian diversity. Such diversities have existed even outside the political circles. For examples the diverse views, ideas and believes of the minority faction of Australians in terms of issues like nuclear disarmament have always been championed. The minor political parties have therefore not been available for political reasons but also for the overall ideological diversity of the people of Australia. By and large, there have been ideological diversities that have been championed by minor political parties through environmentalists, sociologists and religious organisations. Should it be believed therefore that democracy is the core philosophical makeup of the people of Australia then indeed minor political parties and independents are helping in the promotion of the basic ideologies of the populace. They are doing this through the representation of minor political parties in parliament (Stock, 2006).

3.0 CONCLUSION

This essay has helped in throwing more light on the role and importance of minor political parties in the democratic dispensation of the people of Australia. Through the need to carefully digest and address a research question that was posed, the writer has successfully reviewed literature on three major thematic areas. These thematic areas were electoral, organisational and parliamentary. In all aspects of these themes, it was established that minor political parties and independents in Australia have for long being present to be very instrumental in upholding the democratic basis of the country. For instance these minor parties ensure that governance is not biased towards members of political parties from which ruling governments come from but that ruling governments give all populace a fair share of the national cake. How indeed can it be argued less that minor political parties in Australia are very vital in enhancing the democratic political ambitions of the Australian people? With the points made above, the research question could be answered that “yes, the increased influence of minor parties and independents enhanced democracy in Australia.

CITED WORKS

Gauja, Anika. 2010. “Evaluating the Success and Contribution of a Minor Party: the Case of the Australian Democrats”. Oxford Journals. Parliamentary Affairs. Volume 63,  Issue 3. Pp.  486-503

Jaensch, Daniel. “A plague on both your houses: minor parties in Australia” St Leonards: Allen and Unwin, 1998. Print.

Macklin, M. “The Australian Democrats – a major ‘minor’ party – face the future”, Sydney:  Allen and Unwin, 1996. Print

Maddox, Gardener. Australian democracy in theory and practice, French Magazine: Pearson Education Australia, 2005 5th edition, p.252

Papadakis, Erl. “Minor parties, the elections and the new electoral system”, in Greening of Australian politics: the 1990 Federal election, Cheshire Newspaper, 1990, p.36.

Pybus, Charles. “Greens and Democrats out to strike a deal”, Australian Society, June 1991 pp 6-7.

Stock, James. T. “The Greens, Democrats, minor parties and Independents”, New York: Pearson Longman. 2006. Print

Vromen, A., and Gelber, K. Powerscape: Contemporary Australian political practice, Sydney: Allen and Unwin, 2005. Print

Warhurst, John. (ed) “Keeping the bastards honest: The Australian Democrats first twenty years”, Sydney: Allen and Unwin. 2007. Print