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Through the Hourglass: Parliamentary democracy yesterday, today and tomorrow

Through the Hourglass: Parliamentary democracy yesterday, today and tomorrow

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EVENT DETAILS
From 9-10 December 2024, we were joined by esteemed speakers, special guests and members of the public to explore the past, present and future of representative democracy in New South Wales. The two-day conference marked the conclusion of the NSW Legislative Council's Bicentenary Conference series.
For more detail about the conference and presenter bios download the conference information booklet.​ ​
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​​    Welcome to Day One 
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About this session
The conference was opened by President of the NSW Legislative Council the Hon Ben Franklin MLC, and included a look back at what was learned during our previous Bicentenary conferences, The State of the Colony: People, Place and Politics in 1823 (held in 2022), and The Spark: The Act that brought Parliament and the Supreme Court to NSW (held in 2023), with Clerk of the Parliaments David Blunt AM and Usher of the Black Rod Jenelle Moore.​

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Find the full transcript of the opening from page 1 of the Hansard record here. 
  A whirlwind history of 200 years of Parliament
  in NSW
About this session
Respected academics, Professor Frank Bongiorno AM and Professor Rodney Smith​ took us on a journey through the last 200 years of the Council's history, looking at the constitutional developments of the Council as it's identity evolved over time.

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Find the full transcript of 'A whirlwind history of 200 years of Parliament' from page 7 of the Hansard record here. ​
 Evolution, abolition, entrenchment: Cementing   the place of the Legislative Council
About this session
This three part session unpacked many of the constitutional developments during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Renowned consitutional expert Professor Anne Twomey​​ discussed the critical changes in the Council's evolution, followed by former President of the NSW Court of Appeal, the Hon Keith Mason AC, who looked the circumstances surrounding the Council during the passing of the Federation bill, and the session was wrapped up by the Hon Justice Elisabeth Peden, Judge of the Supreme Court of NSW, who talked about the enactment of section 7A in the NSW Constitution and her own family connection to it.

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Find the full transcript of 'Evolution, abolition, entrenchment: Cementing the place of the Legislative Council​' from page 19 of the Hansard record here. 
    ​​The business end of the democracy sausage:     Electoral systems in NSW and the rise of                   ​the crossbench
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About this session
We were treated to an entertaining afternoon session by respected ABC elections analyst, An​tony Green AO, and former Liberal member of the Legislative Council, Dr Peter Phelps, as they discussed the statistical, electoral, and political developments that impacted the Council over it's history, including some interesting beach related analogies. 

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Find the full transcript of '​​The business end of the democracy sausage: Electoral systems in NSW and the rise of the crossbench' from page 31 of the Hansard record here. ​


  Compass point: The Legislative Council today​
About this session
To wrap up day 1 of Through the Hourglass and bring us to the current state of the Legislative Council, the Clerk of the Parliaments David Blunt AM returned to chair a panel of experienced current and former members of the Council from across the political spectrum. We were joined by former Labor member the Hon Mick Veitch, alongside current Nationals member and former minister the Hon Sarah Mitchell, the experienced independent member the Hon Mark Latham, and the Hon Susan Carter who was elected in 2023 as a Liberal member.

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Find the full transcript of 'Compass point: The Legislative Council today' from page 48 of the Hansard record here. 
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​   42’s a Council, 43’s a crowd: Do we need             more members of parliament?
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​​About this session
In a provocative opening session to day 2 of 'Through the Hourglass' Professor Rodney Smith returned with statistics to challenge perceptions about how many members of parliament we should have and how they could be otherwise elected. 

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Find the full transcript of '42’s a Council, 43’s a crowd: Do we need more members of parliament?​' from page 60 of the Hansard record here. 
   Democracy 3.0: How will AI drive our                       democratic future?
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About this session
Continuing to look forwards at the future of parliamentary democracy and the potential impacts of AI, we were joined by Dr Christopher Mayes, a senior lecturer in Philosphy at Deakin University, followed by a video presentation from the Secretary of the Rajya Sabha of India, Mr Rajit Punhani, on how they are implementing AI technologies.  

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Find the full transcript of 'Democracy 3.0: How will AI drive our democratic future?' from page 71 of the Hansard record here. 
  Imagining the future of parliament and                    democracy in the Asia Pacific
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About this session
We then turned our focus to our neighbouring democracies in the Asia Pacific through an informative session led by Mihai Sora, Director at the Pacific Islands Program at the Lowy Insitute, and Lord Fatafehi Fakafānua, a Lord of the Realm and the Speaker of the Legislative Assembly of Tonga. 

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Find the full transcript of 'Imagining the future of parliament and democracy in the Asia Pacific' from page 81 of the Hansard record here. 
​   Imagining the future of parliamentary                     engagement
About this session
For this session we were joined by Dr Sarah Moulds, an Associate Professor in Law at the University of South Australia, for fascinating look at the future of public engagement for parliamentary democracies, and how other parliaments across the globe are adapting to our increasingly interconnected world.

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Find the full tran​script of 'Imagining the future of parliamentary engagement' from page 93 of the Hansard record here. ​
   Generation Next: Our youngest MLCs                     on democracy
About this session
The Clerk of the Parliaments, David Blunt AM, returned again to chair the penultimate session for the conference, a members panel which featured the some of the yongest members of the Legislative Council. From the generation of members now coming of age across the political spectrum, we were joined by Liberal members the Hon Jacqui Munro and the Opposition Whip the Hon Chris Rath, Labor member the Hon Emily Suuval, and the newest Greens member Dr Amanda Cohn 

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Find the full tran​script of 'Generation Next: Our youngest MLCs on democracy' from page 102 of the Hansard record here.  ​
   Youth Panel
About this session
Rounding out 'Through the Hourglass' was a panel of motivated young people who aspire to be future leaders in NSW. The panel was chaired by the President of the Legislative Council, the Hon Ben Franklin, who was joined by NSW representatives from the Commonwealth Youth Parliament Kokulaan Santhakumar and India Jones, Youth Parliament Premiers Noah Smith (2023) and Princess Delany (2024), and regional winners from the 2024 NSW Parliament Public Speaking Competition Karin Rezkalla (Wagga Wagga) and Samuel Simmons (Lismore).

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Find the full transcript of the Youth Panel from page 112 of the Hansard record here. ​
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The Parliament of New South Wales acknowledges and respects the traditional lands of all Aboriginal people, and pays respects to all Elders past and present. We acknowledge the Gadigal people as the traditional custodians of the land on which the Parliament of New South Wales stands.