Post by Iain Dooley on Jul 31, 2016 5:30:32 GMT
We have created the Policy Development category and associated boards in this forum in order to outline key policy areas and focus.
The aim of this post is to establish a framework to direct that discussion productively.
The first principle of policy development within the AWP is that all policy is developed against the basic policy frameworks -- this will not change even when we have a formal constitution/national executive etc.:
1) We adhere to the description of how the economy works put forward by Modern Monetary Theory and agree with it's primary policy outcome: that the federal government as the monopoly currency issuer has an obligation to ensure full employment of its citizens.
2) The government should act as an ethical authority, not a moral authority
3) We should conduct foreign policy via the UN and adhere to our obligations under UN treaties we are a signatory to.
This set of core principles will allow people to determine whether or not they align with our party's vision even as our policy development is still in its nascent stage.
Beyond this, however, we need a bit of structure of how we should propose and debate policy.
Here is my thinking so far:
STRATEGY #1:
1) I have outlined some broad policy areas by creating boards within the Policy Development category on this forum. These cover, I think, just about every major policy area one could hope for but I might have missed something, please let me know if that's the case. Anyone is welcome to post a thread into the appropriate board to discuss a policy proposal but;
2) Within these major policy areas, we should look for academics, professionals, peak bodies, legal authorities, NGOs and other bodies who have already developed policy
3) We should then analyse this policy through the lens of our core policy frameworks
4) We should look for competing opinions that may also align with our policy frameworks, and discuss the relative merits of these competing qualified opinions
This approach will allow us to narrow down on inclusive, academically rigorous policy without sounding like my 4 and 6 year old daughters playing make believe ("And then make it ... and make it that ... and then make it ... NO! I want the black tutu!! STOP IT!!!").
We basically shouldn't be creating our policy from scratch unless we're actually doing original research or we're the leading experts in some field.
For the record, I'm not the leading expert in anything and have done no original research.
Even on topics such as marriage equality (which isn't really academic) we can follow this framework.
When we are stating our marriage equality policy we don't have to come up with it from scratch. It's hardly an academic notion but there will be statements from QUILTBAG community leaders, legal authorities and the like who sum it up better than we ever could. We should be using those published, qualified opinions as the basis for our policy development and debate.
STRATEGY #2:
1) Look for policies released by other minor parties that broadly align with our policy frameworks and fit within our broad policy areas.
2) Look for the academic or qualified opinions that serve as the basis for those policies
3) Develop and debate the policy through the lens of our policy frameworks with appropriate attribution for the source of the policy and invite representatives from those minor parties to join the debate in our forum
4) I think that if we can demonstrate how flexible and inclusive our policy frameworks can be we can succeed in potentially uniting several minor parties and obtaining a significant increase in influence as a result
This is an approach we can take to discussing and developing policy in this forum as an interim measure while we don't have a formal constitution or national executive etc.
Once we get more formal structure we can discuss the approach to finalising which policies and which version of policy we actually take to an election.
I have created a shared Google Drive folder to house policy documents:
drive.google.com/open?id=0B0qTBI--vTSXMFNWX3ZOQ0tnVjQ
If anyone would like access to put their own documents in there to be linked from within the forum please just email iain.dooley@australianemploymentparty.org from the email address you use for Google Drive, or alternatively just email me a copy of the document you want stored there and I'll save it for you (You can also add attachments to this forum, but if we ever move to another forum in future they'll need to be manually downloaded/recreated).
The aim of this post is to establish a framework to direct that discussion productively.
The first principle of policy development within the AWP is that all policy is developed against the basic policy frameworks -- this will not change even when we have a formal constitution/national executive etc.:
1) We adhere to the description of how the economy works put forward by Modern Monetary Theory and agree with it's primary policy outcome: that the federal government as the monopoly currency issuer has an obligation to ensure full employment of its citizens.
2) The government should act as an ethical authority, not a moral authority
3) We should conduct foreign policy via the UN and adhere to our obligations under UN treaties we are a signatory to.
This set of core principles will allow people to determine whether or not they align with our party's vision even as our policy development is still in its nascent stage.
Beyond this, however, we need a bit of structure of how we should propose and debate policy.
Here is my thinking so far:
STRATEGY #1:
1) I have outlined some broad policy areas by creating boards within the Policy Development category on this forum. These cover, I think, just about every major policy area one could hope for but I might have missed something, please let me know if that's the case. Anyone is welcome to post a thread into the appropriate board to discuss a policy proposal but;
2) Within these major policy areas, we should look for academics, professionals, peak bodies, legal authorities, NGOs and other bodies who have already developed policy
3) We should then analyse this policy through the lens of our core policy frameworks
4) We should look for competing opinions that may also align with our policy frameworks, and discuss the relative merits of these competing qualified opinions
This approach will allow us to narrow down on inclusive, academically rigorous policy without sounding like my 4 and 6 year old daughters playing make believe ("And then make it ... and make it that ... and then make it ... NO! I want the black tutu!! STOP IT!!!").
We basically shouldn't be creating our policy from scratch unless we're actually doing original research or we're the leading experts in some field.
For the record, I'm not the leading expert in anything and have done no original research.
Even on topics such as marriage equality (which isn't really academic) we can follow this framework.
When we are stating our marriage equality policy we don't have to come up with it from scratch. It's hardly an academic notion but there will be statements from QUILTBAG community leaders, legal authorities and the like who sum it up better than we ever could. We should be using those published, qualified opinions as the basis for our policy development and debate.
STRATEGY #2:
1) Look for policies released by other minor parties that broadly align with our policy frameworks and fit within our broad policy areas.
2) Look for the academic or qualified opinions that serve as the basis for those policies
3) Develop and debate the policy through the lens of our policy frameworks with appropriate attribution for the source of the policy and invite representatives from those minor parties to join the debate in our forum
4) I think that if we can demonstrate how flexible and inclusive our policy frameworks can be we can succeed in potentially uniting several minor parties and obtaining a significant increase in influence as a result
This is an approach we can take to discussing and developing policy in this forum as an interim measure while we don't have a formal constitution or national executive etc.
Once we get more formal structure we can discuss the approach to finalising which policies and which version of policy we actually take to an election.
I have created a shared Google Drive folder to house policy documents:
drive.google.com/open?id=0B0qTBI--vTSXMFNWX3ZOQ0tnVjQ
If anyone would like access to put their own documents in there to be linked from within the forum please just email iain.dooley@australianemploymentparty.org from the email address you use for Google Drive, or alternatively just email me a copy of the document you want stored there and I'll save it for you (You can also add attachments to this forum, but if we ever move to another forum in future they'll need to be manually downloaded/recreated).
