CITIZEN-INITIATED REFERENDA IN AUSTRALIA: LESSONS FROM NORFOLK ISLAND

There has been a protracted failure to introduce citizen-initiated referenda (CIRs) in Australia--save for a 1964 Norfolk Island Act, which was abolished in 2015 (when the Island's self-government status was repealed). Even though the Norfolk Island's experience was on a micro-scale (of around one thousand voters), it can inform CIR options at all levels of Australian governments (federal, state/territorial, and local). The analysis suggests that Norfolk Island CIRs had lower effectiveness (in terms of discovering voter preferences) and higher efficiency (in terms of mobilizing voters) than government-initiated referenda, which helped nourish a learning process whereby citizens became more comfortable using CIRs to augment representative democracy. In addition, there is no evidence of process abuse in terms of invoking CIRs--the number of CIRs remained stable over the entire period (from 1964 to 2015), with topics representing voter rather than big-business interests. In addition, there is no evidence of trampling minority rights. Norfolk Island's experience suggests a possible symbiosis between CIRs and government-initiated referenda and between CIRs and representative democracy, which can inform Australian governments as to voter preferences without exposure to the risk of abuse of process or threats to representative democracy.