Government/Non-Government Compacts – Towards Deliberative Democracy in Policy Making?

Rawsthorne M¹*, Christian F¹*

1. Western Sydney Community Forum, Granville, NSW, Australia

In NSW as in other States and other countries internationally, the Government has moved to enter into a formal agreement or compact with the Non-Government or Community sector. One of the aims of this agreement (‘Working Together for NSW’) is to enhance the policy development processes through greater participation of both community organisations and their constituents. This paper will present the findings of a 12 months action-oriented research project on ways of improving deliberation in policy making in light of government and non-government compacts. The research included: production of a discussion paper; e-discussion; on-line survey; and focus group discussions. The research indicates there is considerable goodwill by non-government agencies to engaging in a formalised partnership with government to address community disadvantage. However, there are a number of significant caveats to this goodwill. The research identified a range of factors that hindered effective participation by non-government organisations and their constituents in the policy process as well as proposing specific strategies to address these. Deliberation and participation in policy making was seen as not only of instrumental value in addressing disadvantage but also symbolic of a genuine desire by government to change power relations with those traditionally in a less powerful position – non-government agencies and disadvantaged communities.

The paper will contribute to debates about ways of enhancing participation in policy making, with a particular focus on government/non-government sector relations.

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