CDI.News. Training Workshop for Members of the National Parliament of Vanuatu. centre for democratic institutions

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1 centre for democratic institutions CDI.News Newsletter of the Centre for Democratic Institutions April - May 2009 Dear Colleagues, Welcome to the second issue of CDI.News for In this issue we highlight several new initiatives with Pacific parliaments and also with the new Indonesian Institute for Peace and Democracy in Bali. CDI s work combines technical assistance and capacity building programs, networking, and interpersonal and knowledge exchange, including the dissemination of CDI s original research on democracy and its institutions. Our focus countries comprise Indonesia and Timor-Leste in South East Asia and Papua New Guinea, Fiji, Solomon Islands and Vanuatu in Melanesia. CDI s central goal is to support these regional focus countries in strengthening their political parties & systems of parliamentary governance. Accordingly, CDI works to: Improve the operation and understanding of parliamentary machinery by members of parliament and parliamentary staff in focus countries Strengthen political parties in focus countries through improving the knowledge and skills of members and officials of political parties Extend networks in the region between Australian parliamentarians, political party officials, and parliamentary staff and their counterparts from focus countries CDI s core budget is provided by AusAID, Australia s Agency for International Development. CDI.News will keep you informed periodically of our activities and events, and you can access this information at any time by visiting our website: www. cdi.anu.edu.au. Benjamin Reilly CDI Director Training Workshop for Members of the National Parliament of Vanuatu At the request of the Speaker of the National Parliament of Vanuatu, CDI recently delivered a training workshop for Members of the National Parliament which was held at Parliament House in Port Vila on March This was the first time that a workshop of this kind had been conducted for the Vanuatu Parliament. The workshop was part of CDI s ongoing commitment to support the Vanuatu Parliament and builds on the Members and staff role-playing an inquiry public hearing on Day 2 of the successful induction Workshop. program for MPs in Vanuatu organised by CDI in October The level of engagement in the program was impressive with 42 of the 52 MPs in the Vanuatu Parliament, including several ministers and the Deputy Prime Minister, attending the entire workshop. CDI Deputy Director Quinton Clements, together with the Clerk of the National Parliament, Lino Bulekuli dit Sacsac, convened the workshop. They were joined by: Hon. Moses Maladina MP Parliamentary Select Committee on the Ombudsman Commission, National Parliament of Papua New Guinea (PNG); Hon. Grant McBride MP Deputy Chair, Public Accounts Committee, Parliament of NSW; Mr David Blunt, Deputy Clerk, Legislative Council, Parliament of NSW; and Mr Robert Hansen, Research Director, Parliament of Queensland. In a first for these types of CDI workshops, and following continued over Centre for Democratic Institutions Australian National University Canberra ACT 0200 AUSTRALIA Phone: +61 (0) Fax: +61 (0) cdi@anu.edu.au Website:

2 asasasa continued from page 1 In This Issue Recent Activities Training Workshop for Members of the National Parliament of Vanuatu... 1 Can Afghanistan be a Democracy? The Problem of Political Parties... 2 CDI Assists Indonesian Democracy Institute... 3 Women in Politics: CDI Visit to Fiji, Solomon Islands & Vanuatu... 3 CDI & the 10th Biennial ACPAC Conference... 3 Recent visitors to CDI... 4 CDI Links with Queensland & West Australian Universities... 4 CDI Forges Links with Korean Democracy Foundation... 4 PNG Parliamentary Manual... 5 Political Parties & Party Law in New Democracies... 5 Forthcoming CDI's 2009 Political Party Development Course on in May... 5 New Professional Development Course for Parliamentary Speakers... 5 Publications, News & Events New LNP Leader a CDI Alumnus... 6 The Democracy Promotion Debate... 6 Can Afghanistan be a Democracy? The Problem of Political Parties CDI Associate Dr Norm Kelly travelled to Afghanistan in February to conduct an assessment of Afghan political parties, ahead of the forthcoming presidential and parliamentary elections in 2009 and Dr Kelly s assessment focussed on identifying the core needs of political parties in Afghanistan in terms of international assistance. This work was supported by the Washingtonbased National Democratic Institute (NDI), one of CDI s key international partner organisations. Dr Kelly presented a public lecture on his findings and the current state of political parties in the lead-up to elections in Afghanistan at ANU on 1 April. Dr Kelly provided an overview of the country s electoral system, the ethnic makeup of Afghanistan that has such an influence on Afghan a request from Papua New Guinea, PNG