From the climate crisis to soaring inequality, affordable housing to good schools and hospitals – democratic participation and government leadership are key to solving many of the challenges we face.
But to do so, we need to revitalise our democracy and the faith people place in it. We need to change the story and overcome a number of corrosive stereotypes around what government is and how politics can and should work. And we must make a compelling case for democratic reforms that curb corporate influence – without reinforcing the dominant stories that politics is broken.
To find out how to talk effectively about these issues, ACF led a research project with allies from across civil society.
We explored how Australians understand democracy and democratic reform by reviewing existing research and undertaking elicitation interviews, discourse analysis, workshops, a quantitative survey and dial testing.
We've summarised our findings in this narrative guide:
For a short version, check out this cheat sheet:
To find out more about this project, contact Jolene Elberth.