MP and committee chairman Hon. Pitom Bombom was fully funded by the National Parliament of PNG to participate in this Port Vila workshop, The workshop program was based on sharing the experiences of other parliaments in the region, specifically those of Australia and PNG, with Ni-Vanuatu parliamentarians and staff. The first day of the program was devoted to presentations on the Australian and PNG experiences of working with parliamentary committees followed by question and answer sessions. Participants then broke into small groups to consider three themes what makes committee member effective; are the current operational processes for the Vanuatu parliamentary committees best serving the needs of those committees; and procedural issues such as the powers of committees and protecting witnesses. The day two sessions focused on taking the participants through a typical inquiry process establishing an inquiry, planning, collecting written and oral evidence, and reporting back to the House. Each session involved a practical exercise including the holding of a mock public hearing. The next stage in CDI s strengthening program with the Vanuatu parliament is a forthcoming workshop to assist with the review and revision of the Parliament s Rules of Procedure. Click on this link for more on our website: Dr Norm Kelly presenting his findings on political parties in Afghanistan at the ANU on 1 April. Prof William Maley - Director of the ANU's Asia- Pacific College of Diplomacy, and expert in Afghan politics was a discussant at the seminar. politics, and the current party system. He discussed the prospects for achieving a strong party system in the country, and the implications for this year s presidential election and the national assembly elections due to be held in Click on this link for more detail and links on our website: CDI Newsletter CDI Newsletter August - April September - May

3 sdsdsd CDI Assists Indonesian Democracy Institute As the first step in an ongoing program of assistance, CDI recently hosted a visit from the Executive Director of the new Institute for Peace and Democracy (IPD) in Bali, Dr Ketut Putra Erawan. IPD is a non-profit organization attached to the Bali Democracy Forum which aims to develop ideas, initiatives, and programs which flow from the work of the Bali Forum. IPD Executive Director Dr Ketut Putra Erawan. At the Institute s request, CDI has agreed to provide a range of direct assistance to IPD. This includes hosting IPD staff at CDI to familiarise them with CDI and help Women in Politics: CDI Visit to Fiji, Solomon Islands & Vanuatu As a followup to the CDI Women in Politics (WiP) course in November 2008, Special Adviser on Gender Issues, Sun-Hee Lee, visited Fiji, the Solomon Islands and Vanuatu on 21 January 3 February. The main purpose of the visit was to take stock of relevant activities which will help to form a position on ways of assisting national efforts to get more women elected in the next cycle of elections. Dr Lee met with government officials, Parliament staff, Electoral Commission, regional UN organisations, research organisations, National Councils of Women, various NGOs, and CDI WiP participants. In addition to individual meetings with partners working in this area, Dr Lee also held a workshop in Port Vila with key women s groups. The discussions of the workshop were reported in the Vanuatu Daily Post. Click on this link for more details and links on our website: them develop appropriate internal administrative and oversight arrangements for IPD; helping develop the IPD s professional library; launching forthcoming CDI policy papers on the 2009 Indonesian elections at IPD headquarters in Bali; and assisting with the program of a planned IPD international workshop on Political Engineering and Policymaking in Asia. Further assistance including the development of joint training programs and other collaborative projects is being developed on an ongoing basis as IPD s future work priorities are clarified in preparation for the 2009 Bali Democracy Forum. Click on this link for more information on our website about CDI's growing engagement with IPD: CDI & the 10th Biennial ACPAC Conference CDI recently sponsored the participation of Public Accounts and Finance committees from the National Parliaments of Vanuatu and Timor-Leste to the tenth biennial conference of the Australasian Council of Public Accounts Committees (ACPAC) held in Wellington, New Zealand. Hosted by the New Zealand Parliament s Finance and Expenditure Committee, the conference was attended by ACPAC members from Australia, New Zealand, PNG and Solomon Islands, along with guests from countries including the UK, Kiribati, Namibia and Indonesia. Auditors-General from different jurisdictions and academics also attended. The theme of the conference was sharing lessons seeking improved accountability facing new challenges. This was the first time both Vanuatu and Timor-Leste had participated in an ACPAC conference. The members of the Vanuatu delegation were: Hon. George Andre Wells MP, Speaker of Parliament Hon. Dunstan Hilton MP, member of the PAC; Mr Lino Bulekuli dit Sacsac, Clerk of Parliament; and Ms Hamilton Moli, Senior Auditor & Officer-In-Charge of the National Audit Office. The members of the Timor-Leste delegation were: Mr Rui Meneses MP; Mr Aderito Hugo Fernandes MP; Ms Cirpiana Pereira MP; and Ms Maria Exposto MP. CDI Deputy Director Quinton Clements accompanied the delegations and presented a paper on issues facing smaller nations with regards to holding executive government to account and what groups such as ACPAC can do to assist continued over

4 pagefour continued from page 3 As a result of their participation both the Vanuatu and Timor-Leste delegations sought further assistance from CDI and ACPAC in strengthening their systems of financial accountability. In the case of Vanuatu, it was agreed that CDI would organise and deliver a specialised training workshop for the PAC and Audit Office in Port Vila in Click on this link for more detail on our website about this activity: Recent visitors to CDI: National Endowment for Democracy CDI was delighted to host a visit from Carl Gershman, President of the National Endowment for Democracy (NED), the key US grantmaking institution with the mission to strengthen democratic institutions around the world through nongovernmental efforts. CDI has contributed to a number of NED initiatives, including the quarterly Journal of Democracy, the International Forum for Democratic Studies, and the World Movement for Democracy, a global network of democracy practitioners and scholars. International IDEA Lena Hjelm-Wallen, Chair of the Board of the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (IDEA), and Andrew Ellis, Director of IDEA s Asia-Pacific program, visited CDI in February to discuss ongoing areas of cooperation. CDI and IDEA have worked together on a number of projects, most recently the joint project on Political Parties in Conflict-Prone Societies. Cambodian Senate A delegation of senior officials from the Cambodian Senate led by Secretary General, Mr Oum Sarith, met with CDI at Parliament House on 3 February They discussed CDI s parliamentary strengthening work, the participation of Cambodian parliamentarians and parliamentary officials in CDI programs, and possible future CDI support for both the Cambodian National Assembly and Senate. Click on this link for more detail on our website: CDI Links with Queensland & West Australian Universities CDI has further developed its regional linkages within Australia with two leading research centres on Asia. The Griffith Asia Institute in Brisbane and the Asia Research Centre at Murdoch University in Perth are important CDI partners for our work in Southeast Asia in particular. CDI Director Ben Reilly has recently visited both institutions as part of our efforts to build on this partnership. At Griffith University, he gave a talk at the Centre for Governance and Public Policy late last year and has recently followed this up with a further visit to discuss the Griffith Asia Institute s planned contributions to future CDI research projects. At Murdoch University s Asia Research Centre, he recently presented an invited lecture on political reform in Asia to the New Modes of Governance in Asia seminar series. Both of these visits were sponsored and paid by the host institutions, external support which CDI gratefully acknowledges. Click on this link for more detail and links on our website: CDI Forges Links with Korean Democracy Foundation CDI has forged new connections with the Korea Democracy Foundation, which was set up to contribute to the development of democracy in Korea and produce research on democracy and development in Asia. The Foundation also intends to actively contribute to the work of developing democracy around the globe using the historic example of Korea as a foundation. An initial exchange of publications produced by the KDF and CDI on the key themes of our work has been completed, and CDI looks forward to closer links with the Foundation in the future. Click on this link for more on our website:

5 pagefive PNG Parliamentary Practice & Procedure Manual In March 2009, as part of the follow up to the successful August 2007 induction program for the National Parliament of Papua New Guinea that CDI helped organise and run, CDI completed production of a Manual of Parliamentary Practice & Procedure. The Hon. Kevin Rozzoli, with assistance from CDI Deputy Director Mr Quinton Clements, prepared the Handbook in consultation with the National Parliament of Papua New Guinea. Hard copies of this publication will be distributed to all Members and staff of the National Parliament in May this year, with copies also to be distributed to government agencies, educational institutions and those interested in the Papua New Guinean Parliament. Click on this link to our website to access an electronic copy of the Manual: Political Parties & Party Law in New Democracies On 15 April 2009 as part of the political science seminar series at the ANU, CDI Director Professor Ben Reilly presented a paper on Political Parties and Party Law in New Democracies. A distinctive democratization trend of recent years has been for new democracies to introduce ambitious political party laws aimed at influencing the development of their party systems. These laws typically seek to build more stable and coherent political parties in parliament and/or stronger party organizations in the broader polity, or to sideline the development of ethnic parties or those seen as undesirable in other ways. But do they work? Professor Reilly sought answers to this question by discussing the role that parties play in political development, and the impact of attempts at political party engineering in new democracies. Click on this link for more on our Web page: Forthcoming CDI's 2009 Political Party Development Course on in May CDI s annual Political Party Development (PPD) course will take place once again in Canberra from May This flagship training course aims to give party officials and their equivalents in CDI s partner countries the skills to build stronger and more responsible party organisations. Working closely with the major Australian parties, the PPD course covers issues of party functioning such as candidate selection, membership, campaigning, finance, media relations, approaches to gender issues, the role of parliamentary parties, and ensuring 3 party discipline. The course will consist of a mixture of lectures, discussions, external site visits, and participatory forums. Networking is another major aspect of the course, both to enhance future relationships between Australia and regional countries at the party and governmental levels, and to establish new links between individuals. Participants will also gain an understanding of the administration and workings of the Australian political system, with visits to the party headquarters of the major Australian parties. As in previous years, the course will be convened by Dr Norm Kelly, a CDI Associate and former member of the West Australian Legislative Council. Click on this link for more detail on our website: FIRST AMONG EQUALS - A Professional Development Course for Parliamentary Speakers In June 2009 CDI will inaugurate a new residential training course aimed specifically at Presiding Officers of Pacific Island Parliaments. The course is designed to help them improve the conditions, quality and public standing of their parliaments. The pivotal person in any effective parliamentary chamber and parliamentary administration is a strong, fair and effective Speaker. Many parliaments, of course, exist without this but when this element is missing it is the democratic strength of the parliament that is diminished. An effective Speaker places the representational rights of members in balance with the power of the executive. Accordingly, this new CDI training course will target continued over

6 asasasa continued from page 5 Melanesian parliamentarians occupying key positions in their respective legislatures i.e. current Speakers, Deputy Speakers and other members who may be called upon to preside over parliamentary proceedings and those who may aspire to these roles. The course will be convened by Hon Kevin Rozzoli, former Speaker of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly, with the assistance of CDI Deputy Director Mr Quinton Clements. The course will be conducted, in conjunction with the Queensland Parliament, at Parliament House in Brisbane from June Click on this link for more detail on our website: Publications, News & Events New LNP Leader a CDI Alumnus The new leader of the Queensland Liberal National Party is a CDI alumnus. Mr John-Paul Langbroek, the Member for Surfers Paradise in the Queensland Legislative Assembly, was elected leader of the merged party on 2 April. Along with Labor MLA John English, he participated in CDI s 2007 Pacific Parliamentary Dialogue in Goroka, Papua New Guinea, which focussed on the role of parliament in managing conflicts, and gave parliamentarians from around the Pacific region, Timor-Leste, Australia and New Zealand the opportunity to exchange views and engage with fellow political practitioners. CDI has a number of ongoing projects involving the Queensland parliament, including our Parliamentary Presiding Officers course which will be held in Brisbane in June, and we look forward to working with both sides of Queensland politics in the future. The Democracy Promotion Debate There is a vigorous global debate taking place about the future of democracy promotion, particularly in the United States. This article, from the Democracy Digest website of the National Endowment for Democracy, provides a useful summary of some of the key positions and protagonists: All suggestions and comments are welcome to cdi@anu.edu.au To subscribe to CDI.News visit the CDI cdinews/cdinews.htm